27/05/2024
As an advocate for children, I am sharing these voices of children whose parents gave their lives for our freedom. No matter how many years we live, a parent's death is unthinkably painful - and previous generations did not see the child's perspective when their parent didn't come home from a tour of duty, and didn't offer support and understanding for their immense loss.
If you know someone whose parent gave their last full measure of devotion for our freedom, please reach out to them this weekend and let them know that you are remembering - because they are DEFINITELY reflecting on their loss today. If your parent sacrificed for our freedom, then please know that your loss is recognized and honoured today, too ❤ ❤ 🇺🇸🇺🇸
Link in comments.
18/05/2024
I’ve been saying this for many years, and now it’s finally a mainstream message (NY Times, no less): “failure to thrive” is simply a description of a sign or symptom of underlying issue/s that have not yet been adequately identified. IT IS NOT a diagnosis of anything at all, and the label itself tends to dismiss concerns and delay identifying what can actually be done to help infants and children (and the elderly) and their families.
I hope that the new term “faltering growth” has the potential to motivate physicians and other healthcare professionals to seek more diligently for answers, rather than dial back that motivation by dismissing those concerns.
The family-blaming aspect is and always was despicable, and reflected a (still existing) prejudice that “experts know your child better than you do ”- an error that has been solidly refuted by research across many disciplines.
I have also noticed that so many pediatricians have a very low bar for “your baby is fine” (ie they don’t need medical treatment from a doctor for anything, so why are you complaining?). I personally have a much higher bar, and I think most families agree with me: we want to see infants (and all persons) not only survive, but flourish and thrive to the fullest extent of their potential. It is ESSENTIAL for medical professionals to listen closely and take it seriously when parents and caregivers report concerns that a vulnerable patient of any age is not flourishing/thriving.
“the “failure” label tended to mask treatable illnesses, while burdening the patient with unnecessary delays in their care. A diagnosis of “failure” could become a self-fulfilling prophecy”
“It’s a wastebasket of things we put children into when we don’t understand what the specific cause of their problems is”
(Link in comments just because... It should be a paywall-free version of the article; LMK if you have trouble accessing it)
06/05/2024
CPST day joke: Why did the car seat have to go to therapy?
Because it had attachment issues!
Learning lots about new car seats and boosters (including some spiffy rotating seats), and satisfying my professional development CE hours for CPST renewal all in one single day.
We are enjoying the hospitality of the lovely California Endowment in DTLA - and yes, gas costs almost $8/gallon across the street from here 🙄 It was “only” $5.05 in the Palisades this morning 😥
25/01/2024
Check out what the CDA® Council has to say about Respectful Care® in their profile of Danielle McLellan-Bujnak:
“Nannies make up a really underserved part of the early childhood field in terms of professional growth,” says Danielle McLellan-Bujnak when we profile her in this edition. “We know little about nannies,” she says. “The scholarly work on nannies is slim and tends to include nannies as an aside to another issue. This makes nannies a marginalized group within the somewhat marginalized early childhood workforce.”
So, Danielle is giving nannies the chance to develop and learn by teaching a course that combines pedagogical theory with practical tips geared to their concerns. After teaching hundreds of nannies, as Danielle explains, “I’ve learned that nannies have a tremendous desire for information that’s directly related to the real-life context in which they work.”
https://www.cdacouncil.org/en/newsletter/danielle-mclellan-bujnak-changing-the-image-of-the-child/
12/11/2023
Today is a joint occasion to remember and honour those who have defended our countries’ freedom. I appreciate the solemn importance of Remembrance Day, but I also appreciate the American custom of observing two separate days each year: Memorial Day (to remember and honour those who made the complete and ultimate sacrifice of their lives) and Veterans Day (to remember and honour those who also made a genuine sacrifice, and then continue to pay the price of it every day of a life that could continue for many decades). Thank you - all of you - for your service.
08/11/2023
Nov 9th is World Freedom Day, commemorating the fall of the infamous Berlin Wall in 1989 - the symbolic tearing of the Iron Curtain that divided Europe for nearly three decades after the Second World War. The Berlin Wall separated loved ones on either side of the city, and more than 100 people died trying to get over the wall to freedom.
This day also marks the anniversary of a truly horrific act of oppression, the Kristallnacht attack on Jewish people throughout Germany and Nazi-occupied lands in 1938. Nearly 100 deaths and unimaginable devastation resulted when nearly 10,000 Jewish synagogues and businesses were destroyed. Law enforcement and firefighters silently watched it happen, standing by only to protect non-Jewish property from damage. 30,000 innocent Jews were arrested and transported to concentration camps, as freedom from fear became an impossibility for millions of Jews.
