Bringing Joy to Early Parenthood By Supporting The Parent-Child Dyad
On this episode of the Learn With Less® podcast, Ayelet sits down with early childhood educator, mother, parent educator, Learn With Less® facilitator, and the face behind Early Intervention Mama, Miranda Zoumbaris. Miranda lives in Lansing, Michigan, has two young children, and is an incredible gift to her community. She’s bringing families together and fostering positive relationships and confidence for new parents and caregivers by leading caregiver & me classes using the Learn With Less® curriculum.
Miranda is an early childhood educator and mother, who is a self described child development nerd. Miranda was inspired to grow and diversify the ways she could reach families in her community because she wanted to teach parents and caregivers new ways to experience joy with their babies and toddlers. To her, it’s always been a goal to take away worry, provide education, and infuse joy into everyday activities.
Miranda’s joy is infectious, and she has now been spreading it both as an active participant in our Learn With Less® facilitator community of educators and therapists, as well as in her community in and around Lansing, Michigan, with families who are experiencing her “caregiver & me” classes using the Learn With Less® curriculum.
Not familiar with the term, “caregiver & me” classes? We use it as a more inclusive term instead of “mommy & me” classes. Our classes are open – and meant for – ALL parents and caregivers: not just moms… but also dads, non-binary folks, grandparents, foster parents, babysitters, nannies, and other amazing grownups who care for tiny humans. We’re going to play the “search term” game here (so you can find this great content more easily!) and help shift the conversation from “mommy & me” classes to “caregiver & me” classes… to do our part to shape the more inclusive world we’d like to live in.
In this episode, we discuss:
- Surprises and unexpected difficulties Miranda faced when she became a mother, even though she has been working with new parents and young children for years
- The role empathy and self awareness plays in work with new families
- Why Miranda decided to become a parent educator and start her own small business to serve new parents and caregivers in her community
- The value of learning and sharing experiences in community with others going through the same journey
- Why a collaborative approach to learning is so important (both in business and in parenting)
- How Miranda moved through imposter syndrome (hint: the power of flexibility and adaptation)
- The ways in which her work as a parent educator using the Learn With Less® curriculum has shifted aspects of her own parenting
- Why Miranda ultimately decided to invest in herself and her business
Helpful Resources Related to 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® Bundle: get our favorite infant and toddler development resources (save 70%)! Discover how to support & connect with your tiny human, without having to buy a single toy.
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®.
Learn With Less® “Caregiver & Me” Classes: the magic of Learn With Less® lies in the communal aspect of coming together with our resources, in community with other families. Join us for a virtual or in-person class led by a licensed facilitator near you!
Connect With Us
Miranda: Website / Instagram / Facebook / Eventbrite
Ayelet: Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest
Text Transcript of The Episode
Ayelet: Before we get started today, I want to let you know that if you are an educator or therapist interested in expanding your impact by using your existing skills to serve families holistically to diversify your offerings, I’d love to invite you to join us at the upcoming event I’ll be hosting, the Expand Your Impact Retreat. This will be a live virtual event on Saturday, January 15th, 2022. If you’re listening when this episode comes out, I’m sweetening the deal even more by giving you access to early bird pricing on your ticket, saving you 40% off the ticket price, until the end of 2021. Want to learn more about this event and grab your ticket? Just head on over to learnwithless.com/expand and join us now!
If you are a parent or caregiver interested in learning more about resources to help you feel confident you can support and connect with your tiny humans, we would love you to start by downloading my free infant/toddler development blueprint, over at learnwithless.com/blueprint, today!
Today, I’m joined by Miranda Zoumbaris. Miranda is an early childhood educator and mother, who is a self described child development nerd. Miranda was inspired to grow and diversify the ways she could reach families in her community because she wanted to teach parents and caregivers new ways to experience joy with their babies and toddlers. To her, it’s always been a goal to take away worry, provide education, and infuse joy into everyday activities.
Miranda’s joy is infectious, and she has now been spreading it both as an active participant in our Learn With Less® facilitator community of educators and therapists, as well as in her community in and around Lansing, Michigan, with families who are experiencing her “caregiver + child” classes using the Learn With Less® curriculum.
