Before every session, I like to anchor myself with Before every session, I like to anchor myself with this question ‘if a child was standing at the back of the room tonight, what would they hope are the key takeaways for adults at this session?’.

It reminds me of the “invisible audience” at sessions: the children we serve—and of my responsibility and values prior to moving into my work. 

Last night, before I offered a session for families, the responses that came up for me when reflecting on this question were:

~the child might hope parents recognize children are inherently good, and that “big emotions” are not behaviours or character flaws, but simply a natural part of their humanity; 

~the child might hope that parents learn to make space for their own emotional world, recognizing its value and the important role of self-compassion in caring for themselves and their children;

~and, the child might hope that parents stop worrying about who they will become, and learn to respect and honour who their children are right now. 

Of course, there are more, but these were the three that came up first—and they stayed with me as a guiding force throughout the session—ensuring I never forget why we are all gathered in these rooms in the first place 💛
✨Update: Now booking into Fall and Winter 2026-202 ✨Update: Now booking into Fall and Winter 2026-2027, with Fall filling up quickly!✏️🗓️
On *savouring*the small moments with children✨ In On *savouring*the small moments with children✨

In the busyness of the day, can we release any guilt we may have about slowing down with children? 
Without taking a photo, writing things down to document—just being in connection with one another.
This is me…signing my first book deal 📝✨!! I never This is me…signing my first book deal 📝✨!!
I never imagined I’d someday have the opportunity to write a book that guides educators towards creating trauma-informed/trauma-assumed programs and relationships for children and families, but this is the gift and responsibility I’ve been given. I am not sure what I’m feeling right now…but it’s more than grateful.

Growing up, educators were literal lifelines for me…and fortunately, I had many trauma-sensitive educators even before deep understandings of trauma were mainstream. Now, I will spend the next year and a half writing a book that is intended to provide educators with a thorough understanding of childhood/developmental trauma, from both scientific (research) AND artistic (art, poetry, storytelling, etc.) lenses. 

In this book, I will share some of my own stories (from my personal life and practice as an educator with children)and the often-unheard voices and perspectives of underrepresented individuals as well who face systemic forms of trauma everyday. Because, although many of our practices in ECE are trauma-sensitive, trauma-insensitivities also exist. 

I can’t wait to share this book with you. Many of you have attended my sessions on childhood trauma, and this will be a much deeper dive—intended to provide you with practical skills and a more textured understanding overall.

In the end, my hope is that this book will not just inform, but also offer a space for healing and being held💛

Thank you to Redleaf Press for trusting me with this book. Here we go!📝✨
Instagram post 18016804667677564 Instagram post 18016804667677564
It was a pleasure to be a guest on the @striveswo It was a pleasure to be a guest on the @striveswo podcast Leading Inspired Learning! 🩵💚💛 We talked about what it means for children AND educators to be ‘well’ (freedom & agency) instead of focusing on what it means to be ‘good’ (compliance). Ally asks some great questions in real time—getting to the ‘heart’ of this message for listeners. 
✨Stay tuned for this episode in the next couple of months!🎙️
📣Preschool & Kinder Educators, this one’s for you! 📣Preschool & Kinder Educators, this one’s for you!📣
Are you looking for a resource to offer families as they send their little ones off to Kindergarten? I recently published this “Message in a Backpack” article with the #naeyc to support families with this important transition from Preschool to Kindergarten. 

You can check it out & download it for free here: 👇

https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/eyc/spring2026/message-in-a-backpack

You can also access the entire Spring issue here: 👇
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/eyc/spring2026

#EYCAuthor
#NAEYCVoices
✨A New Blog Post✨ has been added to the UC site en ✨A New Blog Post✨ has been added to the UC site entitled: "A Message on AWE: Letting the WONDERS of Life Change You"

Tonight, I am offering a virtual session on Awe & Wonder, and with this at the front of my mind lately, a blog post seemed fitting. 

I hope you enjoy this quick read! You can find it here: 

https://unlockingchildhood.com/a-message-on-awe-letting-the-wonders-of-life-change-you/

Photo credit: Chris Burgett
💗Words CAN’T describe this experience! But, I’ll g 💗Words CAN’T describe this experience! But, I’ll give it a try…
Last week, the @ecdaofpei invited me to deliver 3 days of intensive learning on Humanity-Driven Leadership in ECE at their leadership retreat. This was a deep dive for leaders, unlike anything I’ve ever delivered—and their idea to do this Retreat-Style made it even better. Learning was had, relationships were formed, community was built…love, laughs, and breakthrough-tears were shed. 
I asked this group to be vulnerable leaders who put people before productivity…and they delivered. 

I hope to offer this model out again to other communities looking to grow their leadership in this way…because it was everything and more. An investment? Sure. Worth it? You bet. 

I want to sincerely thank the @ecdaofpei for this invitation and for being such warm, welcoming hosts. It felt like coming home for me, and I am so grateful. 🫶

I also want to highlight @lou__lake Louise Lyman for her masterful visual depiction of the learning, conversations, and big ideas from this retreat. If you’re looking to provide graphic recording of your next PD session, I highly recommend👌🎨 (she’s also just the best human!) 

This retreat will forever live in my memory. Thank you, leaders✨
Follow on Instagram
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  • Home
  • ABOUT
  • Work With Me
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  • Blog
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Welcome to UC’s Yellow Chair Chats!

Episode 1: “How to Develop an Attachment Lens”

Would you like to use this video to engage in some Reflective Practice? If so, click the DOWNLOAD button below to access ‘The Attachment Lens’ handout:

Supplemental Learning-Developing the Attachment LensDownload

Episode 2: “How to Navigate Children’s BIG Emotions”

find me on youtube!

