Find resources / Articles / Webinar: Using Whakatipu when supporting whānau

[Graphic: Tākai Kōrero logo]

[Text on screen: Using Whakatipu when supporting whānau, Maraea Teepa & Deb Rewiri]

[Text on screen: Maraea Teepa]

Maraea Teepa:

Kia ora rā e te whānau. Hei tīmata ake i ā tātou kōrero i tēnei rā i te wā o te tina, me karakia tātou.

Whakataka te hau ki te uru

Whakataka te hau ki te tonga

Kia mākinakina ki uta

Kia mātaratara ki tai

E hī ake ana te atakura

He tio, he huka, he hauhū

Tihei mauri ora

Mauri ora ki a tātou i tēnei wā. Welcome to Let’s Ruku into Whakatipu. It’s been a big journey for the Tākai team to support the reawakening of Whakatipu and all the learnings that we have got from different communities around what else we could do to evolve Whakatipu, the rauemi of Whakatipu. So, ko wai ahau? Ko Maraea Teepa ahau. Ko au tētahi o ngā kaikōrero i tēnei rā. I’m Maraea Teepa and with my lovely Whaea will be guiding you on this little journey today. And I’ll throw it over for her to introduce herself. Kia ora Whaea.

[Text on screen: Deb Rewiri]

Deb Rewiri:

Kia ora. Kia ora Maraea mō tō karakia. Kia ora tātou. Ko wai au? Ko Deb Rewiri taku ingoa, nō Kororāreka ahau. And I’m going to be sharing the screen and as Maraea said it’s an opportunity for us to come together and maybe answer some of those questions that you have as we begin this whole journey of Whakatipu and Tākai into presenting this to our whānau in a way that makes sense for them and is really simple whakaaro, and they can take it up and make it more meaningful for them as they, raise their pēpi.

Maraea Teepa:

Ka pai. 

Now let’s get into the whakapapa of Whakatipu.

[Graphic: 4 books spread out]

That’s what Whakatipu looked like when we first put them out years ago with a beautiful team, we had a beautiful team of, I’ve got to say, wāhine and community that have supported us to develop Whakatipu, made up of four kaupapa areas: Te Kākano, Te Pihinga, Te Kōhure me Te Māhuri.

Through this journey it was a journey around the growth of language. That’s where the concept came from. But also, the growth of a seed, like our pēpi. It was awesome to really think about what it is that we also need to support whānau, and that’s what communities told us. We wanted whakataukī, Maraea, they continued to say to us. Whakataukī, waiata, pūrākau, pakiwaitara. They wanted to hear what tamariki were saying, what whānau were saying at that time and age and stage.

[Text on screen: From hapūtanga to 5 years old, Whakatipu uses the analogy of growth to represent the developing tamaiti and whānau]

[Graphic: 4 Books side-by-side]

From that, this is what our new rauemi has evolved into. From hapūtanga to five years Whakatipu has grown into a space that represents the developing tamaiti and their whānau that are on the journey with that tamaiti, mokopuna. We were able to make sure that community told us they wanted it to be ground in te taiao. We introduced kupu cards to build that language, that building language rich environments for our mokopuna. 

[Graphic: Picture of children with adults with leaves and sand]

We wanted to make sure that we were showing real mokopuna, and activities that whānau could practically do with the mokopuna. Low cost, no cost at all a lot of the times, and going into your own backyard, getting grounded in that space. So that’s what we did.

[Text on screen: Kupu cards to support whānau to build a language-rich environment by incorporating more to reo Māori]

[Graphic: 3 Kupu cards]

Our kupu cards again. In every pukapuka you’ll have ten kupu hou that you can use in that development area. It’s an awesome way to build our kete kupu for our mokopuna and for yourself. These are kupu that are easy: rongoā, which can be medicine, and katakata, to laugh. Those things that you do. And Te Kākano, while you were hapū, the more laughter we have around māmā and her growing pēpi in her kōpu is the best thing for baby and māmā at that time. So, these are kupu that are associated to that time and stage of that development for whānau and pēpi.