I’m so thrilled to share this episode with you, today!
Ayelet: Okay, today I have with me Miranda Zoumbaris. She’s an amazing early childhood educator, she is based around Lansing, Michigan, and she is a licensed Learn With Less® facilitator as well as being a mother and an incredible community member. Miranda, I’d love for you to just sort of introduce yourself, give us just a sense of who you are and how you came to be doing the things that you are doing today in the world.
Miranda: Yeah, I’m Miranda and I’m a self prescribed child development nerd that since the longest time I can remember, I’ve always loved children. And when I started my professional journey, I thought for sure I was going to be a teacher and quickly realized that I wanted to work with parents and caregivers, and the most important people to children. And so that’s kind of been my whole career is figuring that out: I love children. But what I love most of all, is parent-child dyad, or caregiver-child dyad. And so I’ve done home visiting for early Head Start. I’ve been a early interventionist with it, our Michigan Part C services, and have just spent my whole career working with families in their homes and playgroups, supporting them being their cheerleader, and being their coach.
I have a bachelor’s degree in child development and English, surprisingly, and just hadn’t found my niche of like, what do I want to do in terms of a master’s degree? And what I’ve kind of figured out is, that’s because I love the whole child, I love looking at the whole aspect of child development. And that’s really what I think drove me to this program is that you have created a way for us to embrace that family dyad, you know, parent-child dyad. And also look at the whole child, and see them as a whole person, which is my area of expertise, looking at that whole child, whole family dynamic, and serving parents that way.
Ayelet: I love it. That’s great. It’s so wonderful to hear you describe what you do, because you do a lot for families, not only in Lansing, but also all over the world because you have an incredible Instagram following and really all over social media, but currently primarily on Instagram, you are Early Intervention Mama! Actually, can you tell us a little bit about when did you start that? And what made you decide to go ahead and do that? And like what was the impetus for that?
Miranda: So Early Intervention Mama, it was something I had in my head after I had my first baby. So this was like way pre pandemic before there was a lot of people on Instagram, I think that I just had in my head like, oh my gosh, I knew parenting was going to be hard. Like I went into it, you know, I remember having a family tell me, oh my gosh, you’re going to be such a good mom because you know, so many things. And my response to her was, I may know a lot of things, but there is so much that I have no idea about, and I those are the parts I can’t wait for to get into parenting. And those words just kept hitting me in waves – and are still hitting me in waves. That there is a lot to learn about parenting, I’m assuming forever and beyond, you know, it just keeps coming in.
So after having my first baby, I was like, Oh my gosh, I want to share the parts that are tough, and help families with that perspective of parenting has been challenging and hard for me. And there’s tough things to go through. And also I’ve got a background in child development and early intervention and helping families of littles who have delays and it’s all hard, and we can do it together, and we can do it simply. And so, in my head when I was putting together Early Intervention Mama, I saved the Instagram handle and I saved the Facebook page. And then about six months later I said to my husband who’s like my tech guru, hey, can you please save the website? You know? I’m not ready yet. But this is what I want to do. And yeah, then pandemic happened and I was postpartum with a baby, ready to head back from maternity leave as soon as the pandemic started, and really decided that I needed to amp up my game and Early Intervention Mama and yeah, here we are.
Ayelet: That was after your second child was born. Yes. Yes. Amazing. There’s so much there. I love it. And I also love Miranda how overlapping our stories are and our “why’s” are as far as like why we each you know started doing this because I absolutely hear my own sense of self in your story as well as far as having some knowledge of early child development, having some knowledge of what parents and families go through in those early years and then getting to do it one’s own self. And having some things go as expected and having some things go remarkably, I guess off kilter or totally surprising. Would you feel comfortable sharing with us a few of the things for you that were on the surprising side, or the current you off guard as far as coming into early parenthood yourself?
