Raising Wildlings
Raising Wildlings
Big Hearted Education: Creating Connections Through Family Daycare with Victoria Edmond
Curious about the world of Family Day Care and how it might be the perfect fit for your child? Join us as we sit down with Victoria Edmond of Big Hearted Education and Rainbow Bridge Family Daycare Service. Victoria takes us through her inspiring journey from long daycare disillusionment to creating her own nurturing Family Day Care service and debunks the myth that family daycare can't be profitable.
We cover:
- What is the difference between Family Day Care and Long Day Care and why might you choose one over the other as a parent?
- How do children access nature in a Family Day Care Service?
- What about child protection concerns in Family Day Care?
- How can I transition out of Long Day Care into Family Day Care?
- And we bust the myth that you can’t make a profit as a family day care service. So let’s welcome Victoria to the show!
We know as a parents, making the choice between Long Day Care, Family Day Care and Kindy can be a hard choice. Hopefully today’s episode with Victoria will answer a few of your burning questions and give you some tips on what to look out for in any service. And if you’re an educator listening today, we hope it answers some questions you have around why you might choose to become a Family Day Care provider and what to look for when joining a service.
As always, we love your thoughts, feedback and questions, so feel free to DM us with any questions you may have over on our Raising Wildlings Instagram.
Stay wild!
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On today's episode we're chatting with Victoria Edmond of Big Hearted Education and Rainbow Bridge Family Daycare Service. With 11 years supporting family daycare educators and four years as one herself, victoria helps educators feel more connected to their business by using smart strategies that prioritise their wellbeing, resulting in high quality, authentic care. So today we're talking all things family daycare. What's the difference between family daycare and long daycare and why might you choose one over the other? As a parent, how do children access nature in a family daycare service? What about child protection concerns in family daycare? How could I transition out of long daycare into family daycare as an educator? And we bust the myth that you can't make a profit as a family daycare service. So if you're curious about whether family daycare is the right choice for you and your family, whether that's as an educator or as a parent, then today's episode is for you.
Speaker 1:I'm your host, nikki Farrell. Welcome to the Raising Wildlings podcast. We like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we record today the Kabi, kabi and Gubbi Gubbi people. We recognise their continued connection to the land and waters of this beautiful place. We recognise Aboriginal people as the original custodians of this land and acknowledge that they have never ceded sovereignty. We respect all Gubbi Gubbi elders, ancestors and emerging elders and all First Nations people listening today.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Raising Wildlings, a podcast about parenting, alternative education and stepping into the wilderness, however that looks, with your family.
Speaker 1:Each week, we'll be interviewing experts that truly inspire us to answer your parenting and education questions. We'll also be sharing stories from some incredible families that took the leap and are taking the road less travelled.
Speaker 2:We're your hosts. Vicki and Nikki from Wildlings Forest School, Pop in your headphones, settle in and join us on this next adventure.
Speaker 1:Good morning, Victoria. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. It's been a while. For those of you that listen to Raising Wildlings, we have taken a I was going to say short break, but it's been a bit longer break because we've had a bunch of great projects going on. We're so excited to have Victoria Edmond with us today, kind of breaking our dry spell. So thank you, Victoria, for inspiring me to get back on the podcast today.
Speaker 3:You are most welcome and I will say that it is your podcast that inspired me to start my podcast, so I'm totally having a bit of a full circle moment here. So it's an absolute honour and a pleasure to sit with you today, nikki.
Speaker 1:I forget. I think that's really heartening to hear and, I think, re-inspiring because I think you know we've been doing this for four years and Vicky and I, at the start of the year, we've got some big projects coming up. We don't want to lose the podcast because it's been really a really big turning point in our business and has really, I guess, grown our reach, and we always forget our reach and the impact that it has, Because, again, I think you're the same Like we just record from home in their little old house. It's often in my pajamas. I got out of my pajamas today just for you, Victoria. Not really, but let's go with that. So thank you for that reminder and I'm so glad that you've got your podcast too. Do you want to? That's a great segue start by telling us what you do and how you ended up here and how and why you started your podcast too. Sure.