[Text on screen: The new Te Māhuri pukapuka covers 3 to 5 years]

[Graphic: Two book covers with an arrow to a third book cover]

Te Māhuri, we only have one pukapuka now. We went from two pukapuka and we put them to merge them together. You have some real practical activities in there. It’s probably a great little pukapuka, even better where you can learn about through play what if tamariki are balancing or walking the line, and we talk about well that’s all about balance and math, they’re little mathematicians or building a hut. It’s all about construction, it’s about maths and stuff like that. So, associating play with education, so it’s a nice merge of the two pukapuka.

We then had a few things that we were really excited about. 

[Text on screen: The Tākai website complements  the resource with further information on how to use the rauemi with whānau]

[Graphic: An image of an open laptop with the video of the Tākai website on the screen scrolling up and down]

Go onto our website and see some of these activities and really ruku into them. In there, we’re showing the waka huia, a bit of history, just like what you have in the pukapuka, but some really good examples. There might be videos and, also, there’s little kupu there. Where you can, if you don’t know how to pronounce them, you can click on that kupu Māori and they will pronounce them for you. There’s heaps of little activities that you can do, so we’re really happy that we can share Whakatipu and the evolution of it today.

[Text on screen: The sections of Whakatipu weave together child development, parenting and mātauranga Māori]

[Graphic: Drawing of a baby, a drawing of a father and a baby, drawing of a symbol, 2 ropes with an object attached to each, drawing symbol that looks like a bear with a heart and a human figure in the middle, and a moon with a face with stars and clous]

[Text on screen: Pepi says, Whānau say, Kaitiaki pēpi, Ngā taonga tākaro, Ngā tohu whānau, pakiwaitara]

And a big mihi to everyone and where they’re coming from, ngā mihi ki a koutou. As you know, we have within our sections of Whakatipu we’ve woven together child development, parenting, mātauranga Māori. So, we have a section around pēpi says and what whānau says. Kaitiaki Pēpi is an introduction into tikanga, even whānau tikanga, not too heavy, keeping it light. Ngā taonga tākaro Māori in that space. You’ll learn waiata and practical activities for whānau. Ngā Tohu Whānau, again, is about our six principles that guide us and our mokopuna to grow into thriving whānau and tamariki. And, of course, our pakiwaitara. These will all feature in Whakatipu.

So, for now I’m going to leave you there and we’re going to ruku into the play because this wānanga, for one hour, we’re going to actually do some activities. 

So, let’s grab our Te Kākano booklet, tēnei. If you don’t have it, kei te pai, because we’re going to guide you through some practical activities i te rā nei.

[Text on screen: Let’s ruku! Grab your copy of Te Kākano]

[Graphic: Book cover with title: Te Kākano from conception to birth]

But if you have it, grab it, or don’t forget you can order it online.

Ka pai, I’m going to throw it over to you Whaea Deb.

Deb Rewiri:

Kia ora, kia ora Maraea.

[Slide on screen: Kaitiaki pēpi]

[Graphic: 2 people molding clay]

So, we’re looking at a simple activity and for those of you thinking about a waka huia is just a container that is used to store a person’s most precious taonga. Well, in the context of what you are working with, with whānau, we have a tutū box. And you can use whatever you like, maybe an old shoe box. I mean I don’t buy shoes, or I don’t get shoe boxes anymore, so these are really tutū boxes or if you can get shoe boxes from the shop well then maybe they’ll give them to you. And, also, what you’re doing is recycling so this is a great thing for whānau and really simple.

So, I think, you take some items in that are really precious to you, and it could be something simple like driftwood that you found at the beach, and you’re putting them into the waka huia. It could be a large marble. Again, these are simple things and what we can talk, begin to demonstrate. And I also have a pūtangitangi, which would introduce music or waiata. So, remember to use these simple items and to introduce the process of play. Or you could use a kete. And luckily I have friends who do Rāranga, and so the ability to actually bring a kete into the whānau space to be able to talk about it and have things like shells, which you can, again, introduce about te taiao and going out to the moana so that our māmā’s already thinking about, or the whānau are thinking about, how they can go out into the natural environment and connect in that way to items, practically, that are there.

