Inspiration

No one has all the answers to parenting, child development or all the challenges you may encounter during your parenting journey. At The Cadre, we have a few places that we consistently go when we are wanting to be our best selves with babies.

Janet is a calming voice, no matter how you are feeling about the challenges you may be experiencing with the young children in your life. Magda Gerber was her mentor, and she has quite the following on social media as parents and caregivers reach out to her to get advice on what can be done to build respectful relationships with children. Her two books are must reads for every parent of infants and toddlers. One of our favorite things about Janet is how she can break things down into words that are meaningful and easy for parents to understand. https://www.janetlansbury.com/

Magda Gerber, the founder of the RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers) Philosophy refreshes our love and passion for infants every time we hear her voice or read her words. Even though she has passed away, we have found this website that consistently reminds us what we love about babies.
https://www.magdagerber.org/magda-uncut.html

What can be more inspiring than science and research that is giving us up to date information on babies, their brains and how to best support them to be successful? The Center on the developing child is continuing to innovate and inspire those working daily with children in their early years of life.
https://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/

Children are amazing. They are born with an immense capacity to care and understand and empathize with others. They so strongly want to connect with others. When children feel seen, heard, loved- they grow. (Flourish, in fact!) By taking the time to build a strong foundation of respect, trust and mutual respect, we are giving children what they need to grow and thrive. The work of the Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) has many user friendly resources for caregivers and parents. Family child care home providers are in the unique situation of being able to practice both continuity of care (one provider cares for the child for an extended period of time, ie: birth to three years of age) and primary caregiving (one person is responsible for meeting the child’s needs on a regular basis, and communicating with parents). Both continuity of care and primary caregiving are established measures of high quality care. Research shows that when caregivers know their children; their cues, ways of communicating and have an established relationship with the family, then children do not have to work as hard to communicate what they need to get their needs met. When children are feeling like they aren’t heard, caregivers may see challenging behaviors. This website provides a way to build a strong foundation and reduce the occurrence of those behaviors.
http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/index.html

In Colorado we are fortunate to have one of the most forward thinking approaches to supporting not just infants and toddlers, but the people who care for them. The Expanding Quality in Infant Toddler Care Initiative (EQIT) has been educating caregivers, creating relationships and in turn, supporting babies and their families for over 20 years. The thoughtfully created curriculum focuses on what we already know that infants, toddlers and their caregivers need, while also explaining the science behind it. As continued research into the early years continues, other states are hoping to follow Colorado and EQIT’s lead in working together to provide the quality care that ALL infants and toddlers deserve. You can read more about the initiative here.