Napcast Ep76: Guided by Plants: Bending Our Practice with Willow

“Mike is a monkey! Mike is a monkey! Mike is a monkey!”It was supposed to be play.One question. One silly answer. One chant from a child and suddenly Mike found himself sitting with a much bigger question:What do we do when children’s play carries a racialized history?In this special Napcast episode, Mike and Nick take one tiny moment from the classroom and pull it apart.Not to decide who was right.Not to make a child the villain.Not to turn an everyday interaction into a crisis.But to get curious about intent, impact, power, race, relationships, and repair.We're not interested in turning a child's moment of play into a judgment of the child.We're interested in what we—as adults, educators, caregivers, and people in relationship with children—do when a seemingly innocent moment bumps up against something much bigger.Because sometimes the work isn't figuring out whether someone is “bad.”Sometimes the work is asking:What just happened here?What else might be underneath it?What are we carrying into this moment?And what does repair look like now?A monkey.A chant.A waiting wall.And a conversation that got a whole lot bigger than we expected.🌿 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for a future episode or something you want to reflect on with us? Email us at [email protected] and let’s talk.Follow along on Instagram @napcast206 for more reflections and behind-the-scenes moments.

Willow bends. Willow moves. Willow stays rooted.So what can Willow teach us about working with young children?In this episode, we get into flexibility, adaptation, compliance, and the things we've been taught to bend around. We ask what we've trained out of children, what we've inherited ourselves, and what we might need to shed instead of simply adapt.And then we turn the question toward our environments:What if the child isn't the only thing that can change?We talk about bending the schedule, rethinking participation, making room for family and cultural knowledge, strengthening the web around children and families, and building environments that can respond instead of demanding that children constantly adjust.And because Willow doesn't grow alone, we bring the wisdom of our other plant relatives into the conversation and ask what happens when we weave it all together.Join us as we move from helping children become more adaptable to our environment towards building environments flexible enough to hold them. 🌿 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for a future episode or something you want to reflect on with us? Email us at [email protected] and let’s talk.Follow along on Instagram @napcast206 for more reflections and behind-the-scenes moments.Theme Music: "Groovy Funky Soul" by Playsound (Yuriy Bespalov), courtesy of Pixabay.

What if a bay leaf could teach us how to teach?For Mike, bay leaves aren't just an ingredient. They're tied to Caribbean kitchens, bush medicine, family stories, healing rituals, and knowledge passed from one generation to the next. In this episode of Guided by Plants, Nick and Mike explore what bay leaves can teach us about cultural memory, relational pedagogy, healing, belonging, and the quiet ways children learn through everyday life.Drawing from memories of being “underfoot” in the kitchen, family plant practices, and the ongoing work of reconnecting with heritage, this conversation asks what it means to teach through culture rather than to culture and what educators might learn from a plant that never needs to be the star of the dish to change the whole pot.We explore how educators can create opportunities for children to experience culture through plants, food, stories, rituals, place, and relationships and how reconnecting children with the living world around them can become a practice of belonging.Join us in remembering that some of our deepest learning happens when they’re steeped, shared, remembered, and passed down quietly in our kitchens, gardens, rituals, relationships, and everyday acts of care. Resources mentioned in the episode: The Healing Power of African-American Spirituality by Stephanie Rose Bird (we encourage you to find, borrow or buy this book from your local library, independent books, and BIPOC run book stores as opposed to businesses such as amazon). 🌿 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for a future episode or something you want to reflect on with us? Email us at [email protected] and let’s talk.Follow along on Instagram @napcast206 for more reflections and behind-the-scenes moments.Theme Music: "Groovy Funky Soul" by Playsound (Yuriy Bespalov), courtesy of Pixabay.

Most of us know Stinging Nettle for one thing: the sting.The moment of discomfort. The instinct to pull away. The warning to stay back.But what if the sting isn't the whole story?In this episode of #Napcast, Nick and Mike explore the wisdom of Stinging Nettle...a plant that protects, nourishes, and heals. Through its lessons, we ask a deeper question: What if the behaviors that challenge us most are also protecting something important?Together, we unpack the difference between correction and curiosity. The boundaries children communicate before they have the words to explain them. And the gifts we risk missing when we only focus on the moments that hurt.Because Stinging Nettle reminds us:Protection is not the opposite of love.Boundaries are not the opposite of connection.And a child is never just their hardest moment.Join us as we explore what it means to look beyond the sting, discover the medicine underneath, and create classrooms where children don't need to reach for their stingers as often.🌿 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for a future episode or something you want to reflect on with us? Email us at [email protected] and let’s talk.Follow along on Instagram @napcast206 for more reflections and behind-the-scenes moments.Theme Music: "Groovy Funky Soul" by Playsound (Yuriy Bespalov), courtesy of Pixabay.