And so, as you can see there’s three shells here and they go from small to large. Well, in this context you can actually use them as seriation as the child grows and develops, so that they begin to learn from small to large. But for this purpose, all it is, is really introducing some of these concepts to whānau and just having them in your kete to take to whānau to share. I also have a shell which they can put up to their ear and listen to. But again, sharing this with whānau is that opportunity. A candle. And, I mean, these are simple things. Somewhere in here, I have a feather and a stone. Again, celebrating te taiao and looking at that. And we know that, that when whānau are out in te taiao it actually activates the pleasure centres of the brain. This is research that’s evidence-based research, that’s been done. How when we’re out in nature it actually activates all the sensory system but, also, makes us feel better once we’re outside. So, I think that’s an important message that we’re sharing with whānau, rather than telling them to take baby out for a walk. What we’re doing, are introducing concepts or things that they can do to not only help for them but also for pēpi. So, that’s just two simple activities that you can introduce into whānau, and these are all readily available. Not so much the kete but certainly that.

[Text on screen: Make a waka huia for pēpi instructions]

[Graphic: Man and pregnant wife holding hands and smiling]

Also, within the pukapuka what you will see is it gives you really clear instructions on how to make a waka huia, and this is really cool because you can take these items with you when you go to visit the whānau, and you can actually help them make one, or you can provide the resources and get them to make one. So, you take the resources in, you make one for yourself that you might gift to somebody and, also, the whānau are making their own. And the pride that people feel in making their own rauemi cannot ever be discounted. They just feel a sense of connection to this. Quite often when I used to do this activity as a parent educator a lot of the whānau, I’d go back on the next visit, and they would say, “Oh, look Whaea, look what I made.” And they’d be so proud of themselves and then they would talk to me about the importance of play and how the baby was interacting with the rauemi that they’d made. And that was really key, because it’s sort of why we want to introduce this concept is so that māmās and whānau begin to see how simple play is, and that whole introduction of everyday activities are available within that whare. And so that is the key for this. And however, they want to decorate it they decorate it themselves. So, kia ora.

Maraea Teepa:

And that’s the great thing about Te Kākano, it’s from conception to birth, and that’s the stage that we’re at the moment. So, making a waka huia you can even let them write, that little tissue box that actually if it becomes a waka huia, a treasure box, with their memories of what it’s been like in the first trimester, their second trimester, writing little messages for their pēpi, so when pēpi grows up they have their little waka huia box. It’s a nice taonga as Whaea Deb said.

However, if you’re in a group situation you can take that little kete that Whaea Deb had with all the kōhatu and shells and candles, and at a group level, what you can do is you can get everyone to pick a taonga out of the waka huia. So, they can pick a taonga and you have a question for them. It could be a question like ‘pick a taonga that reminds you of your favourite time, your best favourite whānau memory, or person, the person’. ‘So, pick a taonga that talks about, that really reminds you of a person in your life that guided you on your journey’. So having a kōhatu like this, at a group level that’s something that you can do. So that’s waka huia.

So, when you’re doing whānau journeys, working with one on one with whānau, you can do what Whaea Deb said, decorate a box and put some taonga in that will activate that conversation and tākaro and play. But also, at a bigger group level that’s one way you can do whakawhanaungatanga, is through a waka huia activity. Put it in the middle of your room and get everyone to pick a taonga and give them one question. So that’s waka huia in action from our beautiful pukapuka, Te Kākano. We’re lucky we can, hopefully that’s some good ideas on how might you activate some of this kaupapa. Ka pai.

[Slide on screen: Kaitiaki pēpi]

[Graphic: a drawing of a pear]

[Graphic: a man and woman sitting on a couch]

Our next kaupapa that we’re going to play with is oriori, and I’m going to get Whaea Deb to start this up.

Deb Rewiri:

So, oriori, the term that’s often been described to me about oriori, is an ancient lullaby, even deeper than that. What I’ve been told it’s like an ancient mōteatea. Different iwi will have different descriptions about what an oriori is. But again, we’re trying to make this really practical and reachable for all whānau. Now oriori, whenever we sing to our pēpi, either in utero or when the baby is born, we know that there is certainly evidence that when you sing to a baby in utero that, actually, they remember that waiata when they are born. And what actually happens is that some parents have used the same waiata to actually settle the pēpi.