Miranda: Yeah. So my first one was such an incredibly tricky nurser. So I planned on breastfeeding and had in my head that like, this is what I wanted to do, it’s going to be super easy, watched my sister go through that. And it was so incredibly difficult that I just felt like this broken person, which is not anything that anybody should feel going into parenthood. And so that really just created a lot of stress for me of what I had maybe envisioned, you know, the things that I felt like, Oh, this is natural, this is going to be easy, you know, I’ve never judged anybody for how they feed their baby, I think everybody needs to do what is right for them. And this is what I thought was right for me and what was going to work for me.
It just was so challenging that I think that just really put me on a perspective of you know, you have to be flexible in parenting. And right from the start, you know, learning how to see the baby who really struggled with something that I wanted, having to manage those really tough postpartum hormones – go right from there, and then learning as a parent, and not constantly evaluate my own child, you know, after having been in early intervention all the time, I remember being like, there is some structural tension going on here. And I need to, we need to do some stretches… and learning to ease from that mode of thinking to like, we’re gonna talk and sing and play, and I can do these things that I know are gonna help you track and move left to right, but it’s going to just be more fun for us.
Ayelet: Yeah, that trust.
Miranda: So getting to that joyful part of parenting, I think, took me – yes, yes, being able to, like let go of things. And like you said, trust, that I could do all these things for my baby, because of the relationship that we were building and how we were connecting.
Ayelet: Yeah, hard, hard to do.
Miranda: And then my second baby, we had a lot of stress. My dad, who has now since passed, was really sick. And we were heading into like the winter holidays. And just all the stress from that, I ended up delivering her early. And so it got to experience a NICU baby after having worked for many years with NICU babies. Here I am sitting in the hospital with one of my own and figuring out how to manage that amidst my own father going into the hospital, and ended up her first month of life was his last. And so just navigating parenting through grief, and how to be there for other people while you’re trying to become a mom of two, and all those challenges and worries that come with having a baby that was premature.
I mean, she was 36 weeks, but we still had struggles, breathing issues, you know, had to go see some specialists for her to and just… a lot to navigate again, you know, it feeling like oh, I have one baby and I know what I’m doing. And then to have a second and feel like Gosh, this is really tough again. And I think the hard part of baby number two was that with my first one, I reached out to some amazing local groups and formed some incredible friendships, that classes and parent and me groups. And then with my second, I was just like suffering from grief and postpartum depression. And then when I was ready to form those relationships and head back to work, we had a pandemic, and are still in a pandemic!
Ayelet: Oh gosh, to laugh about that!
Miranda: I know, I know.
Ayelet: Oh, Miranda oh my goodness, it’s I think what strikes me maybe… maybe most, about what you shared… number one, thank you for sharing all of that is… how much I think empathy plays a role in everything that you experienced and in your work with other families and personal relationships with other families in your community. I think so often we come into parenthood and when we do experience certain things going as expected it can be easy to assume, perhaps, that it goes like that for everyone. But when you do have the experience of things not going quite like you thought they would, things looking a little different – or even witnessing that in a good friend or a close family member, it can help us to develop empathy, right? On a personal level, not just when you’re working with families. I mean, it’s such a different experience when it is you and your personal life versus your professional life or your professional knowledge.
I would love to hear just a little bit about how that informs your practice day to day with Early Intervention Mama, with the Learn With Less® “caregiver & me” style classes that you lead, and in all dimensions of how that… because you’ve actually shifted your own personal life and your professional life, very similar to the work that we both are doing, to meld into your passions and into something that is really becoming something that you can deliver both out of personal need and desire, and also to make a professional and social impact on your community. So I would love to hear just a little bit about the role of empathy in all of that for you, and how your experiences have informed that piece.
Miranda: Yeah, so think in terms of leading into my own parenting journey, having had a lot of infant mental health training and support, like in my profession to have reflective supervision, and what that is, is really having somebody help you identify how what’s going on with a family is impacted by what you are experiencing, or what experiences you have had may impact how you work together with a family. So for example, I think developing empathy for these NICU families that I had worked with before experiencing that myself… My sister, like my second year at the school district, I was in ended up with a NICU baby, herself. And I just remember experiencing that, and trying to be a support for her, drawing on what I learned from families and then bringing that back around.