Speaker 3:I would love to. There's nothing more I love than talking about this story, because I think so many people will see themselves in it in some form or another. So many moons ago I started early childhood education. I studied and I got a job and I went into long daycare and it was the first day that I got in there that I was shocked, horrified and mortified at the way I saw children being treated and I knew that this career was not to be long lived for me. I come from a Steiner background, so truth, beauty and goodness is a cornerstone of what I believe and has been instilled within me, is the best thing for young children has been instilled within me, is the best thing for young children. So seeing people not be so kind or even aware of what they were saying really grated on me and I left and started a family daycare service. So I started Rainbow Bridge Family Daycare with a couple of business partners and we've had a few iterations of people with me being the constant in there, and we're now very, very settled, 11 years later.
Speaker 3:And through the pandemic, I started a support page for educators because none of us knew what was going on. And from there, one day I happened to mention that I started a planner for my service and I don't know about two 300 people messaged me and like what's that planner? And I went, oh okay, there might be something here, yeah. And so then a second business was born called Big Hearted Education, and that's where I found you, because I was listening, because I, like, I really wanted to start a podcast, didn't really know how to do it. And then I came across your podcast and I was just enthralled and I went back through the whole back catalogue and I listened to all of them up until that point and was just like that's it, this is so good, there's so much information shared.
Speaker 3:And then I got to business and started my own podcast and we also do online courses and we sell resources for family daycare educators and I'm now starting to move into speaking and presenting. So it's been a wonderful journey that I get to visit educators across both Queensland and New South Wales, because we have services with Rancor Bridge across both states and whenever I can, I will visit with other educators outside of my service because I just love to see what people do. I'm just so inspired by educators, especially in the family daycare setting, because they're, you know, doing their own thing and they're doing what is alive within them and sharing that with the children, and I just think it's so important. So that's how I got here.
Speaker 1:Oh, I just there's so much about your story that I love and resonate with, because you know, the same thing. I was like, oh, teaching, yay, ticks. All the boxes got into the classroom. I was like, oh, okay, yfdc, yay, ticks. All the boxes got into the classroom. Was like, oh, oh, okay, um, why FDC? So what made you go? Because, you know, I understand that feeling of oh and also that grief I think of. For me it was like, oh, I really had so many hopes pinned on this. I really thought I could be the teacher I wanted to be in in this space and when I realized I couldn't, it was a real you know. All right, buckle up, I'm just going to make do with what I can until I realised that my body wasn't allowing me to make do. So how did you find FDC? And what is it about family daycare that feels so much different to long daycare that you've been able to make a you know career that you love out of it?
Speaker 3:I have first heard of family daycare when my children were little and so, before I even studied, and someone said you should do family daycare. So I contacted the local family daycare service and was immediately put off because all they did was send me the list of compliance and I was just like I'm not interested, that's way too difficult, I'm not going to do that. And it was years later that I went and studied and then I went into long daycare and then, through the study that the educator that was teaching me talked about family daycare and I was like, oh, that's, that's really sweet, but meh. So when I was working in the long daycare, a friend of mine actually approached me and said I want to start a family daycare service and you've got the qualifications, so I need you. And I looked at it, and I really looked at it, and then I realized that the gap that I was seeing was the professional development that was available to educators was severely lacking when it came to looking holistically at children, and the first person you must look at when you're working with children is yourself, and that was completely, utterly missing from everything that I saw. So this idea was sort of seeded and born, and so when my friend approached me and said you know, I want to start family daycare, we looked into it and we did it and what?
