For today’s episode, I had the incredible opportunity to chat with Ross Thompson. Ross has been teaching 3,4, and 5-year-olds at the University of Minnesota for the past eleven years, while also leading undergraduate courses on cognitive language, creativity, and motor development in early childhood. Ross’s passion in early childhood development focuses on exploring how the physical body moves and how we then are able to learn through that movement. This Spring, Ross is opening his new early learning center in Savage, Minnesota. In his podcast, “Teaching With the Body in Mind” Ross focuses on moving to learn. The podcast stemmed from a Big Body: Rough and Tumble conversation group t...

On today’s podcast, I had the wonderful opportunity to talk with Alex Winkelman Zeplain. Alex is the founder of Hello My Tribe, which she created to serve as a support system for women and mothers. Through podcasts, written content, events, and different experiences, Alex hoped that this community would create a positive support system for all women as they venture through life’s journeys. While working to create this community, Alex was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). With her diagnosis, Alex was even more inspired and motivated to continue on with her business and be able to create a support system for other women who had MS. From creating Hello My Tribe, she was able to shar...

On today’s podcast, I had the amazing opportunity of talking with Brittany Murlas, the owner and founder of the website, Little Feminist. Her idea to start this company came from the work she did at her previous job where she was able to see that book giving was a popular gift amongst the baby world. So with this information in mind, plus her strong fascination with children’s literature and the children’s book market world, Brittany created this company. She works closely with parents, a librarian, and a teacher to find children’s books that feature powerful female characters and/or people of color.

As Brittany shared, a feminist is defined by the belief that all genders are equal...

This week’s podcast is one that has never been done before! I had the amazing opportunity to talk with an incredibly funny and intelligent 5-year-old kiddo, Mabel Jane Chew. She shared experiences with me from her sleep to her daily adventures that she has with her family. Mabel was honest and pure with me right from the start of our chat, which truly made it such an enjoyable and fun experience!

At the start of our chat, Mabel shared with me who was in her family including her mom and dad, and her 3-year-old brother, Maslo. Mabel and I then started talking about sleep. I had the opportunity of working with Mabel’s family on sleep and helped them to create a sleep schedule that worked...

On today’s podcast, I got the chance to talk about a topic that many listeners were interested in learning more about. The topic of gunplay is one the comes with uncertainty as to how caregivers handle this type of play with their kiddos. I had the chance to talk to my friend and former co-worker, Angela Garcia, as we dove into this topic. We have an open discussion about the concerns and uncomfortable feelings that many people have when this type of play takes place. Coming from different views, in regard to this topic, Angela and I get to share our perspectives and thoughts with one another, which leads to an honest and real conversation. 

Angela has been a preschool teacher in a...

On today’s podcast, I had the amazing opportunity of talking to Nao Pinard who is the momma of two kiddos, Maya and Emalee. Shortly after Emalee was born, Nao and her husband, Sean, found out that their daughter had been diagnosed with Down Syndrome. Throughout our conversation, Nao shared with me her honest and real feelings that she experienced after giving birth to Emalee and all the challenging yet wonderful experiences that she has experienced since Emalee’s birth. Nao serves as an amazing resource for parents and family members who are coming into this journey or who are already in it. 

After Nao gave birth to Emalee it took her a lot of time to process what it was going to b...