"Dear Mike and Nick - Thank you for your conversations and your podcast. It's so refreshing hearing two male educators in our profession. I have a question though, do our toddlers really need to / have the capacity to be hearing about gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, and reproductive organs?" 

In this episode, we explore this question we received the other day by unpacking and reflecting on two conversations we've had with young children about gender and sexual anatomies. Touching upon other closely related topics such as bodily consent, we'll give our rationale around why it's not just important to talk about these things with young children, but why it's necessary if we aim to create a society where all is heard, seen, validated, loved and cared for. Join us as we complicate ours and our children’s thinking on what people can or cannot do, be, or wear.

Since meeting over 5 years ago at Hilltop Children's Center and Educator Institute in Seattle, WA (Coast Salish Territory), Nick Terrones (he/him) and Mike Browne (he/him) have been working towards a critical reimagination of ECE spaces for BIPOC educators and youth. In 2020, they teamed up to deliver a podcast titled Napcast, where they explore the intersection of early childhood education with race, identity, and culture. Now in new roles, Nick as the Program Director of Daybreak Star Preschool at United Indians of All Tribes, and Mike, Sr. Director of Community Engagement at Cultivate Learning, they combine their experience from their time in the classroom with their insights as ECE leaders in order to challenge your perspective on the ways we teach, play, and love society's youngest citizens. Please share your questions, comments, and thoughts at our new email address - [email protected]