It just is so interesting to me, thinking from a personal and professional perspective, that all of that is intertwined. And I think the concept of infant mental health really respects that of having boundaries, but also allowing yourself to reflect on how families experiences impact yours, and your experiences impact families, and just noticing the importance of that. And so I think that informed me when I was parenting like, oh my gosh, I’m experiencing this NICU journey. And I carry the stories from all these parents that I’ve worked with that are informing me because I am, here, this mom sitting here with this tiny baby hooked up to tubes, having the voices of all these parents that I’ve carried with me kind of talking to me in my head as I’m here, and then being able to share that out with other families and again, just that cyclical, like you know, you get it and you give it you get it and you give it into me that you don’t have to receive empathy to have, to be able to give it, but it definitely helps to just kind of… that give and take and exchange of empathy.
Ayelet: I love that. Another thing that I would love to explore with you is I mean you… So you came out of having this second child who… it was a very intense time, and at what point did you decide to join the Learn With Less® program? How old was she at that point?
Miranda: She was over a year. So I saw… Ayelet, I have followed you since it was Strength In Words on your Instagram and Facebook with words those pieces transitioned to Learn With Less®.
Ayelet: The rebrand?
Miranda: Yes, yes. And I remember looking at a video of you, I think, singing to one of your babies and then talking about how, what you’re doing is building eye contact, and all this just through song. And I was like, yes, yes! This is my person, like, oh my gosh, like follow all her stuff, explore all the things. And so like instant fan, I think from one little video clip that I was like, this is it. This is it. She’s there. She’s got it. This is who I want to follow. And then, seeing you roll out the program. I think you rolled out in 2020. Right?
Ayelet: Yeah. Early 2020.
Miranda: Yes. So when that came out, I just was not ready. You know, like I said, I was, I had just been through so much, personally. But it was in the back of my head, just like those other things I had saved. I was like, Okay, I really want to be there for like, the inaugural class or, you know, facilitators, but this is not this is not the right time for me, put it in my pocket, and then things got busy, and then come almost a year later things were picking up with Early Intervention Mama, and I was like, Okay, I’m ready to start thinking about doing more. And I was still working, doing all these virtual visits and feeling really burnt out doing that, and overwhelmed, and looking for more. And so that’s when I said, my husband and I had some financial discussions. And I was like, Can we do this because I want to do this. This is how much it costs. This is what we need to do. Like I am ready. Can we do that? Like, not asking permission but just like, are we like, let’s get our let’s talk together, you know, cuz it’s a, it is a journey, right? Like, I followed you, I trusted you. I had I think I even reached out to to have that to have your licensed facilitators.
Ayelet: Yeah, I was so glad you did that. I mean, you were so informed with your decision which is great, because you know, we don’t take that lightly. Like, yeah, you are joining something, you’re joining into a community – that is a big decision. You know, and you you want to know everything about what that looks like, and how that then, like you said, like I had, you know, quote unquote, earned your trust in many ways, but this is a different level. And it’s a different kind of investment. And it’s a different kind of investment of your time and energy, and a vision that you have for yourself in a very different way. So yeah, okay, so that’s great. So you talked to your husband, you chatted about what would work, how it could work. And you reached out to other licensed facilitators of the Learn With Less® program.
Miranda: Yes, and then we had lots of conversation back and forth in our DMs on Instagram. And then finally, I was like, Okay, I want to do this, like, we will see where this goes. And so alongside, starting with the Learn With Less®, I beefed up my Early Intervention Mama, and you know, I’ve just kind of been working these two things alongside themselves, and gave myself permission to do the course at my own pace, and on my own timeline. And then this past summer, my daughter ended up sick in the hospital and got a Type 1 diabetes diagnosis. And I just, it was just too much to continue working full time. And I was so thankful to be in a position where I can say, you know, what, I’m going to have to step away from that at this time, I can’t do it. But there are some things that I can do, that I’ve been working on, and use that opportunity to finish up my Learn With Less® curriculum and started pushing forward on that.
