She envisioned more for herself – beyond the classroom
Over the last few weeks, I’ve been sharing a lot with you about the value and benefits of leading caregiver / baby “mommy & me” style family enrichment classes or workshops. We use the term “caregiver & me” classes to describe our programming, as it describes a more inclusive version of “mommy & me” classes that centers all kinds of families, caregivers, and family structures, reflective of the world we’d like to live in. But we’ll play the search term game to include “mommy & me” classes… to help you find us!
As educators or therapists who serve infant and toddler families or who have an educational or professional background in a field related to early child development, we know that our job is much more than simply helping babies and toddlers develop new skills. We know the exponential impact we can make when we serve families holistically in our own communities.
If you haven’t yet watched my on-demand training for educators and therapists, I invite you to do so today: How to Supplement Your Income By Providing Rich, Meaningful, Supportive Resources That Every Infant/Toddler Family Can Access – Even If You’ve Never Led a Group Workshop For Families
Today, I want to share the story of someone I’ve come to know over the last few months. I first met Lesley in February of this year (2020), just about 6 months ago. Lesley has a B.A. and M.A. in Human Development with an emphasis in Leadership and Education. She has been working in infant and toddler classrooms for over 10 years in a variety of settings, and most recently in her own family child care program for birth to three year olds in San Jose, CA.
Related Resources in This Episode
Learn With Less® Stories: Podcast episodes and other interviews from educators who’ve provided the Learn With Less® infant/toddler family enrichment curriculum and families who’ve experienced our programming.
Learn With Less® Facilitator Training & Certification Program: Use your existing skills as an educator or therapist to serve families holistically with a high quality program that will provide lasting impact! Apply now to become a licensed facilitator Learn With Less®.
Connect With Us
Ayelet: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest
Lesley: Website / Facebook / Instagram
Expand Your Reach to Serve Families Through Parent Education
Lesley had been following Learn with Less® on the podcast and on Facebook, and regularly used my information to share with the parents of the children in her care. She had been daydreaming about expanding her reach to other parents.
So many moms, fathers, grandparents, friends, etc have been following her facebook page and instagram account where she documents the learning happening in her childcare program with simple materials, and she was getting a lot of positive feedback and questions. She started to feel that parents in her community were craving this type of information.
She envisioned more for her own program. She wanted to be able to create a support system for families, serving them (eventually) with enrichment services from the prenatal period through toddlerhood. So finding a new way to offer informational and supportive enriching experiences for the whole family felt like a natural next step for her. Here’s how she describes it:
Lesley: And so I think this was the next step for me because it uses the skills I’ve been developing, and under a philosophy that I really appreciate, you know, these loose parts and recycled materials. That’s been part of my classroom since I first opened the door. And for the past two years, I was kind of researching different parent/caregiver baby classes, and, you know, there’s baby sign language, infant massage, all the different approaches and they all, they all sounded great and I still would love to be all of them, but yours spoke to me the most because it is just use what you have and you can enhance your child’s experience and their learning and their, your attachment just by being yourself and using things that you have.
That’s so important to me because I, I just, I feel I always did not really appreciate all the marketing tactics that all you see in the baby industry that lead with, say, fear. And I didn’t really understand it until I was pregnant too, because even though I had this philosophy ingrained in me where I just want to use everyday materials, loose parts, I felt, “oh, well, I need to get this, and I need to get that,” even with my prior knowledge, I still felt all this pressure. So I was thinking, and having conversations with my friends and hearing how much bigger their fear was, and I found that yeah, this is really important to talk about. There’s gotta be a way…
I started following you on… I think I even listened to your podcast before I found your internet presence. And I was like, oh this is so interesting! Who’s this lady? We would totally get along! I started following your stuff for probably at least a year, if not more. And when I, as soon as I saw that this was available, I knew it was like a sign.
The “this” that she’s referring to is the Learn With Less® Facilitator Training and Certification Program.
Now, when I first met Lesley, she had offered a few workshops to both parents and other providers, but she wanted to step up her game and offer more workshops for her community.
On top of running her own infant and toddler child care program, she had some experience with designing and developing programs for families. But Learn With Less aligned so well with her approach, and she was excited to partner together.
But she was having a difficult time being able to do the actual work of taking her years of education and experience in this other direction. She was craving a clear way to take her child development knowledge beyond the classroom and be confident about it!
Now, she had some initial hesitations when considering the opportunity of joining the Learn With Less® Facilitator Training and Certification Program. Here’s what she said:
Lesley: I know one of the things was cost because, you know, I’m an early childhood educator. It’s just the, you know, we don’t get a very respectable pay. So I have to really reflect hard on how I want to invest in my future. And so I think interviewing with you and talking with you helped me make that decision to move forward.
Ayelet: What were some of the things, or, what did I say that convinced you?!
Lesley: I think it was just the conversation. I don’t even think it was anything specific, I think because you’re relatable. And you just talked about your program with passion that I knew that it was going to be something good. I think I just, that made me remember why, my hesitation – because I was going to be part of the first cohort that I was, I wasn’t sure, like, you know, does Ayelet know what she’s doing, you know? Like this is the first class, and I like to be over prepared. I had shared that earlier. And so without having run all of that before, your program, I was a little hesitant. But like I said, that conversation where you spoke with passion, you explained what the classes looked like and you know, that, that was enough to convince me.
