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Early childhood education meets practical parenting tips as Tracy and Zoe cover everything from childcare and child development to parenting and much more.
Episodes
Friday Jan 24, 2025
Friday Jan 24, 2025
In this episode, Zoe dives into the crucial topic of sleep in early childhood education, exploring how sleep routines in childcare settings can impact young children’s development. Sleep can often be a point of concern for parents, especially when balancing home routines with the care environment. Zoe breaks down how Adeona approaches sleep and rest times, ensuring children get the rest they need while respecting their natural rhythms and individual needs.
This episode covers recommended sleep durations for different age groups, the role of naps in brain development, and how sleep impacts memory consolidation, emotional regulation, and motor skills. Zoe also discusses strategies for adjusting sleep schedules in collaboration with educators to ensure smooth transitions between daytime naps and nighttime sleep.
If you’ve ever wondered how childcare services manage sleep or how you can support healthy sleep habits at home, this episode is packed with valuable insights. Tune in to learn more about why rest is essential and how to work with your child’s educators to create a consistent, balanced sleep routine.
This episode covers:
- Sleep routines in childcare vs. home
- Recommended sleep durations by age
- The importance of naps for brain development
- Sleeping too much at daycare / not sleeping enough at daycare
- Challenges of sleeping in a childcare setting - why some children struggle to nap
- How childcare centers respect children’s sleep needs
- Adjusting sleep schedules with educators
- Balancing naps with nighttime sleep
- Encouraging healthy sleep habits
Helpful Links
Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.
Our Early Childhood Education Centres
Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay
Tuesday Jul 19, 2022
Tuesday Jul 19, 2022
On this episode of the Adeona podcast, Tracy and Zoe discuss all things relating to common day-care illnesses. Learn more about Adeona’s sick children policies and procedures for handling illnesses and exposure at our centres, as well as how you can help prevent the spread of illness in your child care centre.
This episode covers:
- Exclusion periods, policies and procedures for common childcare illnesses
- How a childcare’s sick policies, procedures and guidelines are developed
- The average illness amount for children in care and how long it takes to build up that immunity
- The policies and procedures in place to prevent the spread of germs and illness in an early childhood education centre
- Why child care services give a time limit for sick child pickup
- What parents and caregivers can do to help prevent the spread of illness in childcare centres
How Our Childcare Health Policies are Determined
Our policies regarding illness, exclusion periods and how we manage certain illnesses within the service is dictated by the Staying Healthy document, which is produced and updated annually by the NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council). Likewise, we work closely with our Public Health Units who are managed by Queensland Health.
How We Manage & Prevent Illness
We follow a range of policies and procedures at Adeona to help prevent the spread of germs and illness, which are all informed by government sources and Queensland Health.
This includes the frequent cleaning and sanitizing of carpets, rugs, door handles, surfaces, and high-touch places. Likewise, if children are seen with a toy in their mouth, immediately after that child is finished with that toy it gets picked up and put in a bucket to be sanitised.
Additionally, if an early childhood education centre has more than 3 cases of gastro, that must be reported to the public health unit. The public health unit then performs an investigation, which includes working with the service to track which rooms the illnesses are in to ensure correct hygiene procedures. The public health units then advise the centre to help work through those processes, which often results in the service being advised to increase exclusion periods from 24 to 48 hours to ensure no one is returning while still contagious.
Helpful Links
- Infection Control in Childcare Settings
- Staying Healthy 5th Edition: Preventing infectious diseases in early childhood education and care services
- Public Health Units
Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.
Our Early Childhood Education Centres
Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay
Monday Jun 20, 2022
Monday Jun 20, 2022
Why is outdoor play a vital component to a child’s development?
On this episode of the Adeona Family Podcast, Tracy and Zoe are joined by Rebecca from Nature Play QLD to discuss the importance of outdoor play in nature.
This episode covers:
- What is nature play and how it benefits children
- How families can expose their children to outdoor nature play
- Nature play activities, ideas and downloadable sheets
- Free form creativity and earth art with nature’s loose parts
- How to encourage children during independent play in nature
- How Nature Play QLD supports the community, families, early childhood centres and schools
- Why unstructured play is so important to a child’s development
What is Nature Play?