And just being able to be a part of the community with Learn With Less® has filled my soul and my heart in ways that I wasn’t expecting. You know, just being able to be a part of a community that doesn’t have this hierarchical structure, which is very different, I think, than my experiences previously. Right? Like, I have a bachelor’s, I’m not a master’s trained therapist. And so being able to be… I’ve always collaborated with physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, all the therapists! As the parents primary coach bringing in this team of support, but there has been this hierarchical structure of, you know, us versus them. And I don’t feel that within this community, and it’s just a beautiful thing to have so many people supporting each other and cheering each other on and building each other up and learning from each other, that I’m thankful. I’m thankful for the experience.
And I think, too, it just is reflective of all the ways that we work with families, right? Like, not coming into a playgroup, or a parenting class or a Learn With Less® class and saying, I’m the instructor, here’s what we’re going to do. I know all the things, you have nothing to share, you know… We are coming at it from a let’s learn together. And we have so much, we each bring so much value to this experience. And we can all learn from one another. So carried on, I think, from the course down through facilitators to the classes and work we’re doing, it just, I love that aspect of it.
Ayelet: I’m so glad, obviously, very intentional. But it’s really nice to hear from you and others who have experienced it, that that is a pleasurable experience, you know, and that it’s working, right? Because it is it’s a parallel process. We… how can you go out and create the kind of impact that you want if it hasn’t ever been modeled to you, or if you don’t have that yourself, right? It’s so important. We’re creating community with families, we’re building trust with families, we’re building a place to be playful, to ingest information and to work together. And so how can we ensure that we’re all doing that? Well, by creating it for ourselves? Why don’t you Why don’t you continue on your discussion of the journey? I’d love to hear more.
Miranda: Ok! So, let’s see, gosh, it’s been kind of a whirlwind. I think since I did my first demo class. I did a demo class and did it virtually. And from there, spent a lot of time kind of hemming and hawing over getting a website up and running. And like, also, while doing my, like, I love Instagram, I’m an Instagrammer. So like, trying to balance use of social media with trying to build a business. And I myself, have always thought of myself as an entrepreneur, but that business side of it is where I am least comfortable, right? Like I feel comfortable serving families, feel comfortable leading groups, I feel comfortable singing, I do not feel comfortable with the business parts of it. And so relying heavily kind of on the course to help inform that… it has been so helpful. And then to take that and like put it into action and like assure myself that I can do it. Even though the business side doesn’t come naturally for me like that, I’m a lifelong learner. That’s what you do as an educator you learn and it has been tough for me right to figure that out.
But just to kind of have a plan, and I think we have had discussions about like, okay, what are the what is just that next step right, that next step to get things rolling and trying to make sure that, in my head, I remember things don’t have to be perfect, or I don’t have to worry as much about that as I do of like just getting things done. So for me, there was like a little bit of a stalling in that journey between the demo class and actually putting out paid classes, because I felt like I had to have all those things in order. And then I just decided one day, like, the website is a hang up for me, and I need to have some workarounds. And so that’s what I did. I started putting classes on Eventbrite and using my social media to kind of promote them. And still doing that!
So I hit launch on my website today. I did, you know, again, I had to tell myself, like, it doesn’t have to have all the things on it. I can build out, this is my base to build from, then just using the tools that I’ve learned to incorporate into there and make it easy for me to do right now. You know, I think that’s the thing that I figured out, like, what I had in my head and what I had envisioned, I need to be flexible and have workarounds, right, like, the messages that I got in my first year or first two years and motherhood, be flexible, have work arounds, it’s not going to be perfect. It’s not going to necessarily be how you envisioned… same thing with the business baby.
Ayelet: Absolutely, yeah, it’s true. Well, I would love to hear a little bit more too about, what were some of the pieces that were helpful for you to build your own confidence in those aspects that you felt a bit of, say, imposter syndrome, or just like I… This makes me feel very nervous. This is too much, as far as like the business building. Yeah, like, what did that look like for you?
