In the second episode of our Q&A series, I got to chat with Sarah, who is both a mama to her 14-month-old son and a teacher, who primarily works with two-year-olds. 

There is certainly an emphasis on teachers connecting with parents in order to gain an understanding of their students’ backgrounds, but I think it’s equally important and is sometimes overlooked, for parents out there to hear what it’s like behind the scenes for the teacher. It’s beneficial for parents to hear that teachers are working with just as much intention as they are. This understanding can lead to parents and teachers finding some common ground, and realizing they are...

Today we kick off our Q&A Series with April, who has been an active member in our Seed village for about two years. April lives in Amarillo, Texas with her husband and three-year-old daughter, Quinn. 

April admits that she has a hard time letting her daughter feel hard emotions for an extended period of time. She wonders when to let her have a hard feeling, how long to let her have that hard feeling, and how long to allow her daughter to engage with a coping mechanism before implementing a coping strategy. 

First, we want to pay attention to what it looks like when we are turning to coping strategies versus coping mechanisms. When we turn to a strategy, the...

Sweet summer is just about a wrap, which means it’s almost back to school time. Like most transitions, the back to school transition is hard and can come with hard emotions - whether your kiddo is heading off to a brand new school or just a brand new classroom and teacher. Either way, everyone wants to nail this. Both kiddos and parents want to feel supported during this time. So, here are my back to school tips and tricks.

First, let’s take a look at preparation and some actual tools that can be used to prepare you and your kiddo to head back to school. One useful tool is visual aids, which y’all know I’m a huge proponent of. We use visual aids all...

I’m so jazzed about this episode of Voices of Your Village because I got to sit down and chat with probably one of the most emotionally intelligent 11-year-olds you’ll ever meet, Elijah. His mom Danielle allowed us to share on Instagram and Facebook an exchange she and Elijah had in which she emotion coached him through a tough situation, and basically the response was that Danielle is serious #momgoals and Elijah is serious #11yearoldgoals. I wanted to chat with Elijah about being a soon-to-be middle school kid - what it’s like and how to navigate all of the hard stuff surrounding this unique time in life. We chatted about the difficulties of middle...

There are generally two schools of thought in regards to sharing, and they tend to be on opposite ends of the spectrum. One end is the belief that what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is yours, and my kiddos don’t need to share, while the other end is the belief that everybody takes turns and everybody shares. I believe in finding a middle ground here. Over the years, I’ve worked with thousands of kiddos, and I’ve noticed some trends when it comes to sharing. 

Some kiddos actually really like to share and offer all on their own because it brings them joy. So, what is it about these kiddos that leads to a desire for collaborative...

“That wasn’t my expectation.” Have you ever found yourself in a situation that caused you to say this to yourself? A four-year-old once said this to me and it was quite possibly the biggest game-changer in emotion processing for me. This is truly the root of so many of the hard stuff we feel. If we really breakdown what we’re feeling - whether it be embarrassment, anger, sadness, or disappointment - it is often because our expectations were not met. This has totally changed my emotion processing. It doesn’t mean I won’t feel these things or a situation won’t cause these emotions, but I benefit from being more self-aware of this...

In this episode of Voices of Your Village, I got to sit down with the two people, Fran and Daryl, who raised my favorite human, my husband Zach, and chat with them about how they navigated co-parenting through divorce and separation. These two navigated this challenge beautifully, so there was no one I’d rather sit down and talk to about this than them. If you’re a parent going through a separation or divorce or navigating co-parenting yourself, you’re not alone - this has been a highly requested topic and is super relevant for our village. 

Zach was six or seven when his parents divorced, and according to Zach, he always felt that the decisions his...

As parents and caregivers, one of our goals should be for our tiny humans to trust us - trust us to keep them safe and trust us to do what we say we’re going to do - and for us to trust them to hold up their end of the bargain. You may think this happens in the big moments - them coming to you with a big secret or confiding in you - but trust is actually built in the smaller moments, like keeping a promise. And it’s a two-way street - I expect the tiny humans to do what they say they’re going to do, too. There will be times when we let each other down because that’s just life - but more often than not, we need to follow through.

I want the tiny...

On this episode of Voices of Your Village, I got to hang out with my pal Kristie on her Pre-K Teach and Play Podcast. An accomplished author, sought-after consultant, and educator’s educator, Dr. Kristie Pretti-Frontczak spent 16 years as a tenured professor at Kent State University before leaving to lead a {r}evolution in early care and education. Through comprehensive classes, thought-provoking keynotes, and practical resources, she’s guiding educational professionals toward developing their emotional intelligence, reclaiming children’s right to learn through play, and reimagining more inclusive classrooms. We got to dive into the topic of teaching...

It’s no secret that I firmly believe that kids should be raised in a village. What that village looks like has greatly evolved over time - from when the majority of women were stay-at-home moms, building a village made up of other stay-at-home moms, to a society in which more kiddos are in childcare than ever before. The way that we are raising these tiny humans and the structure of our village has totally changed. Many folks aren’t living near family and are in a space of having to build their framily (friends as family) village. 

So, how do we build our village? 

I had a village that I loved the crap out of while living in Boston, so as we anticipated...