Speaker 3:The thing that always has set us apart has been the professional development that we provide and honouring that each educator has something special that's alive within them that they share with the children. So what I really love about family daycare is that there is a framework that we all must operate under across long daycare and family daycare. But as the family daycare educator having only daycare educator, having only four children like preschool age children in your care and under you really get to work intimately with those children and create those fundamental connection pieces very like, very quickly and first, and they're authentic. You don't have 15, 16 other children running around, you don't have another educator who wants to talk to you and blah, blah, blah, so your focus and attention can be squarely on the children and you deliver the program that you know is right for those children, based on what you see and the lens of life that you look through.
Speaker 3:So for me, family daycare I personally would have put my children into long daycare ever again, and unless it was a very top-notch place, but it would like the boxes that I would have to take to get in there, and I'm not talking my own children, now 23 and 21, so it would be my grandchildren, and I'll be horrified if my kids don't use family day children.
Speaker 3:But, like you know, I'm not looking forward to those conversations. You know anyway, those grandmas out there know what I'm talking about, absolutely. So for me, being able to provide what I know from my soul is so important, and I believe that children don't come to you just by chance. I truly believe there's a soul agreement between each educator and each child that you will guide each other, because we both have things to learn from each other, and that you will guide each other for however long you're destined to be together. And I think that in that family daycare setting that really is allowed to blossom and flourish, because there's less disruption, there's less noise, there's less everything, so things can be simple and beautiful and calm, and I really feel like in today's world, children need that.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I love that. That's a great segue to a question. I often get asked all the time for recommendations for long daycare, kindies, FDC and also the difference. So people actually ask me would you send your children to FDC or long daycare? If you had the choice, what would you choose? And I always say FDC. However, the most common objection I guess I get from parents is oh, but you just don't know who's coming into the house. Can you answer this question? Because I know you will better than me than I say back. You'll be much more professional about the way you answer this than I will.
Speaker 3:Oh, don't put that out there. No, look, I didn't send my own children to family daycare because and this is 20-odd years ago the very first thing I thought was who's there watching them Like they could do anything, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Long daycare is for sure much safer, however, having been on the inside of the boat.
Speaker 3:Now we still have to meet all of the same criteria in terms of working with children's checks, police checks, all of that sort of stuff. Every single person over the age of 18 that resides in the home has to have a working with children or blue card check, and they are known to the service and like there's a lot of stopgap measures that are in place there. I think now we have to get real with the very difficult conversation around child protective behaviours Things you need to be teaching your children, the conversations you need to be having with your children because in 2022, that man was discovered having worked for over 10 years in long daycare settings across multiple states and countries and was arrested with thousands of images of children that he had collected and done things with and then put on the dark web. These predators are everywhere. They are everywhere. It is absolutely horrifying when you start looking into this. There are things you can do, and I'm going to. I didn't ask if I could do this, but I'm going to.
Speaker 3:Christy McVie is a child specialist interviewer from the Western Australian Police Force. She has just released a series of cards that are for preschool-aged children. There's a whole series of them for the different ages where you can talk and have conversations that come specifically from the 10 years of experience she has in this particular area about teaching protective behaviours to children. So I would suggest, doesn't matter where you send your children, no, you could be sending it to your family Exactly, and there can be issues in that in that.
Speaker 3:So we have to stop looking outside of ourselves for this conversation and the answers to this conversation, to this question, and really get that. It's up to us. We as adults, as parents of our children or caregivers of our children, need to be having these conversations so that we can arm the children with the right words to be able to say when things happen, because they know the difference. And you need to start that from very, very, very young age. So it's not so much about going into different settings, because it's everywhere and like it's honest when you start looking at it. And if you really want to dive down that rabbit hole, I recommend the children in the pictures podcast. It's not easy listening. However, you will get a very solid understanding of how they are operating, because most of us didn't operate with the internet. No, we don't understand the way the predators have access to our children.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:It's terrifying as young as, like, children get on tablets. I mean, I'm really going to start a whole series around talking about this and opening this conversation because AI and the internet like keep your children off it until they're about 16. Yeah, there's people. How is that gonna do? You know what? You're never gonna let your child drive a car without giving them lessons first, and it is exactly the same with the internet. You should not be giving your children free reign access to the internet because you are putting them in danger. It's not when they go to their local family daycare educator, it's when you're giving them these devices.