So, this is really cool to be able to get the parents or whānau to actually begin to start practising waiata or oriori. And look, it can be as simple as. You can make up your own oriori. It doesn’t have to be a long-winded thing. It can be just something connected to the baby’s name that you’re bringing in. It can be something connected to how māmā’s feeling about the impending birth, or pāpā’s feeling, or the whānau are feeling. All of that. So, bring everybody in. And what an opportunity for the whānau to actually compose their oriori together. And so, if they’ve got older siblings then draw them in so that they feel like they’re a part of this process too.

So oriori, they don’t only give us the lyrics to sing by but, also, the pitch and tone of our voice is what the baby, or the pēpi, is actually connecting to. So we know that ten weeks prior to birth the baby can hear in utero, and so we know that singing, playing with the baby whilst in māmā, this is a way of connecting, what we call a tuning to or attachment process, is a way of us becoming closer to the baby, closer to the pēpi, and also encouraging all the whānau to connect with that pēpi in a way where they’re not only uplifting themselves, but they’re feeling a sense of connection to this pēpi that is coming into their lives.

Now when I talked about the tone and the pitch of the voice, having oriori that are fun and happy is a really good way and an opportunity to, again, release those happy hormones. Often people say to me, “Oh, what if I’m tone deaf Whaea?” And I just say, “It doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter, just sing away.” You know, because it’s that tone and pitch of voice that everybody connects to. 

[Slide on screen: Ngā mahi ā-whānau]

So, yeah, whether you’re tone-deaf or not, just get whānau to sing. And the way to get whānau to sing is if we take these waiata that are in Te Kākano into the whānau, in Tākai, in Whakatipu, to take them into the whanau first, and we have to, as whānau kaimahi, feel confident enough to sing a waiata in front of the whānau because you’re not only introducing waiata you’re introducing a vocabulary. And so, this is something that is really special for us to be able to do with our whānau at this particular period of time. Kia ora.

Maraea Teepa:

And that’s the beautiful thing about oriori, and remember, oriori is part of the kaitiaki pēpi, a taster of tikanga Māori. But it doesn’t mean you have to write or compose your waiata i roto i te reo Māori. You can write it in any language. I’m going to give you some examples. I’ve got a mokopuna, his name’s Kahutea. And I have a little waiata that I, sort of, just make up for him. So, this is his Māori version when he was growing up.

[Maraea singing]

Kahutea, he tama piri pāua ki tōna māmā

Auē, he tama menemene e

Ko Kahutea tērā

And you can just repeat it, simple as. Or one song that him and his mum used to listen when she was hapū was Roots reggae from Bob Marley. It’s like:

[Maraea singing]

Kahutea, my boy wonder

Kahutea, my moko ātaahua

So, using waiata tunes that are familiar to you. It’s all about waiata. As you could see, I was a bit wiriwiri in the voice, but it’s all good because pēpi knows your voice from when pēpi was in utero, when māmā hapū and pēpi was growing in her kōpū. So, even though I can’t sing that well, pēpi will think, ‘Oh, my nanny Maea, awesome kaiwaiata, just like Beyonce.’ So, whether you’re a Bob Marley in your mokopuna’s life or in your tamaiti’s life or in pēpi’s life, just try it.

Whether you’re just putting aroha, aroha or You are my sunshine, oh, that’s a beautiful one. It always makes me happy when I say ‘You are my sunshine…’ That becomes your whānau oriori. And whether it’s ‘You are my sunshine’, it’s keeping it simple for whānau. Let it be something that they can achieve for themselves. They might even have their own whānau waiata, their favourite waiata that they’re listening to right now and say, ‘Oh, this is going to be our oriori for now until we write or design an oriori for our whānau.’ Ka pai. So good activity to do, simple, and is also great for our mokopuna and their whānau. Ka pai. So, two little activities.

We’re going to go and introduce a new kaupapa in Whakatipu, which talks about ‘Tōku reo, toko ohooho.’ My voice, my awakening. 

