Check out Ali Waltien's list of books on Grief and Loss here

00:00:01    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village podcast. And today we get to hang out with an expert here in talking to kids about death. I interviewed Ali Waltien for our book Tiny Humans, Big Emotions, coming out in October 2023, because we really needed to chat about what does it look like to support kids emotional development while talking to them about tricky subjects and things that are going to come with a lot of adult emotions as well. Death being one of those. 

00:00:40    Alyssa

I love Ali's insight and her practical scripts and approach to chatting with...

00:00:00    Alyssa

It's. You're listening to Voices of Your Village. And buckle up today, y'all, because we are diving in to the topic of sex. We get to hang out with Vanessa and Xander Marin. They are over at Vanessa and Xander on Instagram. They wrote an incredible book that I purchased own. Got to chat all about them with called, Sex Talks. And what I love about them is that their approach to sex is really about an approach to communication. How are we showing up in relationship with one another? How are we having conversations, especially ones that might feel awkward or new for us, like, if we didn't grow up having these conversations or witnessing them, what...

00:00:01    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. And today we're gonna dive into what kindergarten readiness really looks like. I got to hang out with the dreamboat Susie Allison from Busy Toddler. I could have hung out with Susie forever. We speak the same language. Also. She's hilarious. If you're not following Busy Toddler already, it's an incredible follow over on on Instagram. She's an incredible follow. Sorry, Susie, for calling you it. And I loved this conversation so much because we got to talk about the history of kindergarten and how we even got where we are and what it looked like to move forward and what really matters when we're looking at child...

00:00:02    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, this is episode 233. I got to hang out with Dr. Ellen Vora. Oh gosh, I love hanging out with Ellen. She is incredible. She wrote a beautiful book about adult anxiety. And let me tell you y'all like we know anxiety is on the rise and we need concrete tools for what to do with it. And when I first started reading her book, The Anatomy of Anxiety, it was one of those things where immediately I was like, yes, yes. Yep, so much yes to this. As a human who once lived with a lot of anxiety and has learned a lot of tools that I get to employ in the day to day to live with less anxiety, I felt like I just felt so seen...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. And today we get to hang out with my pal Heather Avis from the Lucky Few Foundation. Maybe you follow The Lucky Few Official on Instagram. Fantastic follow. Heather wrote one of my absolute favorite children's books. It's called Everyone Belongs. And I honestly, I cannot read it without crying. It's so good.  It's one of my favorite gifts to give at kids' birthday parties. And today we get to dive in with her on how to build a culture of inclusivity at home. I love Heather's approach and work and influence in this space. And it was truly a dream to get to sit...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. And today we get to dive in with Wendy Snyder. I got to chat with Wendy. All about compassionate discipline. I don't know about you, but I feel like this is one of those topics that is just a hot button one. Like, what is discipline? What's the difference between discipline and punishment? How do we navigate boundaries and discipline with compassion? How do we really connect with the human in front of us and be mindful of our triggers and aware of our like, especially for me, like, defiance is such a trigger. And so when it comes time for discipline, when there's been defiance, I can feel it all in my body. Like, my...

 00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village, this is episode 227. In this episode I get to hang out with the CEO of Wonderschool, Chris Bennett. Chris and I got to dive into how Wonderschool is changing childcare systems. Ya'll know I am not here for a Band-aid on a bullet hole. I love really taking a million steps back and looking at the whole picture, getting that bird's eye view and saying, how do we create systems change? Change that supports Early Childhood educators, that's best for families and for kids. What does this really look like and how do we afford to do it? What does it look like logistically? Wonderschool is a huge piece of that...

00:00:00    Alyssa

You're listening to Voices of Your Village. This is episode 226. I got to hang out with Kobe Campbell to dive into her first book. Why Am I Like This? How to Break Cycles, Heal from Trauma and Restore Your Faith. Y'all, this conversation, it was so fun to have and to dive into, really at the crux of doing this work, of raising emotionally intelligent humans is diving into our own work of who am I? What am I coming to the table with? What am I bringing from my childhood, and how do I build tools and awareness so that I can regulate and respond with intention? So many of us did not grow up with these tools for emotional intelligence, and we're trying to...

00:00:01    Alyssa

 You're listening to Voices of Your Village. This is episode 223. For this episode I got to hang out with my dear friend Ellen Drolette to chat about building resilience for Early Childhood educators. Ellen is the author of "Overcoming teacher burnout" where she goes into strategies for supporting Early Childhood educators in this field that we know is so ripe with burnout. Ya'll we need to support our Early Childhood educators and Ellen and I got to chat about how to do just that. We know that now more than ever there is a teacher shortage and teachers leaving the field in droves. Because we're exhausted, we're overworked and underpaid and alone and...