Episode 3: The Classroom Ecosystem

Would you like to use this video to engage in some Reflective Practice? If so, click the DOWNLOAD button below to access ‘The Early Learning Ecosystem’ handout:

The Early Learning Ecosystem Handout YCCDownload
Before every session, I like to anchor myself with Before every session, I like to anchor myself with this question ‘if a child was standing at the back of the room tonight, what would they hope are the key takeaways for adults at this session?’.

It reminds me of the “invisible audience” at sessions: the children we serve—and of my responsibility and values prior to moving into my work. 

Last night, before I offered a session for families, the responses that came up for me when reflecting on this question were:

~the child might hope parents recognize children are inherently good, and that “big emotions” are not behaviours or character flaws, but simply a natural part of their humanity; 

~the child might hope that parents learn to make space for their own emotional world, recognizing its value and the important role of self-compassion in caring for themselves and their children;

~and, the child might hope that parents stop worrying about who they will become, and learn to respect and honour who their children are right now. 

Of course, there are more, but these were the three that came up first—and they stayed with me as a guiding force throughout the session—ensuring I never forget why we are all gathered in these rooms in the first place 💛
✨Update: Now booking into Fall and Winter 2026-202 ✨Update: Now booking into Fall and Winter 2026-2027, with Fall filling up quickly!✏️🗓️
On *savouring*the small moments with children✨ In On *savouring*the small moments with children✨

In the busyness of the day, can we release any guilt we may have about slowing down with children? 
Without taking a photo, writing things down to document—just being in connection with one another.
This is me…signing my first book deal 📝✨!! I never This is me…signing my first book deal 📝✨!!
I never imagined I’d someday have the opportunity to write a book that guides educators towards creating trauma-informed/trauma-assumed programs and relationships for children and families, but this is the gift and responsibility I’ve been given. I am not sure what I’m feeling right now…but it’s more than grateful.

Growing up, educators were literal lifelines for me…and fortunately, I had many trauma-sensitive educators even before deep understandings of trauma were mainstream. Now, I will spend the next year and a half writing a book that is intended to provide educators with a thorough understanding of childhood/developmental trauma, from both scientific (research) AND artistic (art, poetry, storytelling, etc.) lenses. 

In this book, I will share some of my own stories (from my personal life and practice as an educator with children)and the often-unheard voices and perspectives of underrepresented individuals as well who face systemic forms of trauma everyday. Because, although many of our practices in ECE are trauma-sensitive, trauma-insensitivities also exist. 

I can’t wait to share this book with you. Many of you have attended my sessions on childhood trauma, and this will be a much deeper dive—intended to provide you with practical skills and a more textured understanding overall.

In the end, my hope is that this book will not just inform, but also offer a space for healing and being held💛

Thank you to Redleaf Press for trusting me with this book. Here we go!📝✨
Instagram post 18016804667677564 Instagram post 18016804667677564
It was a pleasure to be a guest on the @striveswo It was a pleasure to be a guest on the @striveswo podcast Leading Inspired Learning! 🩵💚💛 We talked about what it means for children AND educators to be ‘well’ (freedom & agency) instead of focusing on what it means to be ‘good’ (compliance). Ally asks some great questions in real time—getting to the ‘heart’ of this message for listeners. 
✨Stay tuned for this episode in the next couple of months!🎙️
📣Preschool & Kinder Educators, this one’s for you! 📣Preschool & Kinder Educators, this one’s for you!📣
Are you looking for a resource to offer families as they send their little ones off to Kindergarten? I recently published this “Message in a Backpack” article with the #naeyc to support families with this important transition from Preschool to Kindergarten. 

You can check it out & download it for free here: 👇

https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/eyc/spring2026/message-in-a-backpack

You can also access the entire Spring issue here: 👇
https://www.naeyc.org/resources/pubs/eyc/spring2026

#EYCAuthor
#NAEYCVoices
✨A New Blog Post✨ has been added to the UC site en ✨A New Blog Post✨ has been added to the UC site entitled: "A Message on AWE: Letting the WONDERS of Life Change You"

Tonight, I am offering a virtual session on Awe & Wonder, and with this at the front of my mind lately, a blog post seemed fitting. 

I hope you enjoy this quick read! You can find it here: 

https://unlockingchildhood.com/a-message-on-awe-letting-the-wonders-of-life-change-you/

Photo credit: Chris Burgett
💗Words CAN’T describe this experience! But, I’ll g 💗Words CAN’T describe this experience! But, I’ll give it a try…
Last week, the @ecdaofpei invited me to deliver 3 days of intensive learning on Humanity-Driven Leadership in ECE at their leadership retreat. This was a deep dive for leaders, unlike anything I’ve ever delivered—and their idea to do this Retreat-Style made it even better. Learning was had, relationships were formed, community was built…love, laughs, and breakthrough-tears were shed. 
I asked this group to be vulnerable leaders who put people before productivity…and they delivered. 

I hope to offer this model out again to other communities looking to grow their leadership in this way…because it was everything and more. An investment? Sure. Worth it? You bet. 

I want to sincerely thank the @ecdaofpei for this invitation and for being such warm, welcoming hosts. It felt like coming home for me, and I am so grateful. 🫶

I also want to highlight @lou__lake Louise Lyman for her masterful visual depiction of the learning, conversations, and big ideas from this retreat. If you’re looking to provide graphic recording of your next PD session, I highly recommend👌🎨 (she’s also just the best human!) 

This retreat will forever live in my memory. Thank you, leaders✨
Follow on Instagram

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