[Slide on screen: Tōku reo, tōku ohooho; My voice, my awakening]

This is a new kaupapa area within Whakatipu and this is where baby wants to know a little bit about themselves and whānau can also have a chat. So pēpi, this space is about how did you find out I was joining our whānau? You know, who was there, what was the first thing you made or brought me? What kai did you like most when you were hapū, māmā?’

So, it's a real nice reflective space for māmā and the whānau to just write little kupu. And pēpi says, and we done it in a pēpi’s voice because it was actually quite nice where you’re sort of journaling for yourself. Pēpi says, ‘In the first trimester give me five kupu that tell me how you’re feeling whānau, and my kaitiaki.’ In the first trimester, and they might be harikoa, happy. They might be scared; they might put the kupu whānau. So, when pēpi grows up they can actually go beside their mama and look at their pukapuka, and their whānau, and look at the pukapuka and say, ‘Is that what you were feeling when I was in your puku, māmā?’ You know, all those beautiful things.

[Slide on screen: Tōku reo, tōku ohooho; My voice, my awakening]

‘Who has been beside you while you have been hapū?’ Really important. ‘Who are the people that were beside you māmā and guided you and supported you?’ And writing people’s names down is awesome so you don’t forget people that have been on that journey with pēpi and the whānau right from the beginning. So, ‘Tōku reo, tōku ohooho,’ is at the back of our pukapuka, page 44 and 45, and it’s just a reflective, reflections page for whānau. This is something that if you’re going into kāinga, something that you can take into the kāinga and that you can work through. All the whānau can just reflect on and if they want to write a few kupu in. Ka pai.

Well, that’s basically a quick ‘how to’. But we’re going into the best part now. It’s our pakiwaitara. And I’m going to throw it over to Whaea Deb.

Deb Rewiri:

Kia ora, kia ora Maraea.

[Slide on Screen: Pakiwaitara; Tāne Mahuta and the creation of the first woman]

So pakiwaitara and thinking about pakiwaitara, we know that the Māori creation story is really speaking to us about the role of atua in the physical realm. And so, bringing these pakiwaitara to life is an opportunity, again, to introduce this cultural frame to our whānau in a way where they feel connected to it. So, I want to share this pakiwaitara. And again, for our whānau, our kaimahi, that opportunity to go through it and read it, and look to invite or ask them that maybe there’s another pakiwaitara from their own particular hapū or iwi that they may want to share, or is there another one that they think is more appropriate. But in this instance, in Te Kākano, this is the one that we have. The story talks about Tāne Mahuta and the creation of the first woman.

[Slide on Screen: Pakiwaitara; Tāne Mahuta and the creation of the first woman]

Tāne Mahuta, the god of the forest and birds, decided one day that he wanted to create people to walk on this earth. He searched land and sea and finally went to his mother, Papatūānuku, for advice and knowledge. Papatūānuku told Tāne Mahuta to go to a place called Kurawaka, for it was there that her blood had flowed into the ground when she and Ranginui were torn apart. There he would find the earth essential to creating a wahine.

Tāne Mahuta journeyed to Kurawaka and found the red clay that Papatūānuku had spoken of. From the clay, he shaped a female body, then Tāne took the body in his arms, pressed his nose to her nose and breathed life into her nostrils. Her eyes opened and she sneezed, ‘Tihei mauri ora! Let there be life.’

And so, as you can see from the way that I read it, I’m using a lot of expressive language. Again, it’s like, utilising the voice, the pitch and the tone, to actually engage our whānau and our pēpi into what we’re reading. Now, this just makes it more inviting for the child because if I just read it like this, ‘Tāne Mahuta, the god of the forest and birds…’ As you can see, the different pitch and tone. So, it’s using that invitational language to actually draw people into the pakiwaitara that speaks of it in an exciting way, and a playful way. So, yeah, kia ora whānau.

