even too scared to talk. Dr. Bremness
would point out that the key to healing
from traumatic attachment disorder
is to reach back into the child’s past,
back to when he was a baby and
couldn’t even talk, because
that’s where he stores
the memory in his
brain.
Once, a participant
was nursing a newborn
during the session.
Dr. Bremness observed
that the central principle
of TAG is for caregivers
to establish as profound an
attachment to their children as a
nursing mother develops with her
baby. He said in doing that, caregivers
create new neural pathways to replace
the ones damaged by trauma.
Grandparents, foster parents, and
adoptive parents can’t go back
in time and turn their kids back
into babies, but they can create
new, healthy attachments through
one-on-one playtime. TAG staff
provide a shopping list of suggested
items to create a kit with
and for each child:
paper, pencils,
paints and brushes,
playdough, scissors,
puppets, hand
lotion made with
the child’s favourite
scent, walkie-talkies,
playing cards, and so
on. They tell caregivers
to dedicate at least twenty
minutes every day to one-on-one time
with their children — that’s better than
any medicine.
Staff tell caregivers to remember
that when children throw tantrums or
act out in other ways, the children
8
days
Amsterdam | Antwerp | Arnhem | Ghent |
Middelburg | Rotterdam
MAY 6, 2020: $2,939 * p.p.
Gary Garrison’s book about
grandparenting, Raising
Grandkids: Inside Skipped-
Generation Families, is his second
book. Gary has a PhD in English
from the University of Alberta and
was editor of Alberta Hansard.
LOSE YOURSELF
IN BREATHTAKING
BEAUTY
...for the experience
VISITS TO:
“aren’t giving you a hard time. The
children are having a hard time.”
That’s when they need love and
support even more.
Caregivers love the children in
their care when they start TAG.
They graduate with state-of-the-art
knowledge and tools to use with love
every day to help their children heal.
Those tools and that knowledge, of
course, don’t come with a guarantee
of success, but they are a big
improvement over love without them.
As Paul McCartney says, in another
context, they “take a sad song and
make it better.” ●
AMADEUS TULIP SERENADE
AMSTERDAM, NETHERL ANDS
Words can’t describe the vast ocean of colour that awaits you on this unforgettable
river cruise. You’ll glide past picturesque European towns, explore the “Venice of
the North” and witness the stunning sight of thousands of tulips in full bloom.
*Prices are per person in Canadian dollars based on double occupancy. Based on Cat C4. ON- 4499356/
4499372 | BC-34799 | QC–7002238 | 111 Peter Street, Suite 200, Toronto, ON. M5V 2H1 ®Merit Travel is a
registered trademark of H.I.S. - Merit Travel Inc. All rights reserved. “
Call 1-844-408-1770 or visit MeritTravel.com/ARTA
news&views WINTER 2019 | 47