Speaker 3:So sorry, I get ranty about this. I'm so. People don't understand. We don't like. It's when you start looking at it and going down these pathways that you start realising you go oh my, I was not exposed to this when I was a kid. No, you know, I had to ask my parents to get off the phone so I could use the internet. Like that's how much of a cancer I am. But I think that's it. So I have an idea.
Speaker 1:It's the good reminder again, though, that actually check your house and your family first and again. Predators are so insidious and experts at grooming that you more than likely won't know anyway. So you need to, exactly like you said, teach your children those behaviors to look out for and and to the confidence in themselves to. They need to know the names of their real body parts. They need to. You know that's. The first thing they look for is confidence in a child and confidence that a child knows their body parts.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, please don't shy away from those conversations no, and and let's not abdicate the power and the responsibility that you, as a parent, have. Don't put that on your educators, no well this is the problem we're seeing, though.
Speaker 1:Right as a I'm a ex high school pe teacher and we would get letters every time this is year nine, we would be doing sex ed, and quite often it was actually relationships ed.
Speaker 1:To start with, it was either pure biology or relationships, so we're not actually talking about sex, but we would get letters most terms that we started this saying they're too young, you're teaching, you're grooming these children, and I just think your children are going to be the ones that get preyed upon because they don't know, they have no information. The information they're relying on is coming from groomers, predators or friends that have no idea, so don't bury your head in the sand. There were pregnant teenagers in year seven at the schools I've been working at, because they didn't know they could get pregnant. They didn't even know that what they were doing was sex or they were being harmed, doing sexual acts that they didn't realise could harm them. So they're going to do it if you don't tell them, and they're going to do it in ways that are harmful to themselves and others if they don't know as well.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely, others if they don't know as well, absolutely, absolutely. I mean. And it comes down to parents taking their power back and trusting their own abilities. And that's what I'm noticing in early childhood education is parents don't know how to parent now and and they are looking for advice, and there's so much advice out there that it's and I understand it it's so overwhelming.
Speaker 3:It's so overwhelming and this is where I feel like the pendulum has come so far this way. I'm really trying to pull it back this way to say hang on, we need to get back to basics. We need to, and this is where I feel like family daycare and businesses like like what you do, too, and businesses like what you do too, like nature-based businesses. Nature doesn't lie Like nature doesn't lie. It does what it does and it does it cyclically, and we have to fit in with it. And it's the same with, you know, businesses that you support and businesses that I support and humans that we support.
Speaker 3:I'm not going to be for everybody. You're not going to be for everybody. You're not going to be for everybody, but what we need to do is share this information so that people who are interested and have a real passion for ensuring the sacredness of early childhood is kept where it should be can have options either way. So this is why I was so excited to come and talk with you, because I know that there's going to be people who want to do what you do but don't feel the confidence, and so perhaps family daycare could be a perfect stepping stone for them, and vice versa.
Speaker 3:There may be people already doing what they're doing, feeling a bit lost, and so family daycare can help. Or there's family daycare educators that are like you know what I'm feeling a little bit restricted because you do have to operate with policies and services in mind. Perhaps there's people who are feeling more confident, that want to leave family daycare and come and do a more nature-based program where they can have a bit more room to stretch their wings more nature-based program where they can have a bit more room to stretch their wings. So I think we have a beautiful collaboration here where we can really help educators and families to be able to find more of what they're looking for.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's a hundred percent, is that if you're feeling a bit lost, whether that's as a teacher and early years educator, know that there are other options. If you get nothing out of this episode between the two of us, it's that there are other options and you don't have to stay where you are and it's worth calling people up and asking the questions and take them out for a coffee and really get you know what do you love about your job, what do you hate about it, what do you love about owning a business or working with a service? Really ask those questions because we've all you know, there's people that have been there and in your exact same shoes, that have found solutions for them and, like you said, my solution might not be it and your solution might not be it, but it might get you to where you need to be down the track yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:I had another question, uh, when you mentioned nature before how, as a family daycare, and, and again, I would just want to bust these myths, right, because I get asked them all the time. Yeah, but you know, the reason we come to wildlings instead of putting our child in a family daycare is because you know they can't access nature. Don't worry, I bust that for people. But can you bust that for people please?
