Why did I create the Summit?
Hello, hello and welcome to the Big Hearted Podcast. My name is Victoria Edmond and I am your host. Our aim here at the Big Hearted Podcast is to nurture a community of heart centered educators to change the perception and delivery of early childhood education and care in Australia. and ultimately around the world.
We want you to be inspired by our guests and the topics we bring to you to think of new ways of being as an educator. We want you to feel a sense of belonging via this podcast so that you can engage any time of the day or night in any place that suits you. We want you to become an educator that delivers education from the heart, as we believe this is how we create great change within our world.
So join us as we discover new ways to inspire each other here, the big hearted podcast.
Good day. It is morning here, so I can't say good morning, but you might be listening in the afternoon. And if you are good afternoon or the evening, good evening. Uh, I want to share a story with you today. So this is only going to be a super quick podcast, uh, because it is the day before the summit launches and I have a stack of things to do, but I did want to share this one thing with you.
So I will try and be as quick as I can. Um, In this episode, because... Yeah, there's lots to do today. So why, why did I start the summit? Why did I think that was a good idea? Where did the idea come from? And where is it going to go from here? Uh, some of those answers some of those questions. I can answer some of them.
I have absolutely no idea. And that's the fun and beauty of life. Uh, and that's just how I roll because I'm inattentive ADHD and I need to be excited and enthusiastic about all the things that I do. Otherwise I procrastinate, procrastinate on all things. And just, you know, I'll find my. Self folding, washing voluntarily instead of doing something else, uh, which, you know, who, who enjoys folding, washing, not me.
Uh, but I will do that instead of the things I have to do if I'm not engaged in what I'm doing, but something like the summit is
full and energized and charged that flows onto you. And if I'm honest. When people message me, that's one of the first things that they say is that I'm just so inspired. Your energy is so contagious. Like you just, you just make me feel better. I just watch a video of yours and I could have been in a dodgy mood and now I feel like ready to go again.
And if that's the impact I have on all educators across Australia, I'm doing my job because I feel like family daycare educators miss out so much. This wasn't what I was going to talk about but I'm going to talk about it anyway because it makes sense and it's like you guys don't actually probably see this side of things where we are offered from the government, um, this workforce, um, grant and it is to Keep people interested in early childhood education.
They're offering it to remote, regional, rural, inner regional education services before it goes out to everybody else, right? But it's all around. teachers, like teachers going on practicum, teachers who have to, which is great, you know, like good, good on all of you who are studying for your early childhood teacher degree.
And I think, you know, there's, there's needs to be more obvious of you, obviously. Uh, but it's not overly applicable in family daycare, yet they keep sending us this invitation to apply for Um, this grant opportunity, and there's really only one tiny, small window that's available to family daycare educators in this.
And this is to pay for someone to go and do their first aid certificate. Cool. Yay. You know, like, yeah, yeah, you're going to get some funds if you're eligible, uh, to do that. But I mean, like, this is offered to daycare centers and they get to have. Their teachers go and do their, like, why aren't they saying, well, if a family daycare educator needs to go and do professional development, then here you go, here's, here, there's a pool of money eligible for family daycare educators to go and act.
It just doesn't exist. Like we just miss out. Everywhere we have no funding. We used to have funding. We have no funding anymore, which means services had to put their fees up, which meant then educators had to cop the brunt of that. And then they had to put their fees up. And like, it just became this cycle and and there's less and less every.
Professional development I've gone to with the Department of Education, bar one or two things, has been directed at long daycare services and out of hours school care. Now yes, they are the bigger part of our profession, I totally understand that, but there's very little for family daycare. In our region, in the Department of Education, they assigned us two offices specifically for family daycare, which was great because we knew who to call.
They were, they did our ANR, so they had an intimate understanding of our business. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, they've canned that now. And now we just go under the normal umbrella, and that's all we have available to us. So that may be different in different regions. I totally understand that. But just to give you an insight from a service perspective, uh, and things that educators may not be aware of, there is very little to nothing available for family daycare.
And How I really realized that was I went to this incredible, don't get me wrong, it was so good professional development, uh, down in Sydney earlier this year. Uh, it was, it was amazing. I actually made a very good friend, Marie Armstrong, if you're out there listening, hello, hello. Uh, she is a service provider in the South coast of New South Wales as well.
