Inspirational and Empowering Child Care Business Owners To Build Successful Child Care Businesses

Archive for the ‘Family Child Care’ Category

This week’s Featured Child Care Business Owner: Cheryl Mendiola Owner of Tuggy’s Tots Pre-K Adventure

 

Being a successful child care business can take years to happen. 

 Being patient and being YOU is what is the key.

Standing out in a crowd, being different. Determination is the real key to being successful.

~Cheryl Mendiola

Tell me about Tuggy’s Tots

Tuggys Tots

My name is Cheryl Mendiola and I own and operate Tuggy’s Tots Pre K Adventures. My daughter, Brittney is my assistant on every adventure! We sail the high seas in search of a great learning experience! I was named after a tugboat and my grandfather called me Tuggy. I chose that for my business name because it would remind me of him.

Tuggy’s Tots Pre K Adventures is located in Tulare, California which is in the Central Valley. I  have been on this great adventure since 1986 and still going! We firmly believe that children should have a say in what they learn about and should have fun doing so. We like self-directed learning and focus on music,drama,and reading. We also enjoy cooking and we are very big on recycling.  We have appeared on A place of our own (provider of the week) and 0 to 5 in 30 minutes in a segment involving indoor play when weather doesn’t permit outside play. We approach each day knowing that it is okay to just dance and jump and sing all day….we have had fun and have learned in the process. Our learning environment is simple. We decided this was best so that the crew isn’t distracted and they could focus on what we are doing at the time rather than on what we are going to be doing. Each child grows and learns in their own unique way. We have fun!

What inspired you to start a childcare business?

When I was in the sixth grade I was an A student so I was chosen to help in the kindergarten classrooms on Friday afternoons. Immediately I fell in love with the laughter and the satisfaction in knowing I helped a child learn something (and the smell of school paint and paste) I knew I wanted to work with children and knew that I would be successful. High school came around and there I was teaching preschoolers how to sing. I applied at a center where the director hired me to work at her home day care. Her name ……Jana Mathias and she is the one that really inspired me. She knew that I had what it takes to be a successful child care business owner. Instead of being a typical “boss” she let me do what came naturally for me and to color outside of the lines. I was a success! I began my own business and to her I will be forever grateful. I thank her for having confidence in me and for inspiring me to do what was a natural talent. She passed away last year and she will never be forgotten for being a wonderful role model and my reason for being on this great adventure!

 

 

What do you think is the key to a successful child care business?

Being a successful child care business can take years to happen. Being patient and being YOU is what is the key. Standing out in a crowd, being different. Determination is the real key to being successful.

 

 

My advice for new child care business owners

Don’t Give up! Don’t take things personally and have patience. You have to get your name out there and make it a good name. Provide the best care you are capable of…go above and beyond and always do your best! Good communication between you and your families is important and will help your program be a success. Have fun…enjoy yourself…..hug your little ones and smile…you are making a huge difference in a child’s life.

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Family Child Care, Featured Child Care Business, Uncategorized

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Are You Encouraging Kids to Think?

A Guest blog post by Linette Daniels, ” The Youth Success Doctor”

 

If we teach children everything we know their knowledge is limited to ours.  If we teach children to think, their knowledge is limitless. 

 

Research shows that a child’s ability to succeed in life is directly proportional to their ability to solve the problems they encounter along life’s journey. Research has found that the more often a student is exposed to critical thinking, the greater the probability that the student will transfer critical thinking to other areas of his or her life.  Based on this research, it is important to expose your students to critical thinking opportunities wherever possible. 

Critical thinking can be thought of as reasonable, reflective, responsible and skillful thinking that is focused on deciding what to believe or what to do. A child who thinks critically will learn to master what I call . . .

The 3 Pillars of Thinking:

1) Think things through,

2) Make good choices, and

3) Solve problems wisely

Critical thinking is more than your student knowing if they receive the correct change after a purchase or their ability to process information well enough to know to turn the water off before the bathtub overflows. Those thinking skills, although important, are only enough for personal survival.  To thrive in a world filled with people and problems, your students will need to achieve higher-order thinking; the level of thinking that enables a child to ask the right questions, collect important information, efficiently and creatively sort through the information, make sense of the information, and come to responsible conclusions that enable the child to live and act successfully in society.

A child is not born with the capacity to think critically nor is it a skill that will be developed naturally. In fact, most people never develop critical thinking skills because it is a learned ability that must be taught. 

Critical thinking in its simplest form is the ability to think for one’s self and use information to make good decisions.  Unfortunately society often punishes critical thinking because thinkers question the status quo and challenge authority.  As a result, most people become followers who rely on others to think for them. 

Well I’m on a mission to change the future by empowering youth with the ability to be responsible-independent thinkers!

Children are constantly processing information.  What they need in order to succeed is practice in “how” to process information carefully, correctly, and completely, in a way that leads to the most reliable, reasonable, and responsible conclusions, from which wise decisions can be made about his or her life, behavior, and actions with full awareness and acceptance for the consequences of their choices.

So let me ask YOU,

Are you encouraging kids to think and analyze even at a young age?  Are you teaching them the art of questioning and working through the answers?  Are you empowering your students with the essential skills of success in life?

 About the Guest Author, Linette Daniels 

Dr. Linette Daniels is a nationally acclaimed speaker, author and award-winning success strategist who, for the past 20 years, has empowered youth from the cradle through college in a variety of youth-serving arenas to include public school, child care, foster care, juvenile court, social services, and early intervention.

As a single parent, she raised 12 therapeutic foster care and 2 biological children using her vision to see infants’ progress into developmentally strong toddlers, academically prepared preschoolers, empowered youth and successful adults.

Dr. Daniels believes that given the right space, tools, and training; ALL youth can succeed, and as founder of the International Movement To Empower More Youth, her mission is to empower youth for financial, business and leadership success so they can create the life they want to live.

Whether you are a young person, a parent or from a youth-serving program, visit http://EmpowerMoreYouth.com and get in where you fit in!

Look forward to a 3-part series  by Linette Daniels on empowering youth for financial, business and leadership success!

Category:

Child Care Center, Curriculum, Family Child Care, Guest Blog Post, School-Age Program

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