When we think about child rearing processes and growth, they’re all linked to the creation whakapapa, it’s the same process. And this is why we have to celebrate our pakiwaitara in a generic way but also those ones that, again I want to reiterate or reinforce, the ones to ask the whānau, are there any pakiwaitara that you have from your whānau, from your hapū, from your iwi that you want to share? And so, using the pukapuka to actually, you know, you’ve got some reflective places and maybe writing in the pakiwaitara that they want to have. This is an opportunity to make this pukapuka more useable, friendly for the whānau so that they can put their own notes on it and this is the benefit of them keeping it within their whānau, so they can refer to it, they can reflect on what they’ve been sharing and saying with the kaimahi whānau. This is their opportunity. Kia ora.

Maraea Teepa:

[Slide on screen: This is one version of the creation of the first woman, Hineahoune, the woman of the earth.]

A cool thing about this pakiwaitara, and all pakiwaitara, is the other meanings behind it. On the screen you’ll see that this pakiwaitara reminds us of the importance of belonging to a whānau and community. Tāne Mahuta needed a community, to ask for advice from people with experience and knowledge. He went to his mum.

In Te Kākano, it’s from conception to birth. It’s about asking the people that, if you’ve got a midwife, a tākuta, whānau, what is it like to have a pēpi? I’m hapū, I’m not too sure, what are the right questions to be asking? This is my first time to be a māmā. Ahakoa iti, he pounamu. Remember, even though small, it’s a gift and it’s a taonga, whatever you ask. And to value and respect wāhine, and reminding whānau that this pakiwaitara is about learning is lifelong.

We’re going to jump into a little activity because we can. So, I want you to think about a kupu, one kupu, that you want to gift to Hineahuone, to support her in her journey as a wahine, and possibly a māmā, as a young woman. So, e te whānau, we’re going to give you maybe 10, oh, 20 seconds, nē. And when I decided to say, ‘Yeah, that’s enough,’ think about one kupu or one value that you want to give to Hineahuone, ka pai? 

[Slide on Screen: Pakiwaitara; Tāne Mahuta and the creation of the first woman]

With activities like this, whānau, you can do things like that; you can be quite creative. Read the kōrero, read the pakiwaitara, and then get the whānau, the parent or whoever you’re working with or supporting, or your own whānau, get them to think of one kupu, one value that they want to share with this tamaiti. It’s a really awesome way of using pakiwaitara.

If you want to be really creative ,and you’re working with more than one whānau member or in a group session, you can use this and get some playdough and give a piece of playdough to each of the people in your room and say, ‘I want you to be the waewae, the leg. I want you to be the left leg, the right leg, the ringaringa, the torso, the tinana, the māhunga.” And then divvy it out and you get them to sculpt what Tāne Mahuta did with Kurawaka, sculpt their new parent. And you can have pātai, it’s like, ‘Okay, what is the gift you want to give for a new parent?’ So, they might do one kupu but what they’re doing is they’re creating, with playdough, a person altogether and then you just play with that and support whānau to do that. Once they’ve finished that, you can get them to go through the playdough and start putting down that playdough, ‘Here’s my left leg and this is about mauritau.’ Being strong-rooted but being supportive. I want to be a supportive person. So, he might have a big hand. You might have a big waewae. Remember, parents and whānau are not equally the same and it’s a nice activity that you can do with playdough, and then you can get them to breathe life, like we’re going to do with this activity. So, I want us all to close our eyes and look at all the kupu that we’ve shared, beautiful kupu, we’ve given to our Hineahuone. I want us to breath in, hā ki roto, hā ki waho, hā ki roto, hā ki waho. And I want you to put your finger on the screen and say, ‘Tihei mauri ora.’ Anō, ‘Tihei mauri ora!’

Deb Rewiri:

Mauri ora!

Maraea Teepa:

Ka pai. And that’s a simple way of how you can use activities like this. Now you’ve seen how we’ve done it online, imagine what it could look like when you’re doing it kanohi-ki-te-kanohi, in group sessions. And all these activities are on our website. Just have a play and make them yours, be creative with our whānau because our whānau are creative. Ka pai?

Well, whānau, as we said this was going to be a real quick session and we were able to share three activities, three cool little activities for you. And remember, if you need to order Whakatipu, go to our website and order more Whakatipu for you, start playing with it, get to know Whakatipu, it’s awesome. And that’s not just from me, it’s actually from whānau and community that have said it. So, a tino big mihi to you.