Early years, family daycare, I think it is early years, family daycare. Oh gosh. I've had a mental blank. I do this every time I think of Marie's business name. Um, why do I do that? I don't know. I'm so sorry, Marie, but I really loved hanging out with you. We've been buddies ever since. So it was so good, but there was nothing there for family daycare.
Nothing. And like, you have to put all of this into context. So we went to this, um, talk on risky play, because I'm really interested in risky play, went to this talk on risky play, and it was completely directed at a center. And so it was kind of like, well, it's not really applicable to us, really, because the things that we have in our sphere are completely different to what you get in a center, in some instances.
So I. Walked away from there, inspired and engaged and thought it was fabulous, but really realized that there's nothing for family daycare, like, and, uh, Family Daycare Australia puts on their fabulous conference, um, when they do. I couldn't go because it was down in Tasmania, I hadn't budgeted for that, and I know there's a lot of other educators in that situation too, plus we had all the border closures and blah blah blah that happened, and it just wasn't feasible for me to get down there, and so again it was not available to me.
a large amount of family daycare educators. And I'm not bagging that at all. I think what, like I went down to the conference, not to the conference, to the awards a number of years ago, and they were phenomenal. They thought of everything. I was down, it was down in Tasmania. It was amazing. They, they, when you, um, and this is like, I would really encourage educators and services to really put their submissions in when they get nominated, uh, because family daycare went above and beyond for me when I was nominated for coordinator of the year.
Um, and a lot of people will see their, um, that process of applying for that, um, what going to the next step once they get nominated, then there's the application. Or the submission that you've got to put in and a lot of people are like, I don't know how to answer this stuff, like work it out because you're going to get a, if you get there, you'll get a free trip to this, this next one is in South Australia.
So when I got there, they put me up in the Grand Chancellor in Tasmania, which is in the heart, like in the heart of Hobart is a beautiful, beautiful place to stay. I walked in there and they had. chocolates there for me and a handwritten card and like it, I felt really special and I really appreciated all of the effort that they had gone to, uh, to make me feel special in that process.
And it was really worth it. I met so many other services and educators down there. Uh, I went and got my hair curled. Silly story, but I'm going to tell it anyway. I went and got my hair curled. Um, and because I'd left it to the last minute, the hairdressing salon at the Grand Chancellor was all booked out.
So then I just Googled hairdressers in Tasmania. Ended up I went to the most ritzy hairdressing salon in Tasmania. And to get my hair curled cost me like, and a, like a set was like 150 bucks or something. Anyway, um, I wore, as I stepped out of the door. There's a big church right across the road and literally my foot hit the ground and the giant bells tolled from the church and I was like, oh, God saw me come out and he's cheering on for me.
And then 20 minutes later, by the time I walked from there back to the hotel, the wind had blown all my curls out. Not all of them, but it was, they were significantly dropped. Uh, that's what happens when you have dead straight hair, which is what I have. Anyway, um, and again, I walked away from that completely inspired and reengaged and my cup was full and all that sort of thing.
So that's been pretty much the only thing specifically for family daycare, except for the New South Wales Educators Association, where I was lucky enough to present and do a talk there for everybody. They have been the only two events and collective family daycare to did their conference, which was amazing as well.
Oh, my goodness. Dale knows how to put on a show. Let me tell you. And Martina from All Areas Family Daycare provided all of the all of the Christmas stuff like. All of the, that whole room was like a Christmas in July. It was incredible. Um, but they are the only things, and they are few and far between that are specifically for family daycare.
And if you are in wa, you're probably not gonna come over for that. If you are in the Northern Territory, you're probably not gonna come down for that. If you are in Tasmania and something happens up in the nt, it may not be a possibility for you. So, I really wanted to make something available for everybody, and that is why I came up with the idea of the virtual summit.
And everybody, thanks to COVID, now knows how to use Zoom. Everybody's fluid with how to get around Zoom now, so it, it is not so difficult. If you listen to last week's podcast. We talked about the benefits of virtual professional development, uh, and there are a lot and many reasons. So if you want to get into that, go back and listen to last week's episode.
But it happened where I went to this conference and it cost me nearly 900 for the two days to go to this conference. And I would pay it again because it was It was really good, uh, and I felt really good afterwards. Don't get me wrong, but then there's accommodation and having to get there and food while you're down there.
