Homestart Conference!

I recently was honored to be a presenter and vendor at Maine's Annual Homestart Conference. While I was there, I reconnected with some old friends and colleagues from Head Start, taught a 2 hour session on Yoga with children, had a great lunch, and sold lots of Melissa and Doug toys.

I also was blessed to hear our Attorney General- Steven Rowe- speak on the importance of investing early in child care and education. Not early like kindergarten early. He believes in the incredible importance of investing in PRENATAL early, quality care for infants and toddlers, and keeping our children safe in these most tender times in their lives. He also believes it's important to support parents in these times to give them the support and skills needed to be happy and effective parents. It's so nice to hear that someone in our government gets it. He knows that investing early will save so much money down the line because well-cared for and well-adjusted children make for happier teens and adults in society. He knows that mothers without support are more prone to depression and therefore less able to meet all their children's needs. And sadly, his term is ending soon. I hope he was able to get his message across to someone who can continue his mission. I would love to see more put into our child care system to pay those providers who are helping raise our children what they are worth. They are doing some of the most important work in society. And I would love to see more available for parents in those critical early years. Stay tuned for more updates on Western Maine Mothers' Center coming!

And for the rest of the conference- what fun I had! We did 2 hours of yoga- first for the providers to stretch and relax and find some new muscles they didn't know they had! Then, on to yoga for infants- how to relieve gas and tummy troubles, how to soothe a really fussy baby, and how to stretch and have fun with baby. Then- toddlers! Imitating animals and moving our bodies. And up from there to preschool and school aged. The big focus was integrating it into our routines in child care so it becomes predictable for children. Then, they can use what they learn about their breath, their bodies, and their emotions to help self-regulate, which is what we want for all of our children. To be able to recognize what's going on inside their bodies- both physically and emotionally- and to have effective strategies to deal with them in a healthy way. And to be moving their bodies and being physically fit as well!

I'm so excited about it- I've been teaching yoga for many years, and just now it's at a level that I wanted it to be! I'm teaching another class for infant/toddler teachers for KVCAP in April, and I'll be doing another one this summer for another program. Woohoo! I wanted to start another class for children this year, but time has been a little (OK a LOT) tight. Too much to do so far, so we'll see about it during the upcoming year. After the move, I'll have a bigger back room, so maybe...we'll have to see what God has in store for us!