Speaker 3:A hundred percent it depends on. This is incorrect. Yeah, like my educators. Uh, get out in nature. Uh, we've got educators that run bush programs, like bush kinders they have. Maybe they're lucky enough to have acreage which they go foraging on. A lot of educators run paddock to plate programs as well. They do nature walks. They get out into the local reserves. It really depends on the service your educator is aligned with or registered with. We do a lot. I don't let my team go to the beach as yet because I just I know I'm like financially responsible at the end of the day should anything happen. So that would be something that I would really need to work one-on-one with an educator. There would be some people who I would straight away go yep, you've got it. You've got that supervision piece right there, and then there were other people.
Speaker 3:You know you're a little bit scattered. Um, I myself wouldn't take children to the beach because I know that I'm easily distracted because, oh, look at all these little soldier crabs and there's two kids. Um, I would never let that happen.
Speaker 1:No, but it's. I know your point, it's a ratios thing yeah, totally, totally.
Speaker 3:so it depends on who your educator is registered with, but it also depends on your educator too, because it can be daunting to take other people's children, especially Australia, like everything's here to kill you, like snakes and spiders and prop bears and all that sort of stuff. It's all here. So, yeah, it does depend on your educator and it does depend on the service that they are registered with. But you just search around, search around for those services that you know are aligned with nature play.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I would also add there that wildlings is a very. We are just so incredibly lucky where we are that we have big, large tree spaces, but nature is everywhere. And children, you know they're little people. They are small children who can find and connect with nature anywhere. So even if you have an apartment block, they will find the little blades of grass or the little ants or watch the butterflies. They will connect with nature. So it depends what you mean when you say you know they don't get connection with nature. What I think some people are saying is they don't have a lot of space to run, and that's a very different thing. So again, that will come down to the service and the space that that person is operating within. So please don't paint FTC with a blank. You know, paint the hell, it's that term. Don't paint it with the same brush. Tire it with the same brush. You need to go and meet the educator in their space.
Speaker 3:Yeah, 100%. I mean, my space wasn't anything flash, that we had, it doesn't need to be.
Speaker 3:However, no, no. So we used to go walking to the park just down the road, and then also we had two driveways in between our house I live in the bush, I live up on a mountain, so we had two driveways in between our house. I live in the bush, I live up on a mountain, so we had two driveways in between my house and my brother's house next door, and in between those driveways were these really big trees. So we used to go and do all sorts of stuff because we could hear the cars coming in either direction. So we played on the driveway all the time.
Speaker 3:We used to collect kindling for the fire, we'd play within the trees and we'd throw rocks and we'd do all the time. We used to collect kindling for the fire. We'd play in the trees and we'd throw rocks and we'd do all the things. But it was just simple and easy and it was enough for the children. I used to teach them to tawny frog mouth hunt, because we had a pair of tawnies that lived in the trees on those driveways and even now one of my old family daycare children, who's now in class three, would walk past and still looks for the tawny frogmouths in those trees.
Speaker 3:So you know these lasting connections to nature. And she sees the sorts of trees that tawny frogmouths they love the tallow wood trees because it really fits with their camouflage. So she now, when she goes places, notices the tallow wood trees and starts looking for tawny frogmouths.
Speaker 1:This is what I mean. Right, you can connect with nature wherever you are. So go and check the space out. And really I think sometimes we put adult expectations on children as well. Children don't need a lot. They need connection food, air, water no, it is deeper than that, but you know, it's the things we think they need. Actually, like seeing that tawny frog mouth and having that connection. It's connection to space, it's connection to community. It's all of the things that are in the frameworks that we work within. We're ticking all the boxes at a level that children need to access them at, not these big, grandiose ideas that we think children need in the early years. Actually, what they need is connection absolutely.