Although this one was catered and it was really good food, actually. Um, it's, it was the Inspire Conference by Saman and Slattery. It was, was very, very good. Uh, and, oh, they finished the, anyway. It was good. Just put it that way. It was like fancy schmancy and I aspire to that. Don't you worry. If I ever, and I will, put on a face to face summit, then we will do some fancy schmancy stuff too.
Don't you worry. It's like, it's the Leo in me. Everything's going to be fabulous. Anyway, I digress. So. I went to that conference in Sydney and I walked away feeling inspired, but also really sad, like really sad, because I had to try and translate everything into family daycare. Now, I love going to those in person events and connecting with other educators.
You know, I made a buddy in Marie there and, and this conference, it was no exception, but my biggest takeaway after two days and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars. There was not one session specifically for family daycare, not one. And every topic and every conversation was geared to long daycare, like it just was.
So what else is new, right? What did I do? Created this summit here, 100% dedicated to the family daycare educator, and the things that you struggle with, and the things that don't work for you, and the things that are relevant to you. Every single speaker speaks specifically to family daycare. They speak specifically to you.
To you and some in every single session that we have, uh, that starts tomorrow from 9 a. m. Every single session that we have has something there for you. There's a nugget of gold, if not 50 nuggets of gold in every single session for you. And I'm really excited to bring that to you. So I know that we feel like we, uh, that so many educators feel like they're not doing enough.
There is this whole big, like, gaping wound within us that tells us we're not enough, that tells us what we do isn't enough, that tells us what we do isn't good enough, that we are not good enough, that you are not good enough, and I wish someone had told me this when I first got into family daycare, you know, that, that You are actually enough.
Who you are is absolutely enough. What you do is enough. You have to get out of your head. You have to stop listening to those stories. You know, your mental health. is always going to be on this wave. It's always going to fluctuate. You're going to have days where you feel like you are hitting every single mark, and then you are going to have days where you feel like you are missing every single mark.
Then you're going to have those days where you're like, meh, meh, meh, like, meh, I don't care, like, whatever, whatever is happening, whatever is...
Mental health is like, on par, or it's below par, or we're just sitting in the middle and we're a bit indifferent to everything. It's completely normal. It is totally and utterly normal. Your energy levels are going to do the same too. Your productivity is going to do the same too. You're going to have weeks, particularly after you've done seasonal planning, you'll go along for weeks and you'll just be on.
You'll be meeting every mark. You'll know exactly what you're doing and then something will happen and the wheels will fall off and you'll lose your way and you'll be like, Oh no, how did I get here again? And it just coincides with your cycle. I know I'm just about to start my cycle and I'm like, this is the worst timing possible.
I'm supposed to be really energetic for this summit. And yet I can feel myself wanting to crawl into my cave and I don't want to have like, I can manage it. Don't get me wrong. I've been doing this long enough, but it's the reality that all women face. They go through the, particularly as you get older and you start getting into perimenopause and menopause.
Itchy ears, itchy scalp, itchy legs, like this stuff drives and the rage! Oh my giddy aunt, the rage! Wow! It's real, and you can't sometimes filter that. You do when you're working because you find these superhuman powers that allow you to do that, but on the whole, like when those kindy children don't ask me a dumb question.
Like the first person that asks me a dumb question, that's it. Don't ask me a dumb question.
Anyway, so these things happen, but what should never fluctuate is your belief in yourself and your self worth. That should never fluctuate, no matter what. What we have to get to is the place where we understand that what we do is enough, that who we are is enough, and that some days I'm going to have days where I'm, I'm not hitting everything, and other days, there are days where I'm going to be exceeding well above the mark I set for myself.
It's just what happens. So I'm here. Telling you, so you can stop putting so much pressure on yourself, to have the perfect resources, the perfect environment, the perfect planned activities, the Insta worthy space. Like, none of that really matters. What matters is how you show up for the children you work with.
And this is what the Connections and Communities Family Daycare Summit is all about. Because I want you to know, it is okay. It is completely normal to have a dip in your mental health, to have a dip in your energy levels, to have a dip in your cycle, to have a dip in how you show up. But what I really want you to understand is that That doesn't make you a bad educator.