Miranda: So I think for me, it meant at each step of the game, kind of like going back and looking at some of the resources that you had, and going from there to look at other resources, looking at my state, like we have a small business division in the state, and looking at what resources and opportunities they have there. Talking with other people that I know that are running their small businesses, like I have a good friend who’s done a couple things. And I’m like, Okay, well, how hard was it to get an LLC here in Michigan, or tell me about like, how things looked tax wise, I think like having the information and then also seeking out some of that personal experience felt more comfortable for me to hear it, and then to see to like that some of the things that maybe I had fears about, like, oh, my gosh, I’m gonna do this improperly and Oh, am I gonna get in legal trouble or any of that, you know, like, I just had fears about that.
And realizing that, like, so much of the small business journey, like if you put every single duck in a row, like, I might be dead before every single duck in a row, you know, and just, like, knowing I needed to have certain things in place, but like, it didn’t all have to be in place, and just realizing that so many other people have built their businesses in that way. And as long as I’m doing things, honestly, and doing my best to do that, that I could move forward with it.
Ayelet: Right. And you have all the resources at your disposal, you know exactly what you need to do.
Miranda: Yeah, and lots of lots of help and support.
Ayelet: Yeah, that’s great. Yeah, I’d love to know also, as far as the investment of time and energy that this has taken for you, because I mean, you went in knowing that you were going to put the time and energy in. Has it been more than you expected, less than expected, about right? What, what does that look like for you?
Miranda: I would say about right, you know, I am definitely like, aesthetics kind of person. So the things that take me longer are like the graphics for things or, you know, the how the website looks or trying to plan out all of that takes me longer than I would say the average person, just because that is where I struggle to not be a perfectionist. But in terms of actually like creating my event listings, and then learning how to reach out to people. I mean, it is not what, it is not unexpected, you know, the effort that I’ve put forth, is what I expected.
And I think too, I decided, I think the first time I just offered like one or two classes a week. And then the next time I rolled out a session of classes, I had like four or five and didn’t fill as many as I had, you know, didn’t fill most of them and like just learning like realizing that all of these things that I’m doing are kind of little beta tests, right? Like, how many classes do I put out? And how do I figure out what areas I should focus on? So I think it’s just a matter of kind of like trial and error in terms of how you put your classes out and learning by doing. I mean that makes sense to me is is to learn as I go and if I had a class that somebody didn’t show up to, I learned a lot from that too. And it definitely for sure from like the first class I hosted to where I’m at now, I have gained so many skills in terms of how to invite people to participate.
Ayelet: Mmm. What I love about what you’ve shared is, is how you have learned the that power of flexibility and how much that is going to shape your quote, unquote, success with all of this, right? Because so much of this is setting the intention and adapting to what’s in front of you, and what life is throwing at you. And it’s not about well, I want to do this, this and that. And that’s how it’s got to be by the end of the month or whatever, right? Because it may be, and it may be because you learned some things, and you iterated upon those things. And you shifted your perspective, or you shifted your tactics. And of course, that’s what we all do together to help you and support you to see what maybe you can’t see on your own or to give you more ideas about what you might do.
But what really stands out to me about everything that you’ve described Miranda is that flexibility and adaptation, and how intentional you have become about all of that, because that is… you’re playing the long game. That’s it, because it’s not just how many people can I get enrolled in this class today? It’s how can I show my community that I am here, that I’m here to stay, that I am a resource, I’m a trusted resource. That’s so powerful, and that is much more impactful than just offering a class here and there. Can you talk a little bit about… was that a perspective shift at all for you? Or is it just me seeing that in you?
Miranda: Yeah, I mean, definitely, and I so learning to be flexible in the things that, like I have the strong desire to go a certain way, right. I tend to think of myself as a pretty flexible person. But there are areas where, you know, it’s hard for me to be… and I think the other thing that I’ve thought about is, this has impacted my parenting too. Like, I remember listening to the module about how we use toys and what things we we need to have. And like thinking about the setups that we do for our kids, and I started reflecting back on like, even things that I had posted on Instagram, or my own personal, like, look at these setups that I have, like beautiful little baskets full of just the right toys, or just, you know, even homemade toys.