Nature Play QLD (a program of Outdoors Queensland) is a non-profit organization working with families, communities, education centres, schools and a host of community partners.
Specifically, Nature Play QLD is founded on the understanding that unstructured, outdoor nature play is fundamental to a full and healthy childhood.
Above all, their aim is to increase the time Queensland kids spend in unstructured play outdoors and in nature. For example, they support nature-based play all over Queensland in a wide variety of ways, including:
- Participation programs
- Advocacy and research
- Events and workshops
- Extensive resources for families and educators
What are the benefits of outdoor play?
Outdoor free play is vital for the holistic development, overall learning and wellbeing of children. How do we know this?
Well, research shows that experiences in nature fundamentally support key pillars in a child’s development. These include a child’s physical and mental health, resilience, creativity, and emotional intelligence.
Likewise, engaging in nature play supports cognitive, social and emotional development, as well as instilling a lifelong awareness of the environment.
Where to find Nature Play QLD
You can find Nature Play QLD on their website, or via their social channels on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.
Our Early Childhood Education Centres
Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay
Wednesday Dec 22, 2021
Wednesday Dec 22, 2021
When we’re in a new environment, we never feel as confident to be who we are. Oftentimes we feel nervous or feel like we lack a sense of belonging and as a result it can take us a while to warm up and engage in what’s going on.
That’s why when working with children during transitions, we want to ensure that period of change is as smooth and comfortable for them as possible, so they can feel a sense of belonging in their new environment. Our goal is to give children a sense of agency so they become confident contributors within their space.
Episode Summary
In this episode of the Adeona Family Podcast, Tracy and Zoe discuss the importance of smooth transitions for children in different contexts, particularly from home to care, between different rooms within the childcare service, and eventually from childcare to school. They emphasise the significance of creating a sense of belonging, safety, and security for the children during these transitions. They outline the steps taken at Adeona’s early childhood education centres to facilitate smooth transitions, such as orientation visits, building relationships between families and educators, and providing support through the process. They also touch upon the importance of engaging with schools and preparing children for the transition to school from childcare, emphasising qualities like resilience, social skills, and the ability to seek help as key indicators of school readiness.
They discuss the use of various tools such as the Reflection of Learning document, Transition Statements, and engaging with schools to ensure that the child’s needs and strengths are effectively communicated during the transition. This episode emphasises the significance of these transitions for both the children and their families, and highlights the various ways Adeona supports families throughout this process. They underscore the importance of open communication between educators and families to ensure a successful transition.
What are transitions in childcare?
The physical movement from one space to another. This can be transitioning into care for the first time from the home environment, transitioning from one early childcare room up into the next room, as well as transitioning from early childhood education into school.
Why are transition times important in the early years?
Safely navigating transitions in the early years is crucial to a child’s healthy development and wellbeing and can lay the foundation for a future of learning and better outcomes. Likewise, children are able to grow, develop, and learn best when they are feeling safe, secure, and a sense of belonging.
Key takeaways from this episode
- Adeona’s transition process, the resources we provide, and how we ensure both parent and child are comfortable
- Transitions between rooms
- Transitions from childcare to school environment & how we work with local schools to aid in that transition
- Our approach to school readiness
- How transition statements are prepared and how they work
Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.
Our Early Childhood Education Centres
Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay
Friday Dec 10, 2021
Friday Dec 10, 2021
As children develop their communication skills it’s helpful to know what is appropriate and what might need addressing.
On this episode of the Adeona Family Podcast, Zoe is joined by professional speech pathologist Claire Mayers who gives practical advice about all things relating to communication in the Early Years, and how to develop these vital skills through interactions with your child on a daily basis.
Key takeaways from this episode
- The different ways you can approach teaching your child important communication habits
- What to expect developmentally at certain ages
- When to address a stutter
- How to correct mispronunciations
- How to help a fussy eater
- The importance of reading to your child at a young age, and
- What steps you can take to see an allied healthcare professional
Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.
Our Early Childhood Education Centres
Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay
Thursday Nov 25, 2021
Thursday Nov 25, 2021
On this episode of the Adeona Family Podcast, Tracy and Zoe discuss how to navigate the holiday season with children and families, the importance of advocating for your child’s voice, passive toys, and how we can respect our children’s boundaries.
