Love and Connection

March 8, 2026

As I sat this afternoon I did some reflecting about the years I have worked with children. I contemplated about how I have grown, what I have learned, and how so many things have changed through the 30 plus years. However, I realized there was something that did not change. I realized the driving forces that guide me today are the same ones that have always guided me when I was a teacher, through my personal practices, and through all my time with children and their families. Those two forces are love and connection. As a mom I held my heart open and chose to parent through the same forces (even when I made many, many mistakes!) I believe these words were my driving force without it being a conscious decision, but now I consciously make every effort to choose love and connection in every moment. I’m not perfect, I forget! But, the more I consciously make this a practice (to live through these two words) I forget less and less. You feel this, right? You feel this longing in you to do the same thing, don’t you?

As humans we carry these two words within us. Love and connection make sense to me about how we all move through this world and what we are to bring to ourselves and others as we live. Without choosing these words to live by, what are we doing? Without holding these two words in our hearts through every moment of life and striving to live within the meanings of these two words, we are just living in survival. Wouldn’t you agree? Well, this is 2026, it’s a new time. Take a look around. What’s needed more than anything right now? Yup, love and connection and our children already know this. They show us in their beautiful, unique individual ways that things need to change and the change needs to happen right now.

Our children are ready for us to grow to elevations where we can understand the very core of what love and connection actually truly mean.

It is truly in my humbleness that I continue to work with families and children, teachers and others. It is truly in my deepest heart that I continue to create communities where everyone feels safe and a sense of belonging to learn from one another and grow together. Our children are growing up into a world where love and connection will be greatly needed more than ever and they know how to do this without any of our help. It’s the adults that have to take a step back and take some time to remember what love and connection truly mean. Our children are waiting for us to understand, to shift, to open our hearts to a new way of parenting, a new way of teaching, a new way of living.

Let’s do this for them, let’s grow together and create community within our friendships, our families, our schools. Let’s grow together through love, connection and community. Ready? Keep reading!

Loving Communication

March 10, 2026

Teaching our children loving communication towards others and themselves is simple. WE do it. We talk to them lovingly, we talk to ourselves lovingly, and when we don’t ( because we are human and we’re NOT perfect ) we clean it up once we realize.

I believe this is simple, but my curiosity wonders why doesn’t it seem simple “out there” with some preschool or day care teachers? I will go as far as to assume some parents too. Why? Well, my guess is they are doing the best they can with what they know and where the state of THEIR nervous systems are. What I mean is, if they are in a state of fight or flight, freeze, or in their ego instead of being in their hearts then what else can they do but talk to themselves and children as if they have no feelings. They are in ‘DO’ mode and that feels a lot like robot mode (no feelings). We’ve all been there, this I’m certain about. So I’m not judging. I’m sharing a reflection from my own experience as a teacher and mother. ‘DO’ mode happens to the best of us when we have bills, baths, homes to clean, food to cook, tears to mend, jobs, rules to follow, bosses to listen to, expectations from others, etc etc etc.

What do we do then? Well , although we can’t control others (our child’s teachers) we can hold compassion for them and we can work on ourselves. As we grow, learn about ourselves, shift into navigating parenting with new insights and do things differently, guess what? We honestly affect others. That means your child’s teachers too! I can explain how this happens in another blog, just know that we do!

Neuroscience says that very young children (birth to age 5 or so ) are living in a brain state of theta. They are taking in their environment through sound, smell, sight, touch, feelings, thoughts and beliefs and accepting it as TRUTH. This means whatever we say, feel, and think they accept. The good news is you can clean it up quickly once you realize you weren’t using loving communication and it won’t be hard wired into their brain yet.

By the way communication isn’t only words. Children at this age can sense what you’re feeling and thinking. Colors, smells, sounds, and temperature are also forms of communication for young children. All of this matters.

Loving communication are soft words, thoughtful engagement while playing or being with your child, curiosity and observation of your child, using a warm tone, singing, laughing, asking about their feelings and where they feel them in their bodies, and so much more. Soft colors on the walls, plants and soothing smells in the home as well as sunshine through windows are all telling your child something.

All of this communicates to your child in a loving way that their nervous systems say “Ahhh this feels good!” The words you use teach them very quickly what words to use too (don’t forget the tone). The thoughts and feelings you hold about yourself and them they take on and believe them completely. If these are loving thoughts and feelings, again the nervous system says “I feel seen and heard and that feels good.” Listen, no parent is perfect and every experience teaches us something new as well as our children. All our children truly need is to FEEL that we’re aware that loving communication is the goal and we’re making the effort from our hearts. That’s it!

Are you getting the idea here? To me it’s basic kindness and compassion. However, when an adult is not in a regulated, calm state of mind what I am sharing is not always easy to do. So first things first, adults need to be able to become aware of when they aren’t in a regulated state and regulate themselves. They also need to realize whether they’re approaching their lives from their hearts or their ego and shift into their hearts.

I promise when you begin to choose to use loving communication with yourself and with them in all these different ways you will notice a tremendous shift in your life and your child’s. Let’s grow together with our children and create this shift together. What do you say?