Putting Your Faith In Yourself as a Parent Educator and Knowledgeable Professional
Lesley was part of the first cohort of the training program, which meant that she had to put a lot of faith in me. One of her main hesitations was that she was worried that the training program I had developed might not adequately help her feel confident to actually go forward and lead a class in her community, either online or in person, using the curriculum I developed, or that she wouldn’t finish what she started. She shared:
Lesley: I think, one of my personality traits is sometimes not being able to complete what I start. So something that required a length of time to, to partake in, in order to complete, and also having to host a demo class, which was a little scary and intimidating. Yeah, I was just worried that I was going to invest in something and not follow through, which I have done a few times in my past.
Ayelet: Sure. I think we all have.
Lesley: Yeah. I just kept reminding myself that I felt like this was meant to be, and I was meant to be part of this program, in the first cohort, and I just, I pushed through it. And I think what helped was that you had your schedule. I can listen back as needed, attend when I, yeah. And so I didn’t, sometimes I attended and you know just had the earbud on but listened, even though I was cooking or something. So that was very helpful. And I was able to go back and be listening to the lessons, which was very helpful. There are some things that I just wanted to hear again, you can just go at your pace, still, and even at the end, I wanted to host a demo class, but I’ll have to do it this week. Because I knew, if I procrastinated too much that I might not do it, I just put it on the calendar and did it.”
Ayelet: And yet you’re the second person to complete the entire, the entirety of it. So, ta-da, congratulations. Yeah.
Lesley: It’s such a huge sense of accomplishment because I was fearful that I wasn’t going to finish. So I’m feeling pretty proud of myself right now.
Ayelet: And it’s what, like, not even two weeks since we completed the last module, like that’s amazing. And in the middle of, lest I say it, a global pandemic. Okay. So how about like, what is, what is a perception change or a few, but that you’ve had after participating in the program, what are some of the things that maybe also that you didn’t expect to learn or think about that you, that you have?
Lesley: Yeah, that’s, that’s great. I think when I entered, I had this idea, Oh, well, I’ve been teaching infants and toddlers for 10 years. I probably know all this stuff already. I’m in it, just so I can learn about the class structure and to be able to learn how to create this business. But I think throughout, I was able to learn so much more and just reinforce what I’ve already believed in, but maybe mainstream media told me that it’s not ok?
So, you know, it just felt good to be in a group of people that all shared the same idea, that you can really have a wonderful experience with your child, just you and your child, and junk mail or pots and pans. Yeah. Or, you know, some brushes from the bath. Yeah. And you know, I, I sometimes strive to have that Instagram worthy, you know, play area or activity. And it just, it’s not about that.
Ayelet: Lesley, we’re, we’re changing. We’re changing what “Instagram-worthy” looks like. Yes, but sorry, I interrupted you please.
Lesley: Oh, no, it’s not. Yeah. That’s, that was a big perception change. I think what I had mentioned when we were kind of talking about the demo video that I realized the difference between having on a teacher hat, and being a facilitator of a parent child, and it is very different. It feels very different in my heart.
In that moment where a parent had shared some vulnerable information or what became vulnerable, my teacher hat wanted to share so many different facts and scientific data, but the facilitator hat was on and I just, it felt to share and hold space with her, to share her experiences. And the classes really helped me figure out the difference between those two hats.
Ayelet: The difference between those two hats. Yeah. That’s, that’s, that’s powerful. What about like, what do you, what do you feel like the impact of having this program in your life now will, will have on your life? How, how is this going to change your, your career trajectory or your life goals? Obviously your life goals are not different, but what is, what is different?
Lesley: It’s exciting. I feel like what I’ve been envisioning for the past few years is slowly coming into fruition. So, um, I, so I operate a family childcare program and I’ve been open Monday through Friday, but starting August I’m closing Fridays. Um, and then I’m going to host my Learn With Less® classes on Fridays. That way I have more time with my son on Fridays, and then the class will be an hour. And then I have the rest of my day to, to be with him, which I’ve kind of come to really, really enjoy during this whole pandemic.
Then going back to work, it’s still great because I’m with him all day, but it’s very different, and I’m sharing my time with him and other children. And it’s kind of motivated me to, to really look at my business and try to expand it even further. I’m just so full of confidence right now.
I think it’s a really great opportunity for early childhood educators and preschool teachers who are looking maybe to, to just try to use their degree, their education in a different way besides being in the classroom. Yeah. I think, I think parents are really appreciative of this type of work, creating a community for them, as well as that validation that what they’re doing is enough, that they’re teaching their babies every day. Yeah.
Ayelet: With, with what they’re already doing. And you’re just calling attention to that in new ways.
Lesley: Yeah.
A Roadmap to Success
Lesley feels confident, she has a roadmap to reach another level in her career. She knows exactly what she needs to do, and she’s already started laying the foundation.
She led her first infant class a few weeks ago, completely online, and for me, to sit and watch her take the reigns, to put her own spin on it, to create rich, meaningful, supportive experiences for the families who participated – and will continue to participate in her classes… it was just incredible.
I got to hand that to her, and she gets to bring it to her community.
Now, if this kind of work calls to you, if you are an educator or therapist looking for new ways to serve families, to use your knowledge to support new parents and caregivers in your community, I invite you to download my free caregiver/baby classes roadmap, which is waiting for you at learnwithless.com/facilitator. Downloading that will get you onto the waitlist to learn more about the Learn With Less® Facilitator Training and Certification Program, which I’ll be opening for enrollment again very soon.
Now, I’d love to know more about you: does this work call to you? Do you already serve families in your community in a similar way? Send me a direct message Instagram – I’m @learnwithless and I’d love to hear from you.