The holidays can be a wonderful opportunity to see loved ones, catch up with family and spend time with friends. That’s a lot of interactions and potential new faces for your child to take in.
The RIE perspective teaches us that in order for children to build strong positive relationships with people they need to have regular and consistent contact. This means that it’s normal for children to be apprehensive when meeting and greeting family members and friends – especially those they haven’t met before or those they haven’t seen in a while.
This holiday season it’s important to be mindful of how we approach gatherings, how we navigate our child’s relationships with family and friends, and remaining conscious of what it’s teaching them about consent and autonomy over themselves.
Related Episode
Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.
Our Early Childhood Education Centres
Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay
Friday May 28, 2021
Friday May 28, 2021
On this episode of the Adeona Family Podcast: An Early Childhood Journey, we discuss the importance of self care, support and mental health as a parent and care-giver, as well as practical tips for reaching your inner calm.
What is self care?
Self care refers to the ways and techniques we each can employ to look after ourselves that benefit our physical, mental and emotional well-being. Self care involves ways to fill our bucket and build capacity within ourselves so that we can help build capacity in others, especially as care-givers and families.
However, it’s important to remember that your self care is going to look different from someone else’s. Whether you’re extraverted or introverted or whatever the case may be, it’s about finding what works for you. And it can be difficult to put yourself first as a parent or care-giver or even find time for yourself, but ensuring your basic needs are met and filling your own cup is vital, particularly when it comes to achieving anything in relation to emotional regulation with a child.
Reach out for help
- Family and Child Connect
- 13 FAMILY (13 32 64)
- Lifeline
- 13 11 14
- Beyond Blue
- 1300 224 636
Related Episode
Our episode on co-regulation really sets the stage for “Why Self Care is Vital for Parents and Caregivers” as you can’t be calm with others if you are in a state of stress or dis-regulation.
Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.
Our Early Childhood Education Centres
Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay
Monday May 17, 2021
Monday May 17, 2021
On this episode of the Adeona Family Podcast: An Early Childhood Journey, we discuss the need for co-regulation with significant care-givers in the lives of children and how this helps children build the vital skills necessary in order to self regulate.
We offer practical advice on what co-regulation can look like and examine the importance of entering into interactions with your child in a calm and non-reactive manner.
What is co-regulation?
Co-regulation is the process by which people are able to adjust themselves when interacting with another, so they can maintain a regulated state. These responsive interactions provide the support and modelling children need to understand, express, and modulate their thoughts, feelings and behaviours.
Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.
Our Early Childhood Education Centres
Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay
Monday Jan 25, 2021
Monday Jan 25, 2021
While biting is completely normal behaviour, it is one we have to address—left unaddressed things are going to escalate.
Children learn a lot in the early years, particularly through their feet and their mouth, so it makes sense why children would experiment with biting. There can be a number of reasons why a child might bite and some of these include:
- Biting as a sensory experience or for relief from teething pain
- Biting as a form of frustration. This can come as a result of a child not yet developing the skills for emotional regulation. Often times when children get angry, upset, or they want something, they act out of impulse
- Biting as a form of communication. Often frustration and communication can be quite linked. As a generalisation, when children over a certain age still engage in bitting we would be looking at communication being the primary reason as to why that behaviour is still displayed. As a result, we would put in place a number of support structures to help with that
- We also look for patterns that might reveal underlying reasons for biting like time of day, tiredness, hunger etc. Based on what we observe, that determines what our course of action will be
Related Episodes
Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.
Our Early Childhood Education Centres
Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay
Monday Oct 05, 2020
Monday Oct 05, 2020
In this episode of the Adeona Family Podcast: An Early Childhood Journey, Tracy and Zoe are joined by Chris and John from The Fathering Project to talk all things Dads.
Adeona introduced The Fathering Project to its centres in 2020. Chris and John discuss the goals of this national organisation and why engaged fathers matter to young children, as well as practical advice on how fathers can build positive relationships with their children.
Resources Mentioned
Thank You
We’d love to hear from you! If you have any feedback, suggestions or questions about anything we discussed in this episode, please feel free to reach out – zoe@adeona.com.au.
Our Early Childhood Education Centres
Coorparoo | Mitchelton | Noosaville | Mackay