Speaker 3:I mean, we have ornamental figs that sit at our front door and every year we get the common crow butterfly coming and laying eggs and having chrysalises in the tree every year. They're ornamental figs, they serve zero purpose other than I like them at my front door. Uh, and you know that's not something that's big, grandiose in nature, but it happens every year and the children come to rely on that. Silkwormworms. You know you can have a mulberry tree or you know. Just there's so much like the garden, the paddock to plate, like garden in pots.
Speaker 3:Absolutely Like you can do incredible things in tiny spaces and you know, one of our favourite things was to lay on the water tank and watch the clouds. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:And I think this is the thing that, perhaps because you and I see so many spaces as well and we see where children are happiest and most at ease, sometimes I think parents forget that a lot of the services that we're visiting it's artificial turf. Sometimes they're two three story buildings where the only nature the 120 children can access in that three story building are in pots anyway. So when you're comparing long daycare to FDC, again you can't compare it unless you're visiting each space, because the variation between long daycares and family daycares is vast. So again, you can connect with nature anywhere, but don't assume that LDCs have more access to it always.
Speaker 3:Oh, I would say that family daycare, being that it's a home environment, has far more access to things that are happening within the community, just by being in a home environment, rather than a long day care setting which is so uniformed.
Speaker 1:You know it never changes, like it's just yeah yeah, I hear you really biased, which is I want people to be biased to the things they're passionate about, because it shows your passion. All right, I'm aware of our time, so what I would love to, I would love to hear from you three tips, or a couple of tips that you might have for people that are looking into FDC. What would you recommend from the start that they either look out for or do to help that transition for them?
Speaker 3:Okay, first and foremost, I think you need to get clear on what it is that you are wanting to do, like, ultra clear.
Speaker 3:Are you an educator who really wants to go adventuring, or are you an educator that just wants to focus in your own yard and feel safe in that? And you, you might have a great yard that you want to improve and develop and you know, like, what is it you want? Do you want a service that's going to give you a huge amount of support and be there, or are you a person who's like no, no, I just want support from afar? You know we have to visit educators. We're bound to do unannounced and announced visits, so you're always going to have a service that comes and visits you. But there may be someone who says, oh, you know, I want you to come and see me every week for the first couple of weeks.
Speaker 3:Like, get really clear on what it is that you want, because what that's going to do is help you to align with a service that is equal in your values or that you can feel like there's things, places, that you can compromise and you know you can. That's not as important as this for you. So this is a non-negotiable. This one I'm able to be, you know, a bit flexible with. So get really really clear on what it is that you want, because that's going to help you narrow down the services that you talk with. Ask them questions, ask them, like what do they do when things go wrong? How do they handle things when a mistake has been made? How do they share information with their service? How do they want you to share information? How, like, what's appropriate for contact, for not, like, just get really clear on all those things, because a service that can't answer those questions for you is going to be a no, and a service that like oh, that's great, yeah, we do, blah, blah, blah, blah, you're going to align more with them.
Speaker 3:So getting with a service that is going to fit you and you fit them is essential, because it can make or break you yes and it's, it's, it's, it's not impossible, but it's frustrating to have to change, so you kind of want to get something, just sink into it. The other thing that I would suggest is that, around budgeting, like it's so imperative that you're running a business so you need to look at the numbers. Numbers matter, like everyone's like oh, we're not in childcare to be profitable. You know what I? I don't, I don't agree with that.
Speaker 3:I disagree running yeah, I'm running a business. I'm putting my heart and soul into this business.