It doesn't make you an educator who is not meeting the mark. I'm going to move this camera because I keep looking at the wrong one. It doesn't make you any less worthy of knowing that you're a good, wholesome educator. So what's more important, obviously, is the connection that you have to the children.
That's what you create. That's where the awesome source, the magic happens. The children don't care if you have the latest this, that, and the other. The children don't care if you've written an observation on them. Now, there are some things that are not negotiable. Your daily safety checklists, your daily cleaning, all those things are absolutely not negotiable.
Sleep checks. nappy changes, food, like all of that is not negotiable, ever. It's never negotiable, okay? We all know that. But how you show up in those times where you're not feeling it, is what matters. And that's those times where you honor yourself. And you say to the children, Do you know what? Tory is really tired today.
Tori's really tired. Who else is feeling tired today? You'll probably get someone who says they are and you'll probably get three others that say, nah, we're ready to go. In which case, you then just go, okay, what do you want to do? And include the children and get the children making those decisions, right?
But what's more important is that connection that you have. Because then there's going to be days where those children are saying, Tori, I'm so tired today. Or they're grumpy, they don't know that they're tired. But you can empathize with them and you can show them empathy. And you can say to them, well, Why don't we do some reading or let's let's take a blanket out and lay in the winter sun and look at the clouds or let's look up at the trees through the leaves and see if we can count the birds and the bugs and things like that that are going to reset their nervous system that are going to help them to calm down and to become centered again and to just let their bodies rest because you've modelled that to them.
They then feel okay and know that it's a safe space to do that again for themselves. So children will play with sticks and leaves and stones and be happy. You don't have to have the greatest, the latest, the most whiz bang resources out there. You just don't. That's not what is important to children.
That's a socially constructed idea that in order to look like you are a great educator, you have to have the latest greatest of everything. And it's a bullshit story. It's a total bullshit story. And sorry, and now I need to put a language warning on this podcast. on the podcast. Is that a swear word? Do we call it a swear word anymore?
I'm not sure. Anyway. It's, it's totally made up. And trust me, I've gone and visited hundreds of educators over the last 10 years, and the ones that have the most engagement are the ones where the children are able to really resource and play with the resources and use the resources. take them outside and use them outside.
Now, granted, I did have some that were inside only because they were parts and they would get lost. Um, you know, and there might've been 12. I had the little grappit nins. Uh, I loved them and the rainbow, those things stayed inside because if they got wet, they would be, they would be broken or not, not. You know, they'd swell up because they're timber, um, but there were other things that were totally okay to take outside and bring back in and and vice versa and all those sorts of things.
So children will make do with what they have. You don't need to have everything rainbow in your service whatsoever. That's not what's required to be a really good educator. What's required to be a really good educator is a deeply held connection with each individual child and their families. If you have that, you could have no resources and still provide the most exceptional program.
But if you're an educator that's not connected to your children, but you have all the whiz bang things, you're going to be one of those educators who has children running right through your house, and you don't understand why. And it's because the connection isn't there. That heartfelt soul to soul connection is missing.
That's the most important thing. When you get that, you will intrinsically know that what you do and who you are is enough. Wow. That went really deep. I don't know if you can feel the energy. I felt the energy just really settle and drop. So. It's not about what fancy things you have, it's about how you make them feel, and it's the exact same anywhere you go.
I could go to the most, in fact, I did go to a fancy ish restaurant on Saturday night, and the people there made me feel exceptional. However, The next morning when I got room service, the, the young fellow who delivered my breakfast said to me, Hey, it's been, I know you're checking out today. It's been really great having you here this week.
I've really enjoyed being able to, to bring your breakfast to you every morning. I hope you have a great flight home and I look forward to seeing you next time. Uh, do you think I'm going, like he just bought me my eggs and sausages, like, but I'm really hopeful he'll be there next time. I remembered his name, Nathan, and I will remember it for the next six months till I go back out there again and I'll be searching for Nathan.
Do you think I sent his boss a fabulous recommendation on him? You bet your bottom dollar I did because he connected with me and he made me feel special. That is the magic of family daycare. You have four children a day. It's easy to connect with them and make them feel special when they are, when you connect with them and they feel the genuine connection, they are so much more relaxed.
And we talk about that intensely with Dave Jerrab. He's on day 1, I think.
