Teachers, Toddlers, and Tissues: Candid Conversations on Health and Child Care

Keeping kid's teeth clean and healthy is crucial to avoid cavities and more serious complications — but there's a lot more to oral health than just brushing teeth. It begins even before baby teeth have appeared! Rachel and Dr. Navsaria share the many ways to keep teeth healthy, and why it matters.

Putting those ever-present screens away can be challenging for children and adults alike. Today, we're talking about why it's important to talk about healthy digital media use, what happens when screen-time disconnects us from real-time, and how we can talk about, and model, healthy digital behavior for our kids...without shaming and blaming.

Cases of whooping cough are at their highest in years, and our littlest ones are at risk of severe infection — and even death — if they're not vaccinated. Rachel and Dr. Navsaria break down what whooping cough is, the risks it poses to infants, when to call home, and how to navigate conversations around vaccine hesitancy.

Recorded Live at the Parents as Teachers International Conference in San Diego, CA, three childcare specialists share their personal story of addressing burnout and moral injury.

Rachel and Dipesh continue their road show with another live record, this time in front of over 1000 home visitors and childhood experts at the Parents as Teachers International Conference in San Diego, CA. Together with the audience, they discuss what we can do to address already-existing burnout and moral injury in early childcare professions.

Recorded in front of a live audience at the Wisconsin Early Childhood Association Conference, Rachel and Dipesh turn their lens to helping teachers and early childhood educators navigate a growing risk in the field: burnout and moral injury.

Early Childhood Educators often have a pretty good sense of when a kid is ok and when they're not. Though we're not doctors, teachers are often asked to 'keep an eye on' development, or bring it up if something feels off with a child's physical or social-emotional health. Today, Rachel and Dr. Navsaria talk about what happens at checkups, how we help both parents and fellow teachers navigate concerns around kids' health, and how teachers can best help throughout.

Food insecurity is prevalent in many of our classrooms, and addressing it with families can be difficult. Today we're going to try to break the stigma on this difficult subject, and outline what teachers need to know about kids in their classrooms who may dealing with food insecurity, and ways they may be able to offer support.

Sore, red, scratchy throat? It is strep? Rachel and Dr. Navsaria talk about sore throats, and one cause in particular: strep! We'll talk about how teachers can help soothe a child with a sore throat, how strep spreads, what testing looks like, guidelines for exclusion, and when to call home. (And just for good measure, we'll also talk about hand, foot, and mouth disease.)

Summer is here, and temperatures are high. It's hot!! Today we're talking about how heat affects kids, how to identify a child that's getting too hot, and the measures we can take to keep them cool.