Jewish people watched, powerless, as their former friends and neighbours stood by silently and antisemitism took firm root in their local communities. They gradually lost more and more freedoms - eventually even the freedom to be alive. The walls of the concentration camps held innocent people captive to brutality and death, while their non-Jewish former neighbours enjoyed freedom to live their lives in relative peace.
Silence harms. "He who is not angry when there is just cause for anger is immoral. Why? Because anger looks to the good of justice. And if you can live amid injustice without anger, you are immoral as well as unjust.” (attr. Thomas Aquinas)
Today we can celebrate the hope “that no wall will separate people ever again.” We can speak up when we witness injustice, even when it seems small; injustice has a habit of growing when unchecked. Also, connection is a fundamental human need, so we can seek authentic connection with others, and thereby come to see the commonality of our human existence. We enrich each other - and our world - through our mutual understanding.
08/10/2023
So this happened today! The Special Edition of my paperback book is the #1 New Release in the “Babysitting, Day Care & Child Care” category on Amazon (and #3 bestseller in the category).
Nannies and NCS absolutely do want high-quality professional development resources!
Watch out for the official launch; preorders will open in time for holiday shopping 2023 🎁🎄❄️
Respectful Care™
Respectful Care™ blends traditional knowledge and cutting edge research, bringing these worlds together to benefit children and their families. Respectful Care™ supports families with personalized consults for parents, and provides in-depth professional development training for nannies & newborn...
07/10/2023
Wrote a brand-new workshop (and handout packet) last night to cover for a presenter who was ill, on supporting language development in preschoolers. We had so much fun! I enjoyed learning with such knowledgeable presenters in the other sessions today, plus rekindling old connections with my students and colleagues, and making new friends. Speaking of friends, heartfelt thanks to Erin for giving up her trip here to cover for me with my current client, so I could be here! Sue Downey has knocked it out of the park again with another compelling chapter in the unfolding adventure of Nannypalooza conferences. We’re pre-partying in anticipation of the 90s party starting in about an hour!
21/06/2023
News flash! You're seeing it here first... unless you already got the email @@@
The much-loved in-person Intro to Respectful Care™ course for professional caregivers is coming back! The first course in this series will be held on Sat July 29th in Los Angeles.
Previous in-person students are invited to participate in the course as well, with very limited spots held that must be booked using a special page (link in first comment)
Course fee includes: course attendance, workbook + swag box, access to course day chat group, and exclusive personal consult call after the course date.
Sat, July 29 from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM
Los Angeles (San Fernando Valley)
$399
N.B. Future in-person courses are being scheduled for Sept through Dec in San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Dallas, Chicago, Lansing MI, Milwaukee WI, and New York City - plus Anaheim CA, Hawaii, London UK, and Amsterdam NL. If you received the email about this course opening, you are also on the list to receive an update as soon as those courses are booked and open for registration.
https://respectfulapproach.com/l-a-course-registration
15/04/2023
So delighted to announce the release of our first ebook on Amazon - and for a limited time, you can read it for free with Kindle Unlimited. Please leave an Amazon review with your thoughts!
Are you interested in respectful, gentle parenting but aren't sure how to do it without being overly permissive?
Do you want to be more compassionate and connected in your parenting, but you are also concerned about your children not behaving well if you are not holding a strict standard of discipline?
Learn how the effective guiding and caring techniques and strategies of Respectful Care™ can help you be a more effective parent, teacher, or professional caregiver.
"Parenting and Child Care: An ABC for Mastering the Art of Respectful Care"
https://a.co/d/inCK5yt
Parenting and Childcare: An ABC for Mastering the Art of Respectful Care
Parenting and Childcare: An ABC for Mastering the Art of Respectful Care
09/05/2022
❤️❤️❤️
Happy Mother's Day to all who provide the loving support of mothering to those who are vulnerable and need our support to survive, and to thrive: infants and children, the ill and infirm, the elderly and frail, and our precious babies covered in feathers and fur - and a special shoutout for the ones we are missing today, who gave us that special kind of care and who remain in our hearts forever.
❤️❤️❤️
Our world is a better place because of your loving care.
❤️❤️❤️
02/04/2022
Guess what? The “Digital Advanced Course in Respectful Care” (for professional caregivers and educators) is now open for registration!
In conjunction with the International Nanny Association Conference in Las Vegas this weekend, registration is now open to the public, and anyone can take advantage of the $250 INA Conference discount - but that discount is only available until the conference closes on Sun 4/3.