So, you know, this is really the crux of. The connections and community summit is you can't have community unless you have connection first. Like you just can't and come at me. Tell me how that how you can see that differently. But you can't have a community without connection first. If that connection piece is solid.
You're good to go. You'll be able to overcome anything. But if that connection piece is waning, or it's not meeting, you know, it's falling apart, or it's not consistent, then things are going to not work so well. So it's time to stop telling yourself that you're not doing enough and start feeling confident in what you offer.
And, and that's what we go through in this summit. Um, that's absolutely a hundred percent what we go through the summit. And if you need a huge helping hand with this, Let us know because this is what we're here for. This is what I'm here for. This is what I'm creating a community of family daycare educators for so that we can lean on each other in a professional way and have conversations and have dialogue and help each other, you know, to overcome these things.
But you've got to commit to doing the work yourself too. So if you want to be the educator who feels confident and connected to your program, knows exactly what you're doing and why you're doing it. There's ways to help yourself through that process, and one of those ways is Come with me and do the seasonal planning that we put on every 12 weeks.
It's connection. It's community. It's all those things all tied up together. It's conversations that you get to have with like minded educators. You get to bring the things that you're struggling with and when you do this with educators every 12 weeks you become really Fluid in picking these things up yourself, like you'll start to notice these patterns that you see within your group.
You go. Ah, I know what's happening here. You know, the children are pushing the boundaries. Oh, I need to give them more responsibility. Now. I need to allow them more opportunity. Oh, okay. And you remember because you had that conversation with someone else last season. So these are all ways that you can find the sweet spot to be working within your.
Your service and you can do that with the help of me, because every 12 weeks we come together in our seasonal planning. Now, if you've come with the VIP session, then you actually get automatic entry to the next four seasonal planning sessions, which is so good, because there's going to be a whole heap of us that gather every season and work towards it.
Knowing what we're doing, like having a goal in mind for each child and working towards that. Now, if that doesn't make sense right now, that's okay. Because when you come to the seasonal planning session, I teach you how to do it. And it's pretty simple. Everyone tries to make it way more difficult than what it actually is, but it's actually really easy and very, very simple to do.
So, um. Stick with it. Stick with it. And you've got to do it for a couple of seasons too, to really get it. Like the penny drops, and as soon as the penny drops, educators are like, never not planning like this ever again. This is so much easier. It's, it just saves time, and I'm really connected to what I'm doing.
I know each of the child, children intimately, and I know exactly what I'm working for on each, with each child. Um, And it still allows space for spontaneity, like so much more space and you can keep things so much more interesting because you know what you're doing, then it's easier to follow the lead of the children for the rest of the day.
So it just means that each day you come to the children with an idea of what you want to work with. Um, with, for them, on them, with them, you know what I'm trying to say, uh, you have this idea fresh in your mind, oh that's right I'm doing rhyming songs with little Ayla today because I know we're trying to work through some speech stuff with her, you know, she's, she's right on the cusp, so we're going to do some, um, um, Rhyming songs and rhyming games and oh, that's right.
And Billy here, I'm working on gross motor skills with him. So I wonder if I can combine the two because then two children are, you know, I'm meeting the goals of two children at one time. Let's make a obstacle course and create a rhyme that goes with the obstacle course or whatever it is that you're doing.
You can, you can easily do that, but it means that that information is top of mind for you. And you have a purpose for what you're doing. So there's a why behind what you're doing with your intentional teaching. And it just makes so much more sense to me. Anyway, um. And the goals, like, it's really important that we reach goals.
This is how we can monitor children too, if we think there's potential red flags there. This is how we can, like, really work with the milestone checklists. And I know there's a whole heap of educators out there that are like, oh, they're so antiquated. But you know what? They are a common ground for people and parents already have a connection to them through when their child was born in their little baby books in New South Wales.
It's the blue book Queensland. It's the maroon book. Um, I don't know what other states have, but every state has it where you, you know, your baby's born, they give you the book, they record all the information and then you start tracking your child through those milestones. So the parents already know how these work.
You don't have to. Like reinvent the wheel for them. It's already a safe place. Uh, it's something that they've already been using and you just continue it on within your care. And it's an easy way to monitor and track the children. So on the sequel website, you can download it from there. That's the basis that we use for our seasonal planning.
