Learn With Less

Why is Music Important for Infants and Toddlers? In this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet is joined by Nancy Kopman, an early childhood educator and composer. Nancy has been creating, testing, developing, recording and performing her catchy, educational songs for children 0-10 for over 20 years. Her music can be found on TV, radio and online.  Nancy’s work is celebrated worldwid...

What’s important to look for when choosing books for infants and toddlers? In this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet is joined by Sara Rizik-Baer, who serves as Deputy Director of the nonprofit organization, Tandem Partners in Early Learning. Sara has over 10 years of experience working in early education and family engagement. She has held multiple roles in the field as a famil...

How Music and Singing Promote Early Language Development in Infants and Toddlers In this session of the Learn With Less podcast (a special episode brought to you in partnership with the pod-conference, SLP Live ), we discussed different ways that music and singing promotes early language development in infants and toddlers. We also discussed research that supports the use of music as a framework t...

Early Parenthood Is Isolating When I initially started my business, I was a pediatric speech-language pathologist with a brand new baby living as an expat in a foreign land.  I came up with a plan to woo other new parents and caregivers to want to hang out with me.  Because, although I certainly experienced my share of the deep vulnerability, incredible lack of confidence, and insane lev...

How do I retrain my brain to stop yelling at my kids? In this episode, we speak with Amanda Rueter, a mental health counselor, mother of two young boys, and founder of Messy Motherhood. Through her work, Amanda helps bust the myth of the “super mom,” and helps parents embrace their imperfections. We cover: Amanda’s background, and how she came to do the work she’s doing today The cycle of emo...

How Do Babies and Toddlers Learn? It’s so easy to get bombarded with the “stuff” of early parenthood. Especially when hormones are “out of whack,” and the idea of getting more than a few hours of uninterrupted sleep seems years away. The sense that we’re “winging it” is often all encompassing. We feel like we’re constantly playing catch up – which can be especially daunting for those perfectionist...

Responsive caregiving starts with learning to follow your baby’s lead.  In this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet chats with Manuela and Gwen, two mothers living in London, who became parents at the same time as (and along with) Ayelet, and who became much of the inspiration for the  Learn With Less® Curriculum Online Family Program.  We cover the ways in which, through the power...

What baby toys do I actually need? The baby industry would have you believe that toys with all the bells and whistles will do wonders for your young child’s development, yet experts in early learning disagree. This leaves parents and caregivers feeling lost and confused. You want to encourage your tiny human’s development, but you don’t know where to start! There’s so much information out there, i...

Why (and how!) to have a creative outlet as a new parent  In this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet chats with Beryl Young, a mother, former elementary school teacher, and creator of the Momtography Method® and Recapture Self. Beryl fell in love with photography in 2009 as a way to document the exciting time of becoming a mom. Now, she’s helped thousands of moms around the w...

How to build a sustainable lifestyle that includes self-care as a new parent In this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet chats with Sophia Salazar, a self care advocate, life coach, mother, and co-founder of BirthBabyBody. Sophia believes that pregnancy, birth, and motherhood is a unique opportunity to harness and share your creative power as a woman, and she is the co-founder of B...

Things Every Father Should Know or Think About In this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet chats with Anton Marinovich, her very own partner in parenting. We cover: Anton’s own challenges as a new dad The journey into his self-identity as a father His own perspective on the first few years of fatherhood (and his concept of “the tunnel”) How he started noticing his baby’s behavior What l...

What kind of early parenting support system do you have in place? In this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet chats about the origins of Learn With Less, the need for support in early parenthood, the art of community building for new parents, and the joys of connecting with other parents and caregivers. Learn With Less was started to fill a much-needed gap for parents and caregivers who...

One mother’s account of activities for baby and toddler together In this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet chats with Rachel Kammeyer, a speech-language pathologist and mother of two children under two. Rachel has an 8-week old baby and a nearly 2-year old toddler. She joins us nearly a year after we brought her on the podcast back on  episode 58 , when her son was about to...

One father’s journey to better understand his toddler In this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet chats with Joshua Morgan, a former high school teacher, husband, father, and participant of the Learn With Less® Curriculum Online Family Program. Joshua shares his journey toward a deeper connection with his 19-month old son, and how his path to learning about  how  his toddler l...

How do infants and toddlers learn about emotions How do we do the big job of teaching and supporting our infants and toddlers when it comes to emotional development? How do we reign in our own emotions when our toddlers are testing us? On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Dr. Laura Markham, a trained Clinical Psychologist, author, founding editor of AhaParenting ,...

How do I best support communication in my infant and/or toddler? This episode of the Learn With Less podcast was produced in partnership with the San Francisco Moms Blog. In this episode, Ayelet sits down with Kelly Arditi, founder of the San Francisco Moms Blog.  San Francisco Moms Blog  is part of the well known City Moms Blog Network. It is written by local moms for local moms and pro...

How do I best support my baby’s learning? The Learn With Less podcast is a family enrichment program for parents, caregivers, and infants and toddlers of all developmental levels. In this podcast series, we get together to sing a few songs, discuss some ideas for play, outline some insight about early development, and talk about life as a parent or caregiver in these early years of parenthood. As...

Baby activities by age Early morning wake ups. Bodies not our own. Hormones awry. Cuddles for days. We are the champions of tiny humans. We are the givers of love even when we have nothing left for ourselves. We are the warriors and survivors of tantrums and meltdowns (our own, too). We are the deliverers of sustenance: whether from our own bodies, from a can, from organic leafy greens or from fro...

How to find the “right” stuff to support your baby From the moment we expect the arrival of a new baby, we tend to start thinking about the gear we need. It helps us make logical, linear sense of the giant change that we know is coming to our lives. So we make a list: car seat (check), burp cloths (check), diapers (check). Strolling down the aisle of a local big box or baby store, we think about w...

What exactly is a postpartum doula? On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Kate Turza, a mother of three, a CAPPA certified postpartum doula, and co-host of the Mom Deconstructed podcast. Kate is passionate about normalizing the postpartum period, creating community to support new families, and pulling back the curtain of what “real” motherhood looks like. We spoke a...

What can parents do to prepare for a smooth transition? On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Lisa Abramson, an entrepreneur, speaker, best selling author, executive coach and advocate for maternal mental health. She founded  Wise Mama  and co-founded  Mindfulness Based Achievement , the New MBA, which teaches high potential women leaders how to...

As New Parents, There’s So Much… I’ve been spending a lot of time talking with new and expecting parents, caregivers, and professionals working with young children. Having been through the “beginning” of parenthood with a new baby twice myself, each conversation brings up memories (and often a wave of emotions!), feelings of vulnerability and self-doubt, and  also  a sense of absolute aw...

How do we raise emotionally intelligent children? On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Kelli McCarty, a marriage and family therapist and founder of Toys With Intent, to discuss the ways in which we can raise emotionally intelligent children, how play factors into emotional intelligence in our young children, and Kelli’s top tips and resources for integrating socia...

What is a Postpartum Mood Disorder? On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet sits down with Dr. Katayune Kaeni to address the topics of postpartum depression, anxiety and OCD. Dr. Kat is a psychologist and specialist in maternal mental health and perinatal mood and anxiety disorders. She works with moms and families to heal from the difficulties of depression, anxiety and other mood...

How does development influence sleep habits? Ask any new parent about their top struggles and most likely, sleep is in the top five! Contending with sleep regressions, sleep props, sleep crutches, sleep deprivation, sleep changes, sleep experts and philosophies in the infant and toddler years is enough to make even the most sane of us go mad. On this episode of the Learn With Less podcast, Ayelet...