Philosophy

General childcare philosophy:

  • Respect infants and toddlers, and their wishes
  • Responsive Care
  • Reflective teaching by modeling
  • Try to make all first experiences positive! If I could tell all parents only one thing, it would be that every first experience is literally shaping their child’s brain. So let’s be kind, caring, attentive and gentle so our next generation can witness healthy social interactions and have positive first experiences for healthy brain development.

General teaching philosophy:

  • Infants and toddlers learn through touch, taste, and experience. They do not learn by being told “no, don’t touch that!” Therefore, the environment needs to be specially designed for them to explore and experience safely. If they can access it, they will! I planned my environment with that in mind so the environment is the teacher and I am the guide. I can help you set up your house in this way too.
  • I believe in a play-to-learn teaching method which I feel meets all of the four developmental domains:
    • Social/Emotional—With play,  children learn great social skills such as sharing, taking turns, and learning how to deal with emotions such as frustration
    • Cognitive/Mental– While playing, infants learn how the world works, such as
      learning that round balls roll, and cars can be pushed. As they get older, I will challenge them with puzzles and memory games.
    • Language– Through play, children learn vocabulary, and learn to express their thoughts and feelings.
    • Physical– Infants exercise their gross muscles, from incentive to crawl toward a toy, to learning to walk with a push toy. Mobile infants learn fine motor skills while playing by pressing buttons, dressing dolls, opening bags I pack with safe toys, etc.

Nature

  • I think it is important for children to be in nature as much as possible. Children appear calmer and more independent after spending time in the fresh air and sunshine surrounded by trees and grass.
  • I will keep them shaded before 6 months, and after 6 months will ask that you pack your choice of sunscreen for me to keep on hand so they can get some sunlight and play at the park without getting a sunburn!
  • I will also bring some nature into our learning area when they are older, such as large (non-choking size) rocks, shells, leaves and sticks for them to use for play and art projects.

Sleeping

  • Our sleep routine consists of rocking and singing each child’s special song, one at a time, and then singing one last song before turning on a sound machine and dimming the lights. It is a gentle training process to get to this point with all children and have it go smoothly, but within a few weeks of regular care they will be accustomed to this process. When they are very small, I will most likely rock them to sleep on their natural sleep schedule.
  • If you always nurse your baby to sleep, rock them to sleep, or always sleep next to them, this process will take much longer and will be harder on the child, so please consider your method and routine of putting your child to sleep.
  • I would really love to accommodate everyone’s individual sleeping schedule, however working with 3 infants at once providing high quality care, meeting all of their needs, and keeping them as happy as possible, I have found it is best that I get all the kids on the same schedule, which of course will take a few weeks of regular care for them to all sync up.
  • I am happy to provide some tips on gentle sleep training for nighttime that parents can do at home starting at 4 months old. Our goal is to put baby to bed sleepy, but not sleeping so they can learn to put themselves to sleep.
  • Lovey – if you find your kiddo prefers a special pacifier or toy to help them sleep, please order several of them asap and switch them out so they smell the same. Please pack one for me to keep.

Potty Training

This is a sensitive subject for parents (and toddlers!) There are so many philosophies on how and when to potty train. I am happy to accommodate your chosen method. I personally believe that as soon as children become mobile we should introduce them to a potty chair and talk about it often so they feel comfortable with asking about it when they can speak. As long as it is kept fun and positive I see no harm in it. Actual potty training where the child is out of diapers and pull ups will most likely happen after the child leaves my program, but I am sure my program will help prepare them for successful potty training.