On this episode of Voices of Your Village, I got to hang out with my pal Kristie on her Pre-K Teach and Play Podcast. An accomplished author, sought-after consultant, and educator’s educator, Dr. Kristie Pretti-Frontczak spent 16 years as a tenured professor at Kent State University before leaving to lead a {r}evolution in early care and education. Through comprehensive classes, thought-provoking keynotes, and practical resources, she’s guiding educational professionals toward developing their emotional intelligence, reclaiming children’s right to learn through play, and reimagining more inclusive classrooms. We got to dive into the topic of teaching...

It’s no secret that I firmly believe that kids should be raised in a village. What that village looks like has greatly evolved over time - from when the majority of women were stay-at-home moms, building a village made up of other stay-at-home moms, to a society in which more kiddos are in childcare than ever before. The way that we are raising these tiny humans and the structure of our village has totally changed. Many folks aren’t living near family and are in a space of having to build their framily (friends as family) village. 

So, how do we build our village? 

I had a village that I loved the crap out of while living in Boston, so as we...

This episode of Voices of Your Villages answers one of the most common questions I’ve gotten as a sleep consultant over the past six years, which is, “How do I teach my kid to fall asleep independently?” 

Babies can start practicing falling asleep independently as early as infancy - shoot for once a day where that kiddo isn’t falling asleep at the breast, in your arms, or at a bottle. This will allow them to start building the toolbox they need to be able to do this - habit is real, and routine is powerful. 

Kiddos learn what to expect based on how we respond to them. If they cry and we do x, y, and z, that is what they will expect to...

In today’s episode, I was jazzed to chat with my friend Nicole DiGiacobbe

about raising siblings who have a loving, empathetic relationship with one another. So many folks ask me about raising siblings and how to raise kiddos to have this type of connection with one another, who aren’t fighting or in battle constantly. Can we do this? The answer is “yes,” and Nicole shares what she has done and what she practices to achieve this - and these are tips you can add to your parenting toolbox starting today.

Nicole’s daughters are 21 months apart, so we chatted a little bit about the prep work she went through, if any, in preparing big sis...

Today on Voices of Your Village, we are getting real about mom guilt - that inevitable feeling felt by so many mamas out there. This is one issue that seems to truly be gender-specific; I chatted with a bunch of dads in preparation for this episode and came to this conclusion. In this episode, I got to hang out with my friend Kristen, stay-at-home mama of four, and chat all about this hot topic - what it is, why it’s happening, and what you can do about it. 

Mom guilt is felt by both working moms and stay-at-home moms alike. Kristen worked full time up until the point that her oldest kiddo was five, and then became a stay-at-home mom, so she can certainly attest...

In this special episode of Voices of Your Village, I got to interview the most incredible woman I know: my mama. We chatted about her experiences in motherhood, and you may want to grab yourself a box of tissues because some ugly crying definitely went down.

We first dove into the logistics of our family. I am one of five - four boys and one girl - and there is a 13 year age difference between the oldest and youngest. Mom is one of eight (her mom had eight children in ten years; go ahead and pick your jaw off the floor) and dad is one of six, so she explained how having her own big family was never really a thought - having a “basketball team worth of kids” just seemed...

Your children are not responsible for your feelings.

Say it louder for the folks in the back! 

This week I dive into why it’s so important that our tiny humans never feel responsible for how we feel. If we want to be that person our child can turn to when they experience life’s challenges, we need to be sure they aren’t afraid they will spike our anxiety or make us feel sad with their problems. When we say things like, “It makes me happy when you clean up your toys, or “It makes me sad when you hit me,” we are placing our feelings on our children, and so years down the road, we are not the human they turn to.  It’s so hard...

In this week’s episode, I was jazzed to chat with our sleep consultant, Rachel Lounder, all about newborn sleep. Newborn sleep is vastly different than sleep after 4 months of age and Rachel and I dove into the details of how to best support your newborn and maintain your own sanity. 

From birth to four months, Rachel shares that the name of the game is keeping periods of wakefulness short. This prevents too much sleep pressure from building. Too much sleep pressure results in an overtired and overstimulated babe who has an even harder time falling asleep. In newborns, the length of naps can vary widely and that’s okay. The length of naps is not as important and...

I’m jazzed to share part IV of our adoption series with foster and adoptive mama, Renee Henderson. Honestly, I was nervous to cover foster care because I had some preconceived fears about emotional development in the foster care system. Renee shared with us that she has been a foster parent to 15 kids in 4.5 years, and contrary to many foster stories, she adopted three children from foster care. We dove into this quite a bit because it’s important to enter foster care with expectations for how the system operates.

The overarching goal for foster care is reunification with the biological family.

However, a lot of foster parents enter the system hoping to adopt, resulting...