Napcast

Back for part 2! Here we pick up our conversation on children as spiritual beings including how that relates to their souls, how we can reconnect ourselves to our inner child and our own spiritual energies, and what role does spirituality play in Indigenous, Black, and Brown liberation movements. If you haven't listened to part 1 yet, go and listen! We'll be here waiting as we continue to dialogue about how we can work to understand children's spiritual paths.

Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for an episode? Have some comments? Email us at napcast206.com and let’s talk!

There's an energy, an empathic connection, a strong soul that resides in children. An awakening or perhaps a part of them that grounds them during troubling time, grows their inner wisdom, and brings them on pathways of wonder. But what do we mean when we say children are spiritual beings? How do we begin to understand their sacred play? What about that thing between separation of church and state? And most importantly, how do we connect to their inner worlds? Join us for part 1 as we explore all of this and more as we work to understand children's spiritual paths.

Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for an episode? Have some comments? Email us at napcast206.com and let’s talk!

Traumatic events affect people in all kinds of ways and there is nothing wrong with you if you find yourself struggling to heal from the impact of past abuse. In today's episode, we put our mental health first, and we talk about how each of us are healing through the use of art and play and what that could look like in our work with children and families. Join us as we cultivate curiosity and creativity as we remember that play is learning!

Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for an episode? Have some comments? Email us at napcast206.com and let’s talk! 

Mike: "Nick?"

Nick: "Yeah, Mike?"

Mike: "What would it look like if we created a school from scratch? Ya know, one that is Pro-Indigenous and Pro-Black?"

Nick: "Well, we'd have a lot of things, but most importantly, we'd have a Napcast episode to discuss it."

Join us as we hit record and think about what would our school include, what would we have to give up, and how we can combine a pro-BIPOC curriculum with things such as TSG, High Scope and other curriculums that exists.

Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for an episode? Have some comments? Email us at napcast206.com and let’s talk! 

When we (un)intentionally push fathers and father-like figures to the side, we fail to recognize the impact that male figures have on a child’s life. It means we ignore the contributions and life lessons being taught in the shop as our barber cuts our hair. It means we ignore the lessons we learn about brotherhood after we see the older boys in the hood stand up for you after a bully knocks us down. It means that we don't matter. In order to disrupt the hurtful and false narrative of the absent father, we must take a look at what joy and healing looks like for male engagement. Join us as we discuss the false narratives that influence males participation in the lives of young children and work to reclaim our roles as loving, caring, and compassionate fathers, father-like figures, community members, educators, and males.

Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for an episode? Have some comments? Email us at napcast206.com and let’s talk! 

Raise a hand if you’ve been asked by a preschooler, what’s a colonizer? No? Just us? Well, in this episode we talk about how we can teach US history to young children that isn’t whitewashed or appropriated. Using the truth to share valuable lessons, introduce unique new concepts and lay a foundation for further learning exploration, we share a story of how we used place based learning strategies to not bring shame to people but to Indigenous our curriculum. Join Nick and Mike as we kick off a brand new season of Napcast in with a bang! Got an idea for an episode? Have some comments? Or you want to be featured in one? Email us at napcast206.com and let’s talk! 

You'll sit there until you finish your food. Raise your hand if you ever heard that before. As you may know, getting children to eat can sometimes be a difficult task. But before you go to war with them to get them to clear their plate, have you ever stopped and wondered why they have a preferred taste? In this episode, we chat about how and why it could be more than just them being a picky eater. We explore the cultural-social-spiritual reasons why children might not have a healthy relationship with food and ways we can counteract that. If you're in need of some nourishment, you've come to the right place. Join us as we nourish our minds, bodies, and souls to help restore children's relationship with their foods and customs. *Interested in learning more about this from Nick and Mike? Reach out to [email protected] to inquire about their workshop titled "Nourishing Our Spirits, Feeding Our Souls"*

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]

Kindergarten Readiness. The term we all hold so dear. But instead of focusing on the future, how about we focus on the here and now? Have you ever wondered what does toddler-readiness look like? What about preschool-readiness? In this episode we chat about what we hope infant educators do to make young children ready for the terrific twos and what toddler educators would do to make them ready for preschool. Join us as we wonder, think, and play as we develop and learn how to best support each other and the children in our lives.

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]

In some states, regions, and programs, the word "equity" and "justice" are not allowed. So, how can you talk about concepts of fairness, justice, and equity without jeopardizing your job? Inspired by Dr. Barbara Cooper's decision to step down as Secretary of Education in Alabama rather than change her beliefs about teaching for justice, Nick and Mike speculate about how early childhood educators can talk about gender, environmental, and immigration justice with young children without saying the word justice. Join us as we continue to evolve as reflective, social-justice educators.

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]

What role does water play in your life? In today's episode, Nick and Mike talk about the role that water plays in our lives as BIPOCs (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) and as early childhood educators. We talk about our relationship with water, the ways water can restore us, the various ways children interact it with, and the important role it has in all of our lives. Join us as we listen to the heartbeat of water.

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]