On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, we were joined by LaDawn White, an Early Childhood Educator and Family Childcare Director. LaDawn is the owner of Labor of Love Childcare, a preschool prep, family childcare program that services families with children aged birth to three years old.
We chatted about:
- LaDawn’s background and how she came to do the work she’s doing today
- What are the kinds of materials and experiences she finds are the most supportive of learning for infants and toddlers?
- What are some of the simple ways parents and caregivers can set up the home environment to help support early learning and connection?
- LaDawn’s top tips for parents and caregivers who want to ensure they’re “doing it right” and “doing enough” when it comes to their little ones
- LaDawn’s favorite resources to share with families raising infants and toddlers of all developmental levels
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
Janet Lansbury: Elevating Childcare
Connect With Us:
LaDawn: Website / Facebook / Instagram
Ayelet: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest
Text Transcript of This Episode:
Ayelet: Today I am speaking with LaDawn White, the owner of Labor Of Love Childcare, a preschool prep, family childcare program that services families with children aged birth to three years old, located in Northern Indiana. Through her collection of experiences and education, LaDawn offers an all-inclusive childcare program that provides education, activities, and resources for young children and their entire families. LaDawn, you and I connected a while back on social media, and I know that you provide such value for families in your community. So I’m really excited to chat with you about your approach to play and early childhood education. So welcome to Learn With Less.
LaDawn: Thank you for having me! Yay.
Ayelet: I’m so glad you’re here. So I’ve asked you to come onto the show today to speak to us really about, you know, how to provide nurturing relationships and environments that shape a young child’s brain. But first, why don’t you tell us more, a little bit about you and how you actually got into the work that you’re doing today?
LaDawn: Sure. So I started, just, I guess initially this wasn’t my career pathway. So I was in fashion design and had children got married, had children and was like, okay, I need something a little more practical. I need something that… I’m a small town girl, you know, big cities did not seem very appeasing to me having a young family. And so ultimately, I just wanted my kids to have the best education and for them to be with people who I could trust. And so that kind of is what prompted me to look into education.
And then I started thinking about how I didn’t want to work with kids that were too old. So, you know, the younger children seem to be underserved. So maybe I can kind of explore that field, just really got into it and start off as a nanny, of course, trying to make sure my children knew as much as they needed to before they went off to preschools and things like that after I kind of let go because I was like, “oh I don’t want them to go!” They can stay with me.
And so I ended up, that prompted me then to open up a childcare in my home, my first one, I was like 23. So, you know, things were lot different than they are now, now I’m 35 and, you know, looking at things different through different lenses, from experience and education. So, you know, I was just so just excited about being in a field that was underserved. And I knew that I could offer a lot too, cause I come from a family of teachers. So I’m like, okay, this may be my purpose. This may be way to do it. It just came so natural.
And then, like I said, through the different experiences, I’ve been a teacher assistant, I’ve been a teaching coach. I had my own program, now of course my own program again. And I just really enjoy and love teaching children. And I noticed such a big need to teach not only them, but their families, they need the resources to do. And in order to help their children be the best they can be.
Ayelet: Yeah, well said, it’s so true. And I love how, because I, I had a similar path as far as the parent education component of my career when I had my own child, I definitely felt like, well, I already know a little bit about, you know, early childhood education on play and early child development. And I, I think, you know, and we have talked about this in the past, like that feeling that you, you know what’s best for your child and you have a little bit of knowledge and you can apply that. And that, that is really so powerful and so empowering for you as an educator and as a parent.
LaDawn: Yes, exactly.
Ayelet: So let’s dig right in. What are some of the kinds of materials and experiences that you have found are the most supportive for learning for infants and toddlers?
LaDawn: You know, during that stage, children are just imitating so much, you know, I’ve been one of those educators and parents that really wanted to get gadgets and gizmos that, you know, have bells and whistles and, you know, they, they did so many different things and the kids, just their attention span was so short with those things. And I’m like, I just spent a gazillion dollars on this toy for the child to love the box that the toy came in and it’s like, that is not what is supposed to happen.
You know, I really, throughout the years it just seems like kids want whatever the adult has, whether it be a phone, whether it be a cooking utensil, whether it be the laundry basket, I mean, whatever your child sees you with, they ultimately want. And so providing a child with those types of items where they can have, and you know, this one’s yours and this one’s mine, but this one’s yours and it looks just like yours. So ultimately, you know, of course I still want yours, but at least knowing they have something that looks like, you know, yours, they will be more inclined to play with.
And then, you know, you’ll be able to do whatever you need to do as a parent or an educator. And so it’s so funny that, you know, we would think, I don’t know who makes toys, toys for children, but I don’t know. I don’t think it’s the thing. I don’t think it’s educators, because it’s like, that’s not what they like, you know? And it’s sad because you think all these people know, really know what children like, and then ultimately you see them play with for two seconds. And it was like, Oh, what a waste of money! So, you know, boxes. And like I said, kitchen utensils, bubbles, kids love bubbles and anything sensory based, sand and dirt and water, which ultimately are very minimal costs. You know, these are things that kids love. And so, yeah, that’s been my experience.