So when you have these goals for the children, they may only touch five, 10 minutes a day of intentional teaching for each child. The rest is for spontaneous play. and following the children's lead. So you're meeting all of the requirements of the EYLF by doing that or a major part of it by doing that and you're also meeting the children's needs and you're meeting your needs as a professional so that you can feel like you have achieved things within your work.
So yeah,
that is kind of like A big overall reason as to why I wanted to do, and I kind of went off on a tangent as to interseasonal planning and whatnot, but what I really wanted to do was to make the summit available for everybody and you can see how like the big vision for the connections and the communities.
It's not just about connection and community. It's about helping you to feel like you have a base to start fresh. Within your service, if you're feeling like, and I know after the last couple of years, it's just been hectic, like, hectic, crazy, and I know so many people are burnt out and really feeling, really feeling, um, tired and uninspired, unengaged, there's a lot of movement happening with educators, you know, because services have dealt with this really differently, and there's been a lot of people who felt out of alignment with their old service and are looking for something new.
And, and, and I think that's a natural thing to happen after something like what we've all gone through, because you start to reassess and you start to look at what's important to you, and that becomes different, uh, when you've gone through something like a pandemic, uh, and, and, and I think. People know now intrinsically more what they're looking for and they really want to be in alignment because it comes back to again and again that connection and if that connection is no longer there like you've got to move so that you feel valued in what you do and you need to value yourself first and if people who you're working with aren't valuing you and you're really wanting to value yourself.
then it stands to reason that you need to move places. And I'm not suggesting everyone get up and move services, I'm just observing that there's a lot of that happening right now. So, uh, I really wanted educators to Feel that connection piece within the community that we have as a whole in family daycare within Australia, to feel that connection, we've first gotta feel connection to ourselves.
Then we, we, we share that connection to the children. The c, the Community Connections and Community Summit is all about fostering those connections first to. Then to children, then to families, then to outside organizations that can help us and form part of our community, and then to the community at large.
So I really hope that that's the gist of what you're going to get out of the Connections and Community Summit. Uh, you have time to sign up if you have not yet. Uh, and I would highly recommend you jump onto the VIP because... The VIP sessions give you access to the seasonal planning four times a year for the next 12 months.
You also get access to a really special masterclass that will happen on the 31st of July 23, which is an insight into the essential elements, which is the signature course that I run. You'll also get the Printables Bundle, the Friendships Printables Bundle, which is gorgeous and totally perfect for connections and communities.
And there's also access to, what else is there? Oh, ooh, drum roll please. Brrrrr. There are three tickets to the essential elements that we'll VIP members. So, uh, that's a value. 7 and gets you 12 months worth of hanging out with me and the super awesome group that we've got in The Essential Elements in the membership there.
So that's it folks, that is today's podcast and I went way longer than I thought I was going to. I thought I was going to do 10 15 minutes but I think it's been a bit longer than that. Anyway, my friendly friends, that is why I hope you will get the gist of what I was trying to achieve in creating this summit, uh, and feel that within your bones and feel that there is actually support there for family daycare educators.
And, uh, if there's topics that you want me to touch on, if there's, Problems that you are facing that you want me to work through with you. Let me know. Uh, I'm always open to suggestions and feedback, and I love it when people say Victoria, can you talk about blah, blah? And I go, ah, yep, absolutely. No worries.
I mean, I've got all the ideas under the sun. They just. Spew forth out of me if you've ever been in touch with me in terms of on a live or the big heart to heart. Like I'm never short of an idea. Don't worry about that. If you've got something specific, I really want to be able to help you. So, um. I hope you have a fabulous time at the summit.
It's going to be three days of awesome sauce and incredible connections and creating our fabulous community and building it even stronger. And I just want to thank you so much for putting your trust in me and coming along for the ride. I am super stoked to be working alongside with you. So until next time, big love.
Hi friends, thank you so much for joining us today. I hope you got a lot out of today's episode. When we work on our own we can sometimes be in a silo so having new perspectives and different ways of looking at things is vitally important for the growth of our individual selves and our professional selves as well.
We love feedback so if you felt compelled to share what you thought of today's podcast we would love to read your Thoughts You can leave us a review on podcast that helps our podcast to get out to the wider community. And the more that hear what we have to share, we think the better it is. Thanks so much, friend.
We'll see you next time. Till then, big love.