Speaker 3:I'm not a charity like the families that are with me now are going to be nowhere near me when I'm 70 right, they're not going to help me when I retire. So you have to have a mindset that you need to pay annual leave, sick leave, super, and you need to take a wage and after that you've got resources that you've got to pay for. You've got insurances. You you've got business costs. So money matters and you should be iterated for the work that you do, because the first five years are so vitally important for children and it costs you life force and energy and there should be an equal exchange.
Speaker 1:The undervaluing of women's work infuriates me, because it is the most valuable work we can do as a society, so do not let yourself not be remunerated for the incredible work that you're doing for children and families.
Speaker 3:A hundred percent, I mean you can't price yourself out of the market.
Speaker 3:But, also, once you build your reputation, it doesn't matter. There is no market because you are the go-to person, and this is what I teach educators to do. I teach family daycare educators how to stand out, how to work less and how to earn more. There is a huge furphy that we need to be working. Outside of ours. There's a billion long daycare educators who are completely burnt out because they're doing work at home over weekends. Family daycare educators suffer that even more, but there is a framework and there is a way to ensure that you don't do that.
Speaker 3:You do your work in your work hours and this is where you've got to ninja your time and you've got to be really focused. So this is where family daycare is not going to be for everybody. You've really got to be looking as a professional, in a vocation. So it would be aligning with the service budgeting and um professional development, finding professional development that lights you up from the inside out, because when you love what you do and when you're engaged in what you do, people will flock to you. You will have an abundance of energy.
Speaker 3:You won't I mean you'll be tired at the end of the day, but you'll be looking forward to your work. You, you won't be dreading your work. So when you're inspired and you engage with people like Nikki and Vicky and people like myself who are genuinely internally lit up by what they do, that spreads over to you and encourages you to really find what it is in you that makes you lit up. And when you, when you shine that light, the right people come. So I think they are very much the three top things that I would suggest that you really have a focus on. Oh, they.
Speaker 1:It's funny how you know again, we run a business. I feel we have the exact same values of. You know, work with the people you want to work with, you're aligned with your values, value yourself, oh my goodness. But yes, pd. I mean we still, vicky and I and the team, we still make sure we book ourselves into a couple of PDs a year, whether that's things that we feel like the team needs, but more often than not, what's fun, what's going to float our boat, what's really exciting? Because if you're in a career and quite often particularly women in these careers, in education and childcare for 20, 30, 40 years, how do we keep it exciting? How do we keep it exciting, how do we keep the inspiration? Because we've all seen educators and teachers who should have retired 20 years ago because they're no longer inspired and passionate. So it's so important for children in our care to still be passionate.
Speaker 3:A hundred percent. I've worked with some educators that were bitter, like oh, horrific, like it's awful and it's awful for the children, like it's awful for them. They're wasting their life, like you've got one life. You know, just for me, working with children it's such a joy and I go to my educators like frequently, oh, I really miss working. But I do know that I have a bigger light and my light can very much like overwhelm the children. So I'm better focusing my life with the educators and then I get to jump in and jump out with the children now but my thing is like I feel like my light's so big that it needs to be shared with with more than just one small cohort of children. I get to in, like, like, assist and help and and touch so many more children doing what I do now. So for for some people that's overwhelming and it doesn't float their boat. In fact it makes them go public speaking, whereas me I go hand me the microphone.
Speaker 1:It's great and I can see it. I don't shut up. It's beautiful that I just love. These episodes just always reiterate to me that there's a space for everyone. You do just have to take the time to find it. It's not going to land on your lap. You can't just expect, you know, if you're unhappy and you're just staying in the same career but not doing your research, not making those phone calls, it won't land in your lap. You have to be proactive about finding what your purpose is. So I will. We have a link to a purpose finding map and it may lead you to family daycare. Like it's not there to lead you to us. It is there. Honest to goodness, it's one of my little passion projects is.