Ayelet: Yeah. I love what you said about how, like, I don’t know who’s making these toys, but… Because the point is like, they’re not marketing to the children, obviously they’re marketing to the parents, right? The baby industry. And I’m also, I think it’s really interesting because I think especially parents, but also us as educators, therapists, professionals, working with families like that term “educational toy,” and I’m doing air quotes, we think it means something, right? We think that it means that that’s passed through some sort of process to become accredited. And it’s just a term you can put on a box that’s, you know, it doesn’t mean…
LaDawn: It’s a marketing term.
Ayelet: Yes! It’s marketing, so, right. Like you said, families are looking for these high quality things, but what we often and educators too, because I think you’re absolutely right. As a, as a therapist I’ve, especially earlier in my career, I spent hundreds of dollars getting, you know, that one toy that I could only find on eBay because some other speech-language pathologist said it was so great for, you know, for therapy, but really I could just make it out of cardboard pieces, right? I mean, it’s ridiculous.
And it’s that, I like to say, like the emperor has no toys, right? Because if it’s like it just, but it does, it takes a reframe and we’d have to come back to like what you were saying about how children learn through observation of their environment and the people in their environment, imitation of what the parents and caregivers and other adults are doing in their environment, and interaction with those people and those objects. So I love all of that.
So tell us a little bit about, because as we know, there are many families, especially right now, as we record in the midst of a global pandemic, there are a lot of families who are home with their kids and thinking, Oh my gosh, I need more materials, more stuff, more things to entertain my child. I’m not doing enough for their, you know, their learning, their development. What are some of the very simple ways that parents and caregivers can set up their home environment to help, to support early learning? What do you recommend?
LaDawn: I believe in a lot of your philosophies, which is why we connected so well use what you have in your home. It’s not, you know, it’s really just that simple. I mean, we have so many teaching tools that we can use and implement that children love just naturally. Why buy some fancy toy just because, like I said, it’s marketable or it’s trending, you know, based on a mom’s group or a parent group “try this new toy. You know, this is the coolest thing to have,” you know, no, we want to do what’s best for children and doing what’s best for children, it’s just the simplest thing. So use what you have in your environment!
Ayelet: Totally. What are some of the kinds of, I mean, you already gave some great examples as far as like kitchen items and cardboard boxes. What about, like, what are some of the ways that you have set up, for instance, your family and daycare program, the space itself to help, to maximize learning?
LaDawn: We have a lot of open space. However, of course, with, you know, childcare environments themselves, you have to kind of section off things to reduce, you know, behaviors that may not be as appropriate because of the space and having so many children. But, I believe, you know, we initially, like I said, got all these fancy toys and all these fancy things, we switched out a lot of stuff to just things, like I said, that are everyday materials, every day, things that kids can use.
So, we we’ve gotten like phones, you know, that are the corded phones that we used to have back in the day, the landlines. We use ice cream scoops, we use, we’ve had at one point we had the strainer bowls, we had some of those, just a lot of open ended materials that kids can use, that they can use their own minds and creativity to learn and to explore. I’m trying to think of a few things that we just put in. They love to pound on things. We got these like age-appropriate hammers, like, that they can use. And just really looking at what they’re interested in and what we can provide that is an age-appropriate, you know, mimic or copy. So, yeah.
Ayelet: I like how you were saying earlier about how it’s great to give them a developmentally-appropriate size or weight or something of the thing that the parent has like exactly the same thing, but, and it doesn’t even necessarily have to be like the plastic keys that come as a toy. It can be like, you know, a few old key, like keys on a key chain or whatever it is. That’s like a safe version or a safe size, or, you know, obviously a lot of these things you need adult supervision.
LaDawn: Of course.
Ayelet: But you would do with infants and toddlers, anyway.
LaDawn: Anyway! Yes. And speaking of keys, we have a container of keys. They are so drawn to it, you know? And like you said, there has to be supervision because there’s small keys, there’s larger ones. So yeah, definitely.
Ayelet: Right. And then when it comes to that independent play, you can be present and also, you know, ensure that your child is playing with safe things. What about for, for families who are say, trying to work or work part time at home while their children are home, what are some of the kinds of things that you might suggest to families to help help them deal with that?
LaDawn: Yeah, the same kind of stuff, you know, and we are a no-screen environment. We don’t have any television screens, computer screens when we play our music, if it happens to be YouTube, I’m always so very adamant about making sure I flip over the phone because they’re drawn to it. Kids are naturally drawn to technology.
Ayelet: Just like us.
LaDawn: Yeah, just like us. We do a lot of sensory baskets for, you know, younger children. It gives them a variety of options, textures, different items that they can explore. They might want like one thing versus the other. So parents can do that. They can get a basket of different items that a child may be interested in and gather them up and hand those. And they can see, you can switch them out. You can do different kinds of sensory baskets. You know, you could do themed ones. So those might be good for young children to keep them busy for a little bit.