Now this is a time when you might want to ask us some questions. Oh, look at those kupu: aroha, poipoi, waiata, katakata, kaha, wairua, mana, aroha, whānau. Heaps of kupu that we gave to support that. 

Oh, and here’s another pakiwaitara. 

So, in all our Whakatipu booklets you will have a pakiwaitara that will support journeys. Pick a pakiwaitara. Now we’ve made sure that our pakiwaitara are non-iwi specific so that everyone can have a part. However, in your community, you have your own pakiwaitara, so find those pakiwaitara that you know the whānau love and share it with them. It’s an awesome way to bring kōrero and kupu, building their kete of new kupu into their world. It’s awesome. So here we’ve shown you all our pakiwaitara in our pukapuka. Ka pai. Cool.

I might ask you Whaea Deb. We’ve taken Hinengaro Mīharo out of Whakatipu. In the old versions, we used to have the amazing brain. Do you know why we have taken it out, share it with the whānau why we’ve removed that.

Deb Rewiri:

Well, I think it’s, we look at the whole process of what we have in a cultural context and it’s inter-woven into everything that we do. So, it’s not like it’s a separate thing to be talking about the brain, but the brain is interactive along everything, like I was just talking about the pakiwaitara, we were talking about activities that we play, rauemi. Like everything that we’re doing is actually interlinked to things that are happening within the brain. And so, our tūpuna never looked at anything as being separate. They looked at it as being the whole. And I was just thinking of something that I read recently in terms of why tau is likened to pure, as the energy of a new-born. And it’s the closest energy to Io. And if we think of it in that context of how important our tūpuna are perceived, you know, the growing of the pēpi inside māmā, we knew why they valued these processes so much.

So, let’s not separate out the brain or the neuroscience because I think we have neuroscience junkies, it’s actually part and parcel of a whole lot of different specialties like child development, all of those things, but we’re building this context of a cultural context, and I think that’s what they key is. Is knowing and understanding that our tūpuna understood the brain as a living dynamic that interacted with, not only our physical well-being, but our spiritual, our emotional in everyday activities. It was part and parcel of who we are and how we grew.

Maraea Teepa:

Whaea Deb, thinking about sometimes we go into kāinga and you can feel the wairua is a bit tricky, you know, something might have happened in the morning, especially in Te Kākano and stuff. How do we bring in taonga like Whakatipu when you can feel a wairua that’s not a good wairua in the house, something might have happened the night before?

Deb Rewiri:

So, I think it’s always important for us, as kaimahi, to acknowledge whānau exactly where they’re at and just ask how much space have we got to bring this in. It’s not ignoring but I think we have to be really, the way to, we can emotionally regulate a process is actually being there without our judgements. And when I say that, we are all going to have judgements, but actually, are we okay to park them up. And some whānau are really struggling with activities or just seeing what the benefit of these things can do. But actually, it’s important for us, we’re in the whānau, because there’s a baby in the whānau and so, for us, it’s really important to be able to build the relationship with the skills and the knowledge that we have, and then be able to, what I call care front. Care fronting means that we’re not confronting people but we’re actually finding an opportunity or an ability to be able to front in.

So, asking questions, opening the questions, so, I’m seeing that things are happening here at the moment, are you okay to share with some of that? If they say no, so okay, how are you feeling about me being here right now? You know, using all these open-ended questions in a way that actually invites whānau in, rather than puts up a barrier, and we’ll have a multitude of questions that we can ask.

But it’s not to flood it or to try and make it something that it’s not. If we go in there and we’re really happy and we want to spread the love and the joy, that’s cool. But actually, if the whānau are not there, then we have to sit there and another thing for kaimahi is to, you have to be comfortable with discomfort. And so, part of that being comfortable with discomfort is maybe sitting there for a little while and doing, even if it’s a silent karakia to yourself. And the only time I say, get out of the situation, is if you’re not feeling safe. If you’re not feeling safe, then you have to find a way to exit from the whānau by, again, being respectful and responsive to what the situation is. But if you can sit there with the discomfort of feeling uncomfortable until the māmā’s ready to talk. And I know when that situation arises that people feel your authenticity, and this is what the key is. They feel that you are genuinely there because of them and their pēpi, their whānau. You know, you’re not there to tell them what to do but you’re there because the fact that they’ve invited you into their home is really key for this, and to make it work you actually have to build the relationship from their strengths. And we’re not looking at weaknesses, we’re looking at their strengths and their ability to be able to share with you what they’re thinking and feeling is actually a strength of that whānau. Kia ora.