I mean, I’ve always loved homemade things, but like just this concept I have in my head of like, I have to have this beautifully set up environment, because the environment is another teacher and yada yada, yada, yada. Which, yes, I still believe that that impacts however, I just had, like this complete shift in myself that I have noticed drastically changed my parenting… to become more of an observer of my kids. And not just like, I’m going to observe how you interact with the things I’ve set up for you. But like when we go outside, and I can just watch how they’re interacting with the material and go oh my gosh, like, yes, they know they already know what to do. And I can just kind of be the person to come alongside them and engage together in what they’re already doing, versus that feeling like, well, I’ll set something up, and then observe how they do it. I’m letting them be the one to lead that way. And that has definitely shifted my parenting.
I mean, it’s using things that I’ve known, but just to see it in practice and feel it in my parenting, not having the stress of feeling like I need to go and rearrange their playroom every month with different toys, with giant toy rotation or that stress, I needed that stress taken away in the seasons I’ve been in. So the flexibility to allow my children to explore how they needed to explore and join them is something that I want to share with parents because I’ve gotten to experience it.
Ayelet: That’s beautiful. I love that. What other perception changes or shifts have you made or have impacted you through participation of this program, either in your own personal parenting journey or in other aspects of your professional journey?
Miranda: Gosh, there’s been so many! I think one of the big perspective changes is not being held back by fear, fear of not doing things right. Like it being okay to put myself out there. One of my things that I’ve done lately is, I’m going to invite somebody that I know from the community to come for a free class, but being willing to you know, ask that they just share it with a friend or that they let me know, give me their honest feedback. Where before it was like oh gosh. How could I reach out to anybody? Like, I just need to sit here and not reach out to anybody and just put the stuff out there? So getting out of that comfort zone, right? Like, no, like, I am running a business, I am supporting my family. And I believe in this so much that I want to share it. And I believe in supporting my small business community locally. And I want to share my business so that they can do the same.
I think just reminding myself that it’s okay to do things that feel a little bit scary. And it’s okay to have people say no, not very many people have said no! I don’t even know if I’ve had, I’ve only had people say like, oh my god, I can’t, you know, like, I’m so busy right now. I haven’t had anybody say no! So I think just taking away that fear factor of you have things to offer. And, you know, that brings me back to like this hierarchy feeling like, I think for myself, like my professional journey, that sense of… I don’t have this advanced degree. I am a first generation college student. And so I’ve also watched my parents struggle, not having had college degrees and raising three kids, and just the financial pull of debt, and so that for me, played into my journey of like, I can’t afford to go back to get a masters, because I didn’t feel like I could go into debt because of my experiences into like further debt and have more student loan debt while still carrying some. And so, just that sense of like, I can’t, I didn’t feel like at the time that I could go back and do that, I think has been like a ghost on my shoulder that has just been taken away if I’m being honest. I’m so happy with where I’m at now in that like, I’m necessarily yearning for that, like I’m right where I need to be I love running this small business and doing what I’m doing now.
Ayelet: Yeah, I’m actually really curious just to hear from your own perspective, because I mean, we can talk a little bit more about like you made a big decision to invest in this program. That’s such an interesting perspective that I’m sure you’re not alone in, as far as like, people who are considering this kind of investment. And it is! It is a major investment, but what to you, because it is an investment in your career, and it is an investment in your professional journey and your own business. It’s an investment in your own business. So to you, what was the difference that made you feel that it was acceptable to yourself to make an investment in a program like this?
Miranda: So, for me, it’s the idea that this led to continuing entrepreneurialship. Continuing to be an entrepreneur, investing in my own small business, which meant I could rely on myself to create it, you know, within a community, right? I lean on my community, but I myself am responsible for putting the information out there, putting the messaging out there, how much effort I do want to put in or take back, and I’m not waiting for a raise from someone else. I’m not asking for a next pay step and being turned down because I don’t have a master’s degree. That is the difference. You know, I was in my head, I’m like, I could go back. And I’m sure I will, I am, you know, eventually going to go back to school.