You know, children’s attention spans when they’re young are hard, but I think having those types of items, and of course having a schedule for children, even though you may be home, will be beneficial, allow you to be able to get some more things done, because if you don’t have a schedule, then kids are kind of going to, it’s going to be hard for you and them.
Ayelet: That’s so true. That’s such great input. Absolutely. Well, we’re going to just take a very brief break to hear a word from our sponsors. And then we’ll hear a few more sort of specific tips from you, LaDawn, about what you can do to ensure that you have, you know, access to a great environment and what you can do to support your child. And we’ll hear about your favorite resources to share with new and expecting parents, as well.
Ayelet: Okay, LaDawn! What are a few of your top tips? And we sort of got into these a little bit, but we could go into them a little bit more, I think, for parents and caregivers who want to ensure that they’re “doing it right, “and “doing enough” when it comes to supporting and connecting with their little ones.
LaDawn: So for me as a educator, you know, provider, I really believe it’s important to not have just, I guess I wouldn’t say nonsense toys, but toys that don’t have a purpose. So everything that we do, even when it comes to lesson planning, we think about what type of skill will be developed and present a certain kind of toy. So, as a parent, you know, there’s a lot of different resources and things out there and available for parents to be able to know what kind of skills my child would need for their different developmental area.
There’s developmental guides, checklists, things of that nature. So, you know, I would, I would look for those types of things. I know that’s probably the next question I’m kind of going into that is what, you know, what are the resources, but I would look for those types of things and thinking about, you know, how I can help my child, the different checklists and tools to see how a toy could match up. And that may be a little harder and easier said than done. But, yeah, there’s a lot of resources available for parents, parents interested in that.
Ayelet: Could you give a couple of examples about what that might look like? I think that would be really helpful for parents.
LaDawn: Sure. For instance, like with our, our little ones, our infants, they do a lot of bringing things to midline, you know, where you’re bringing the toy to midline. So we, we look and try to think of what type of objects that we can give to them, um, to be able to help them to do that.
Ayelet: Yeah. So like, to the middle of their bodies, for parents who aren’t quite familiar with that.
LaDawn: Yeah, and definitely a skill that, you know, helps in fine motor development later in life, you know? So we look for things that they may be interested in to kind of help them with their grasp. You know, once again, you can go back to sensory baskets that have a lot of different options for younger children, especially infants. And then you can look and see what’s age and developmentally appropriate.
But we, you know, we do those, I’m trying to think for toddlers, looking at the same skill, maybe we’ll find motor and development. We’re looking more at grasp. We do a lot of, you know, things that they can hold. So we call them work utensils, or work tools, markers, giving them opportunities to write and draw, scribble play dough, um, things of that nature.
So you’re looking at, you know, these different skills, which once again, you could find a developmental checklist that will kind of coincide and then the activity would then be to, you know, allow them to use a tool to practice the grasp and, you know, the, the pincer grasp, which is definitely important for later future writing when they get to school.
Ayelet: For everything early, right? Like self-feeding and independent and adaptive skills like that. And then writing on all of those things. Yes. So as you know, I’d love to know what are some of the, your favorite resources that you might like to share for families raising infants and toddlers of all developmental levels?
LaDawn: Yes, definitely. I follow you. That’s how we met. I follow your Facebook page, I believe you have a lot of great resources on there. I really love Janet Lansbury’s information. She has the same types of philosophies, a lot of great articles for everything from infant to toddlers and beyond. So, between those two, you got your hands full, but I also follow every group that I can on Facebook, because I feel like, you know, there’s so many things that we can learn from each other, you know, there’s people that are experts, but like we don’t know everything.
So you can always learn from somebody and I just love to continue to learn. So I’m in every group I could find that relates to what I do. So I think as a parent, I would look for groups that, you know, are, you know, the same thing related to my child’s age and like and join those groups, follow those groups, look for tips and strategies. So, you know, of course we’re in a technology age. I can’t think of a specific book, but there’s lots of resources online. Yeah.
Ayelet: Do you have any specific favorite developmental checklists or, or milestone checklists like that, that you mentioned?
LaDawn: I do. I I’ve used the, I wanna say I can’t remember the specific, but it’s a government one that we use for our parent teacher conferences, which we do three times a year. And we use a checklist that is government derived. Like I said, I can’t remember the exact one right now.
Ayelet: If you want, if you want to let me know later and we can link to it in the show notes.
LaDawn: That will be great. I’ll, I’ll pull it up for you. And it has, it has what a child should be doing at a certain age. And then it has a checklist. So you can kind of check off, you don’t want you, you’re using it as a loose guide. It’s not something that every child is going to be doing, but just kind of to give you an idea of what your child should be doing around a certain age to show if they’re progressing as they should.
Ayelet: That’s great. Well, thank you so much for your time and energy today and thank you to all our participants of the Learn With Less Curriculum Online Family Program who are here, listening live as a benefit of our community. We’ll continue the discussion and open up for Q and a session for you guys in just a minute, but for everyone listening from home or on the go, thank you so much for joining us, and we will see you next time.