Maraea Teepa:

Ka pai. Hana’s got a beautiful question.

Some whānau struggle with vision activities when they are focusing on surviving day-to-day. Any recommendations on how do you navigate activities like waka huia activities?

The waka huia activity, a way you can do it, is you can pick a taonga, get them to think of that pātai, and they don’t actually have to share it. So they hold that taonga and when you’re done and it’s actually a silent one, so you can take that taonga and you get them to think of that person, or that mamae or something, whatever, and you can just get them to hold the taonga and when they’re ready, what you can do is like, okay, we’re going to get you to paki it out and you do a pakipaki.

That’s one way you can do the waka huia activity when whānau are struggling to visioning that activity or activities like that. Or you can keep the question real simple and say, if it’s a whakawhanaungatanga you can just say, ‘Pick a taonga just so you can hold it for the day and that can be the mauri for you for the day. Just hold it all day.’ It doesn’t have to be anything, and you can then go into something like, ‘What’s your favourite ice-cream?’ Or what’s your favourite… I don’t know, car, whatever the kaupapa that you think, you know that they love. So that’s one way you can do it. Have you got any ideas Whaea Deb?

Deb Rewiri:

I think it’s actually being with them and meeting them where they’re at. You know, it depends how the relationship is, ‘I’m noticing you look a bit sad. Is there something you want to share?’ And if they do that, then maybe, you begin to go off track. So, if you want to bring it back to the pēpi or to the rauemi that you’re trying to get them to vision, ask them, ‘How do you think baby feels when you’re feeling this way?’ It’s not that we have to be joy, joy, happy, happy all the time. It’s just getting them to reflect upon, this is where I’m at. Oh, actually, how do I increase my own reflective knowledge about how pēpi must be feeling when I’m feeling this? Because, that’s a great opportunity to begin to start talking about the environment and how that’s actually helping to shape baby’s own understanding through their sensory system of what might be happening to māmā or the whānau at this particular period of time.

We can’t resolve anything. But just asking them, ‘Are you okay if we move into the rauemi?’ You’re asking them so that they set the pace. It’s not like, well I’m here to do a job and this is what I’m going to do and are you ready for me? No, it’s about, am I ready for you and where you’re at? And we can acknowledge all of that and then keep inviting. We have to keep inviting them because what we want them to become more reflective about is actually, if this is what’s happening for me at this particular period of time what’s happening for the pēpi? Sometimes in that silence, maybe asking them or inviting them, ‘Do you mind if we just sit here in silence for about a minute? I would like to do a Karakia, would you mind if I shared it with you, or do you just want me to do it silently to myself?’ Again, what you’re doing is permission-giving to them. You’re in their whare and you’re giving the permission back to them.

And so, we can keep introducing these concepts but finding a way to do it in a respectful, honouring, and responsive way. So that we’re going in, acknowledging that there’s some tension may be in the room but actually, we’re bringing ourselves tau into the process. Ka pai?

Maraea Teepa:

Ka pai. Well, whānau, tēnei te mihi ki a koutou katoa. Janine, thank you for that real good reflection because it is about keeping pēpi at the centre as Whaea Deb has put right through her kōrero and today.

E te whānau, Whaea Deb, tēnei te mihi ki a koe, ki a koutou i haere mai, to everyone that came and joined us on our one hour around how might we use Whakatipu, and let’s get playing.

E te whānau, tēnei te mihi 

Titia te ngākau, titia ki te manawa, titia ngā mahi o Whakatipu ki te whatumanawa, ki te wairua, ki te ao. Noho ora mai whānau. Hei konā.

[Graphic: Tākai Kōrero logo]