Additional discounts are also available for in-person students and co-researchers who participated the introductory course with Danielle between 2018-2020, and for people who are referred by current students in the Inaugural Cohort of the Advanced Course (if you know any of them, reach out for them for details - and to find out more about the course content, from actual students in the course).
Right now is the best time to join the other professionals who registered for the course during the waitlist presale earlier this week, so you can take full advantage of available discounts and get all of the early registration bonuses.
https://respectfulapproach.com/inaconference
28/03/2022
This. All of this. We are all in this life and world together, and we are wired for connection from before our birth. While our own personal challenges (both big-T Traumas and little-t traumas) can make it hard for us to remember to look for other people's captions - that doesn't mean their captions aren't there. Their captions are ALWAYS there, just like our own.
This four-minute video is a highly effective reminder to watch out for people's captions. We can hold space for people to have a hard day, even while we ourselves are having a hard day. Opening our eyes and our hearts to read the captions can allow us to heal through even momentary connections with others. Even on Facebook.
P.S. Not just in hospitals, but everywhere we go - everyone we see has something happening to them, with them, around them RIGHT NOW.
https://youtu.be/cDDWvj_q-o8
Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care
Patient care is more than just healing -- it's building a connection that encompasses mind, body and soul. If you could stand in someone else's shoes . . . h...
25/03/2022
So excited to participate in this conversation on "Krissy's Couch" this Sunday 3/27 at 12:30pm PDT.
We will be chatting about the neurobiology of trauma - and the neurobiology of healing trauma, within yourself and within your own family. Intergenerational patterns affect our parenting, and parenting is a prime opportunity to break those patterns and replace them with healthier and happier outcomes.
https://gathr.com/events/642b7d77/r/70f42564
24/03/2022
So excited to chat with Newborn Care Solutions about our Digital Advanced Course in Respectful Care that is launching next week! Stay tuned for details, and if you’re on the waitlist … you’ll want check your email on Thurs 3/24 😉
In response to many student requests, Respectful Care™ is launching two versions of the Digital Advanced Course. Come learn with us the details of this new course!
Join us Sunday, March 27th at 9 pm EST / 8 pm CST / 7 pm MST / 6 pm PST
Danielle Bujnak will join us LIVE on our page to discuss the new Digital Advanced Course in Respectful Care™.
Danielle Bujnak is an experienced and highly qualified early childhood educator, consultant, and professional development instructor, with many years of experience guiding and caring for infants and children and their families in a wide variety of settings, including individual family homes, home schooling, day cares, preschools, and Montessori and Waldorf-based early childhood programs. She is a Master Newborn Care Specialist® and has completed a graduate-level certificate in early childhood, and achieved licensing by the state of California at the “Master Teacher” and “Site Supervisor” levels, permitting her to run a multi-classroom preschool or daycare for ages birth to 8 years, and to guide and mentor other teachers and caregivers in best practices for these ages. For the past two years, Danielle has written a column for “Nanny Magazine” on “The ABCs of Respectful Care™” and her first ebook (based on and expanded from these columns) is coming out later this spring.
As part of Danielle’s professional development journey, she participated in the Elite and Master NCS programs by Newborn Care Solutions, and her “Respectful Care™ for Newborns, Infants & Toddlers” course grew out of her collaboration with other NCS in the Elite program. She offered the first in-person course in Cancun in 2018, and filmed the course for Newborn Care Solutions later that year. From 2018 to 2020, she taught the intro course a total of 16 times in 13 different cities to over 100 students, and then launched the inaugural cohort of the intensive Advanced Course in Respectful Care™ in December 2020. The Advanced Course content will now be available to a new cohort digitally, and waitlist pre-sale is now open. General sales will open on Thurs 3/31, in conjunction with the INA conference.
Each week we are going to feature a FREE mini-class on a topic relevant to our industry LIVE on our page. These short 30 minute sessions will feature real topics, real issues and real solutions.
Have you missed any of our previous Real Talks? No fear! You can access them any time on any device on our website or YouTube channel!
Website:
https://learning.newborncaresolutions.com/collections
..
Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKiZw40dJzzAHWZTF_-nATA
Are you an Educator or Expert in your field with a topic to share with our audience? Want to be a guest on a future Real Talk event? Email us at [email protected], subject line EDUCATOR, for more information.
14/02/2022
A new article on talking to teenagers, with expert Respectful Care™ advice from Danielle Bujnak.
Respectful Care™ techniques work well with children of all ages - and are effective with adults, too.
https://www.romper.com/life/questions-to-ask-teens
8 Questions You Want To Be Asking Your Teenager, According To Experts
Experts say these questions for teens will open the door for honest, meaningful conversations.