Speaker 1:I'm the same as you, victoria. I cannot handle people telling me over and over again for five to ten years that they hate their job. Like it drives me a bit bonkers. I'm like I hear you and I've been hearing you for ten years. Here's five different things you could do right now to explore your options, and they may not, you know they may not come to fruition. But please, for the love of all things holy, try something. Yeah, try anything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, change the record mate it's. Try something. Yeah, try anything. Yeah, change record mate it's boring.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly, so I will link that in the show notes. There's the free purpose finding treasure map. Hopefully it leads you to something new so that you don't feel like that broken record. All right, quickly before we go have you got time for a couple of rapid fire questions? Sure, all right. What are you currently reading, or what's your favourite book? I know that's like choosing a favourite child.
Speaker 3:I'm currently reading Hold On To your Kids, which is Gabor Mat I can't say his name right, but I'm currently audio listening to that, and there is a non-Ppg book that I'm not going to share is it very smart by any chance? No, it's, it's different, smart, lovely. I love it.
Speaker 1:Two weeks so I started the book that I'm toggling between see, See, you've got to have the things that light up your life in all the ways. We are here for all pleasure as well. All right, next one If you could change one thing about the education system, just one what would it be?
Speaker 3:I'd get rid of the government out of it yeah, that might be the best answer.
Speaker 1:Yeah, victoria, but honestly, actually, truly, truly. Yeah, I like it all right. I've got nothing to add to. Actually, I think you've just solved all the education problems in one answer when do you go or what do you do after a rough day to reset?
Speaker 3:Internally, actually, because I'm away from home so often and I don't have a regular spot from home. So often I don't have a, you know, a regular spot, so I go internally and I'm a human design projector, so I really like to frame things up so I'll just sit wherever I am, whatever I'm doing, could be driving in the car, I could be at home, I could be wherever and I go. I, I yeah, that's what I do to ground myself, because I have to make sense of it from all different angles and so I've got to look at it from all the different perspectives and once it all lands, then I'm I'm clear and I'm okay. So, yeah, but if I had to have a thing, probably the bath.
Speaker 1:I don't have a bath at this house and it's hard.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't have a bath at my house either. So my favourite Airbnb I book it because it's got a bath that's so big I can almost float in it.
Speaker 1:That's on my dream list for this house in the next couple of years. All right, and last one is there anything you'd like to tell us about that's coming up in business, and kind of two. Where can we find out more about what you do in both of your businesses?
Speaker 3:Okay. So I have lots of things always happening. I am launching the next course for the essential elements, which is the big course that I run that launches in October. So you will want to jump onto Big Hearted Education on all the socials. I'm on Facebook and Insta, but if you jump on and follow me, you'll be in for all of the launch fun. I do that twice a year. I also host a summit during the year and next year I'll be putting on a conference. So your best place, your best place to find me, is a big hearted education, all the W's, andcom, the website. There's also a free course there called the Kickstarter course. So if you're interested in family daycare, it's a great place to start. It is free, um, and yeah, there's the podcast so you can listen to that. Today's episode went live this morning and I got a bit ranty on that one. So if you want to hear the true passion come out, I had to rein myself in um talking about um. You know the benefits of connection with children.
Speaker 1:so, uh, yeah, there's heaps of places to find me, so, yeah, so for all your FDC needs, pd planners, obviously everything head over to Big Hearted Ed and Rainbow Bridge as well. We'll put all that in the show notes. Thank you so much, victoria. It's always a pleasure connecting with you. I love that we found each other on the deep dark web and that we've connected here. It's the best part about the podcast, I think, is that there's just been this amazing the tangled webs we weave, but they're the most beautiful Steiner-esque, nature-based webs that we've woven and it just brings me the greatest joy. So thank you so much for coming. Just brings me the greatest joy.
Speaker 3:So thank you so much for coming oh, you're absolutely welcome and thank you for being so generous with your time when we had the summit and for having me here, and I really see that we'll. We'll meet in person one day, and it's going to be a match made in heaven, I can assure you can't't wait.
Speaker 1:Let's find a great Airbnb With a bath. Yes, sold. Thanks so much, Victoria.
Speaker 3:My pleasure, thank you.