The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast

Why can two children experience exactly the same thing... and respond completely differently?

Temperament gives us a really useful window into how children experience and respond to the world around them, and understanding it can change the way we make sense of behaviour. In this episode, I’m unpacking why I think temperament is one of the closest things we have to a behaviour cheat code.

You’ll hear:
✨ The three broad temperament types: slow-to-warm, easygoing and spirited
✨ The assumptions we can make about each (and why we need to question them)
✨ Why understanding temperament gives us some pretty powerful predictive information
✨ What goodness of fit means and how we can adapt our support to the child in front of us

The more we understand about the child showing us the behaviour, the better placed we are to anticipate what they might find tricky - and support them through it.

I cover temperament in much greater detail in my guide 'Tuning In To Temperament' - check it out here

Let's Connect!
Want to feel joy in your teaching again (and not like you're spending every moment putting out behaviour spot fires)? Join the waitlist for my course: The Behaviour Reset
Want to know how to respond to baffling behaviours better? Download my free guide with 90 behaviour scripts
Join me on Instagram: @littlebloom.consultancy

Consequences get a pretty bad rap in behaviour support. Sometimes, fairly so. They’re widely misused, often completely disconnected from learning, and becoming more and more punitive - but consequences and punishment are not the same thing.

In this episode, I’m unpacking how consequences can have a place in rights-affirming behaviour support - and become powerful teaching tools - when we use them intentionally.

You’ll hear:
✨ Three common misconceptions about consequences and accountability
✨ The difference between natural, logical and illogical consequences
✨ Why consequences are only one tool in a much bigger toolkit
✨ When logical consequences can actually support learning (and when they probably won’t)
✨ The Five Rs Framework (from Amy McReady) for creating teachable consequences

If you've ever felt lost with implementing effective consequences, this one’s for you. Let's start to shift our focus from whether consequences are "good" or "bad" to whether they actually help children learn.

I cover consequences in much greater detail in my guide 'Consequences Done Differently' - check it out here

Let's Connect!
Want to feel joy in your teaching again (and not like you're spending every moment putting out behaviour spot fires)? Join the waitlist for my course: The Behaviour Reset
Want to know how to respond to baffling behaviours better? Download my free guide with 90 behaviour scripts
Join me on Instagram: @littlebloom.consultancy

This is the final episode of The Bigger Than Behaviour Series!

There’s a lot about education that feels heavy right now, and this series has made space for that heaviness - but there’s something else I think we need to talk about: the people we move through the system with.

In this episode, I’m exploring the idea of finding your Marigolds - the people who help us grow, remind us who we are when things get hard, and give us somewhere safe to put the messy parts of this work.

You’ll hear:
✨ Why finding your people matters when you’re working within systems you can’t always change
✨ Who our Marigolds are - and why we need to look out for pesky walnut trees
✨ What my own experiences with both marigolds and walnut trees taught me about whose voices we allow to shape our own
✨ Why I believe I wouldn’t be the teacher I am today without my marigolds

This isn’t a conversation about surrounding ourselves with positive people and pretending the hard stuff isn’t hard. Our people can’t fix the education system, and they can’t remove every barrier or answer the questions we’re carrying.

BUT

They can sit beside us in the messy middle without making us more hopeless. They can help us stay connected to our values, our voice, our hope, and the reasons we chose this work in the first place.

Please note - very (very) mild coarse language in this episode.

Read Find Your Marigold: The One Essential Rule for New Teachers from Jenn Gonzalez

Let's Connect!
Want to feel joy in your teaching again (and not like you're spending every moment putting out behaviour spot fires)? Join the waitlist for my course: The Behaviour Reset
Want to know how to respond to baffling behaviours better? Download my free guide with 90 behaviour scripts
Join me on Instagram: @littlebloom.consultancy

It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the challenges facing education right now. I've felt the heaviness, too. When the conversations are about burnout, behaviour, staffing shortages and system-wide change, it's easy to start believing that meaningful change is always somebody else's responsibility.

In this episode, I sit down with Nikki - early childhood consultant, mentor and founder of NG Wellbeing Consulting - to explore what happens when we stop waiting for the perfect solution and start recognising the influence we already have.

You'll hear:
✨ Why "little is better than not at all" has become Nikki's guiding philosophy
✨ The role curiosity plays in creating meaningful change
✨ Why simple, intentional practice is often more powerful than complex strategies
✨ Why leadership isn't just a job title, and that every educator has the capacity to influence change
✨ The tension between wanting to do more and not knowing where to start
✨ Why hope isn't found in having all the answers, but in taking the next small step

If you've been listening to this series and feeling the weight of the challenges facing education, I hope this conversation feels like a deep breath.
While none of us can change the whole system overnight, we can all be part of changing the experience children have today.

Visit Nikki's website: NG Wellbeing Consulting
Connect with Nikki on LinkedIn

Let's Connect!
Want to feel joy in your teaching again (and not like you're spending every moment putting out behaviour spot fires)? Join the waitlist for my course: The Behaviour Reset
Want to know how to respond to baffling behaviours better? Download my free guide with 90 behaviour scripts
Join me on Instagram: @littlebloom.consultancy

It's easy it is to fall into blame - parents blaming educators, educators blaming parents. And when we do? The children miss out.

In this episode, I sit down with Abby Thomason from Early Emotions to explore what happens when we stop searching for who's at fault and start exploring what children - and the adults around them - actually need.

Together, we unpack why children's mental health is still treated differently from every other area of development, why early intervention shouldn't stop at speech or motor skills, and what happens when educators are expected to carry more than they were ever trained or supported to.
We also explore the growing rates of preschool suspension and expulsion, the importance of supporting adults to respond to children's emotions, and why meaningful partnerships between families and educators have never been more important.

You'll hear:
✨ Why children's mental health deserves the same attention as physical and developmental milestones
✨ The gap between identifying concerns and accessing meaningful support
✨ Why supporting children starts with supporting the adults around them
✨ What rising preschool suspension and expulsion rates reveal about our systems
✨ How blame creates distance between educators and families
✨ Why genuine partnership is one of the most powerful protective factors for children
✨ What gives Abby hope for the future of early childhood education

This conversation is a reminder that behaviour is never just about the child. Creating better outcomes for children has never been about choosing between parents and educators; it's about building systems where both feel supported enough to stand on the same side.

Connect with Abby on Insta @earlyemotions
Download Abby's free guide - Navigating Little People's Big Emotions

Let's Connect!
Want to feel joy in your teaching again (and not like you're spending every moment putting out behaviour spot fires)? Join the waitlist for my course: The Behaviour Reset
Want to know how to respond to baffling behaviours better? Download my free guide with 90 behaviour scripts
Join me on Instagram: @littlebloom.consultancy