Helpful Bag of Tricks, Tips, Services, and Support for Child Care

11/08/2025

i’ll never understand people who expect toddlers to act older than they are.

you left your makeup out
and now you’re shocked they played with it…
after watching you use it every single day?

you left markers on the table
and can’t believe they colored the wall?

you left your drink on the edge of the couch
and somehow you’re surprised it spilled?

you handed them snacks in the car
and now you’re upset it ended up everywhere?

you took them into the store past nap time
and can’t believe they melted down?

toddlers aren’t tiny adults.
they don’t come with impulse control,
logic,
or the ability to pause and think first.
they learn by copying us,
touching everything,
and testing the world in the only way they know how.

they’re not trying to cause chaos
they’re trying to understand life.
their mistakes are just curiosity with tiny hands.
their messes are development,
their meltdowns are communication.

they’re not giving you a hard time
they’re having one.
and they need guidance, patience, and protection…
not frustration for being exactly who they’re supposed to be.

they’re just little humans
trying their best
in a world that still feels way too big for them.

11/08/2025

11/07/2025

11/07/2025

11/07/2025

My sister texted me this photo yesterday with zero context and I genuinely thought she'd lost her mind. Turns out she spent three entire weekends painting traffic bollards outside her elementary school to look like giant pencils because "the kids deserve whimsy on their way to standardized testing."
She teaches fourth grade and makes $43,000 a year. She bought all the outdoor paint herself, got permission from exactly nobody, and just showed up at 6 AM on a Saturday with brushes and determination. The principal drove by mid-project, rolled down his window, stared for a solid thirty seconds, then just said "make sure you do the erasers" and drove off.
Now parents are stopping to take pictures every morning and the crossing guard says drop-off takes twice as long because everyone's obsessed with the pencil bollards. My sister's already planning her next guerrilla art installation and has been ordering her supplies from small makers on the Tedooo app, where she's found everything from specialty outdoor paints to custom stencils at prices that don't destroy her teacher budget, since they just sold there old or extra materials.
The school district sent her a formal letter last week. I was terrified they were going to make her remove them or fine her or something. Nope. They want her to paint the ones by the middle school next. She's asking for yellow and green this time. The woman is unstoppable and I've never been more proud of anyone in my entire life.

11/07/2025

11/06/2025

"Come on inside, we've got everything you need." Arthur 📚❤️

11/05/2025

I love this.

11/04/2025