How to Provide Nurturing Environments That Shape Your Young Child’s Brain, with LaDawn White

On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, we were joined by LaDawn White, an Early Childhood Educator and Family Childcare Director. LaDawn is the owner of Labor of Love Childcare, a preschool prep, family childcare program that services families with children aged birth to three years old. We chatted about: * LaDawn’s background and how she came to do the work she’s doing today* What are the kinds of materials and experiences she finds are the most supportive of learning for infants and toddlers?* What are some of the simple ways parents and caregivers can set up the home environment to help support early learning and connection?* LaDawn’s top tips for parents and caregivers who want to ensure they’re “doing it right” and “doing enough” when it comes to their little ones* LaDawn’s favorite resources to share with families raising infants and toddlers of all developmental levelsResources Mentioned in This Episode:CDC Developmental ChecklistJanet Lansbury: Elevating ChildcareConnect With Us:LaDawn: Website / Facebook / InstagramAyelet: Facebook / Instagram / PinterestText Transcript of This Episode:Ayelet: Today I am speaking with LaDawn White, the owner of Labor Of Love Childcare, a preschool prep, family childcare program that services families with children aged birth to three years old, located in Northern Indiana. Through her collection of experiences and education, LaDawn offers an all-inclusive childcare program that provides education, activities, and resources for young children and their entire families. LaDawn, you and I connected a while back on social media, and I know that you provide such value for families in your community. So I’m really excited to chat with you about your approach to play and early childhood education. So welcome to Learn With Less.LaDawn: Thank you for having me! Yay.Ayelet: I’m so glad you’re here. So I’ve asked you to come onto the show today to speak to us really about, you know, how to provide nurturing relationships and environments that shape a young child’s brain. But first, why don’t you tell us more, a little bit about you and how you actually got into the work that you’re doing today?LaDawn: Sure. So I started, just, I guess initially this wasn’t my career pathway. So I was in fashion design and had children got married, had children and was like, okay, I need something a little more practical. I need something that… I’m a small town girl, you know, big cities did not seem very appeasing to me having a young family. And so ultimately, I just wanted my kids to have the best education and for them to be with people who I could trust. And so that kind of is what prompted me to look into education. And then I started thinking about how I didn’t want to work with kids that were too old. So, you know, the younger children seem to be underserved.