Anchor Early Years

Summer is the best time to remember that learning does not stop when programs close.

Narrate everything for babies. Count steps, cars, birds. Let toddlers help with real tasks, stirring, pouring, carrying. Ask big kids questions that do not have one right answer.

The world is your classroom this summer. Walk out the door and into it.

Words like these are why I do this work.

When you pour everything into a project – the late nights, the details, the follow-through – and a partner takes the time to reflect it back, it means the world.

At Anchor Early Years, showing up fully for the programs and communities we serve isn’t just a value. It’s a promise.

Grateful for partnerships built on trust, shared vision, and a deep belief that early childhood matters.

Summer schedules are looser. Children are outside more. Routines shift. And families sometimes push boundaries more during this season, late pickups, last minute changes, requests for exceptions.

Your professionalism does not take a summer vacation.

Kind, consistent boundary holding in summer actually strengthens your relationships with families because it tells them this is a program with standards all year long. That is a program worth trusting.

A lot of what we label as “behavior” is actually communication, and that shift in perspective can completely change how we respond in the moment.

Things like big meltdowns, not listening, aggression, clinginess, hyperactivity, or what gets labeled as “defiance” can feel overwhelming, especially at the end of a long day when your own capacity is already stretched. In those moments, it’s very natural to want the behavior to stop as quickly as possible.

But underneath those behaviors is usually something else, a nervous system that’s overwhelmed, a need that hasn’t been met yet, or a skill that hasn’t fully developed.

Children aren’t giving us a hard time because they want to make things more difficult. They’re having a hard time internally, and the behavior we see is often the only way they know how to express that.

This doesn’t mean there are no boundaries or that anything goes. It means we begin to shift the question from “How do I stop this?” to “What is this trying to communicate?” and that shift changes the entire tone of the interaction.

When we approach behavior with curiosity instead of immediate correction, we create space for connection, and connection is what helps regulate the nervous system. From that place, children are far more able to access the skills we’re trying to teach.

Over time, these moments add up. They teach children how to understand their internal experience, how to move through big feelings, and how to feel safe even when things are hard. 🫶🏼

When parents and caregivers fully engage with the assessment process, young children are in a perfect position to thrive!

Nature play is not a break from learning. It is some of the richest learning available to young children.

Climbing builds spatial reasoning and risk assessment. Collecting and sorting builds classification and math. Digging and pouring builds physics concepts. Following insects builds patience and observation skills.

The outdoors is the ultimate inquiry based learning environment and it is free. How are you protecting outdoor time this summer?

Drop-off and pick-up are not just transitions. They are some of the most emotionally significant moments in a child's day.

A warm hello tells a child this place is safe. A confident goodbye tells them you will come back. Both build the trust that allows children to explore, learn, and thrive.
Save this one and share it with the families in your program. These small moments make a bigger difference than most people realize.

Enrollment may dip. Staffing gets harder. Programs feel looser. And it is easy to let standards slide when the structure does.

But summer is actually one of the best opportunities for program quality work. Fewer competing priorities, more time for staff conversations, more space for intentional reflection.

What is one quality improvement goal you want to make progress on this summer? Name it now before July disappears.

June is here. The pace changes. The light lingers. Children are outside more. Routines flex a little.

Let that be okay. Let yourself breathe with the season.

You have been holding a lot. Summer is permission to put some of it down and just be present in the slower moments. They are the ones people remember anyway.

New skills deserve to be named out loud.

When a baby pulls herself to standing, celebrate it. When a toddler uses a word correctly for the first time, make a big deal of it. When a big kid reads their first full sentence, stop and mark the moment.

Specific recognition, naming exactly what you saw and why it matters, tells children that their effort and growth are worth noticing. That is the fuel for more growth.