But at this point, when I was going through the whole journey of my 13 years in early intervention, I just couldn’t rely that that degree was going to bring me to a more financially stable place. And it feels more important to rely on myself to make that. And I think being in a pandemic kind of push that to like everybody is shifting. And you can either choose to stay doing things, how you’ve done, or shift with everything that is going on. And I think I have just… it feels almost like a real awakening for me of, even just experiencing how I’m learning the tools I’m using, how other people are learning and I can just see in my head, how people learn and how people parent, how people engage and interact with each other… is shifting. It is entirely different than it was before the pandemic and I want to be a part of that. And I want to help families embrace that, like how do we stay connected when things are tough? How do we parent in a way that is more exposed than generations past? But also sometimes hidden behind like that social media screen? So I just think all of those things have impacted me wanting to do this because, again, it relies on myself but just having that awakening of feeling like I’m seeing how things are changing and wanting to be a part of it.
Ayelet: That’s huge. Yeah. What do you feel like the impact of this program is currently having on your life? How would you say that in words and what you anticipate it to continue to have on your own life?
Miranda: So it given me the, the program has given me the confidence to utilize the skills I already had, and put them out there as an offer to my community of, I know how to do these things, and I want to share it with you and want to support you, because I’ve been there. So feeling confident enough to take my experiences, my education, and what I’ve done, and put that out to a wider lens of people. I think that’s a huge part of the program, too, right? Like I spent those years working for organizations where we had to have this strict requirement on who qualified or who didn’t. And this program, now I can serve whoever needs it, whoever is ready to come. And I can find ways to serve people who can’t even necessarily afford the class or people that like I can make that, I’ve learned ways to do that. And so this is a completely accessible program.
And I think that’s been a perspective shift for me of like, I have things that I can offer to many more people and I can reach more people and build a community for those who haven’t been able to reach it before. Because I think there are! There are a lot of parents out there, there’s a lot of caregivers who are in need of a community and can’t get the service, can’t get the support, or don’t know where to go! Because even some of the, some of the organizations that do offer wonderful things aren’t participating in this shift, as well. You know, they’re not participating in the shift of, how do we access families? How do we support families? How do we meet them where they’re at? And I want to be a person that can meet families where they’re at! Literally and figuratively.
Ayelet: Right. Exactly. And with what they already have?
Miranda: Yes, yes. Help them feel supported, you know, being a mirror to reflect what they’re already doing well, versus, you know, somebody to tell them what to do.
Ayelet: Miranda, do you have anything to share with anybody who is potentially where you were, who’s considering, who’s thinking about it, especially if they’re, like, you know, on the fence about the investment about the experience, about whether or not this could work in their community or for themselves? What would you make sure to share with somebody who’s considering it.
Miranda: I would encourage them to reach out to any facilitators, because that’s how, I mean…
Ayelet: Like Miranda.
Miranda: Yes, like me. But reach out and ask those questions that you might have or wondering about how the experience was. And I think too, like, just know that this is a program, it’s a curriculum, but I think more than that, it’s a community. That is something that you aren’t going to regret. I mean, knowing you know, I just get joy out of seeing other facilitators post their classes or like, posts their wins, and just feeling that together, as part of a team, all the while we’re dispersed all over! You can feel it like it does, it feels like we are all in this together in terms of serving and providing this message, this much needed message for parents of little ones, that they are enough. And so to be in community with other people who share those same values and who you’re able to bounce things off of is invaluable. You know, so I think that’s really what I would sell to anybody that is questioning, I would tell them come for the curriculum and the program and stay for the community.
Ayelet: It’s definitely my favorite place to be on the internet. Miranda, thank you so much for sharing everything that you have today. I can’t wait to share this message with everybody. And where can people find you?
Miranda: They can find me at my newly posted website, earlyinterventionmama.com! I’m on Instagram Early Intervention Mama and Facebook, and Eventbrite if you’re local to Lansing, Michigan!
Ayelet Marinovich
Thank you so much.
Miranda
Thank you!