Some plants demand attention.Yerba Buena isn't one of them.You might walk past it without noticing. You might smell it before you see it. You might overlook it entirely if you're moving too fast.And maybe that's exactly what it has to teach us.In this episode of #Napcast, Nick and Mike explore the quiet influence of Yerba Buena and what it can teach us about the people, practices, and relationships that shape us long after the moment has passed.Together, we reflect on the adults who first noticed us, the children who are easiest to overlook, and the staff members whose contributions often go unseen. Along the way, we wrestle with a deeper question: How do we become the kind of people whose presence lingers after we leave the room?With Yerba Buena as our guide, we talk about our influence as adults. The kind that doesn't need to be loud to be lasting.The kind children remember years later.The kind that quietly transforms classrooms, communities, and lives.Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for a future episode or something you want to reflect on with us? Email us at [email protected] and let’s talk.Follow along on Instagram @napcast206 for more reflections and behind-the-scenes moments.Theme Music: "Groovy Funky Soul" by Playsound (Yuriy Bespalov), courtesy of Pixabay.

They call dandelions weeds.Plants that show up uninvited. Grow where they’re not supposed to. Crack through concrete. Return no matter how many times they’re pulled.And maybe that’s exactly why we needed to talk about them.In this episode of #Napcast, Nick and Mike turn toward the dandelion as teacher, mirror, and metaphor—asking what it means to grow in systems that were never designed to hold you.Together, we explore non-linear development, the politics of “undesirable” behavior, and the ways children are often rushed, corrected, or uprooted before they’ve had the chance to fully root themselves.What grows in the places no one planned for?What if disruption is not dysfunction—but intelligence?What would it mean to stop pulling children up by the roots in the name of readiness, compliance, or control?This conversation is about more than dandelions.It’s about resilience. Survival. Adaptation. And the children who continue to bloom anyway. Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for a future episode or something you want to reflect on with us? Email us at [email protected] and let’s talk. Follow along on Instagram @napcast206 for more reflections and behind-the-scenes moments.

Some may steam it. Some may make it into tea. Some may simply sit with it and marvel.California poppy is known as an herb of relaxation—supporting the nervous system, inviting rest, and helping both children and adults settle into sleep. So we started wondering: what might this plant teach us about how we hold stress… and how we let it go?In this episode of #Napcast, Nick and Mike turn toward California poppy as a guide—not just for understanding plants, but for rethinking how we show up with children while using the 6 R's ( relationship, respect, responsibility, reciprocity, relevance, and representation).Together, we explore the overstimulation of the modern classroom. The anxiety that lives in rushed transitions and rigid routines. The subtle ways urgency shows up in our tone, our timing, our expectations. And what it might mean to move differently—to soften, to slow down, and to create environments that help children settle, not just comply.This conversation is an invitation to notice. To breathe. To come back into the body.Join us as we reflect on supporting children through big feelings, easing the tension we carry as educators, and creating classrooms that soothe instead of overwhelm.Resources Mentioned In This Episode: Baby Botanicals: Peekaboo, Flowers! by author & illustrator Jillian MiaoHave You Ever Seen a Flower? by author & illustrator Shawn HarrisInstagram Account: @xalishmedicines and their post on California Poppy - https://www.instagram.com/p/DL5LDxQRcym/Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for a future episode or something you want to reflect on with us? Email us at [email protected] and let’s talk.Follow along on Instagram @napcast206 for more reflections and behind-the-scenes moments.

What do strawberries and toddlers have in common?More than you think.In this episode of #Napcast, Nick and Mike head to the strawberry patch and come back with more than just fruit.Listening to the farmers talk about sun, soil, timing, and patience sparked a bigger question for us: What if children, like strawberries, can’t be rushed into ripeness?Using plant wisdom as a guide, we unpack the exhaustion of the go-go-go classroom pace. The pressure to produce outcomes. The way environments shape development. And what it might mean to focus less on pushing children forward and more on protecting the conditions they grow in.Because this episode isn’t really about strawberries.It’s about:• process over product• cultivation over compliance• and creating classrooms that don’t bruise children in the name of achievementIf you’ve ever felt the pace is too fast…If you’ve ever questioned whether “school readiness” is always healthy…If you’re craving a more humane way to do this work…This one’s for you.🎧 Listen wherever you get your podcasts.Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for a future episode or something you want to reflect on with us? Email us at [email protected] and let’s talk.Follow along on Instagram @napcast206 for more reflections and behind-the-scenes moments.As mentioned in our episode, check out these two reflections Mike and Nick made on Strawberries:Mike: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNgcSMgpSZd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==Nick: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DNoIPW8hYR7/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Season 5 opens with a return to the land.In this debut episode of our Guided by Plants series, early childhood educators Nick (he/him) and Mike (he/him) center alder and big leaf maple as living teachers of nourishment, protection, and interdependence in early childhood spaces.Through shared reflection and conversation, we explore how these plants sustain the ecosystems around them and what that can teach us about nourishing children in our programs. We riff on alder’s role in restoring and supporting others, big leaf maple’s capacity to offer shelter and space, and how these lessons can guide our interactions with children, families, and colleagues.This hour-long episode is rooted in observation, story, and practice. Listeners will walk away with ideas for how to thoughtfully introduce alder and big leaf maple into classroom experiences, leadership and management approaches, and relationship-building with families—grounded in care, curiosity, and connection rather than compliance.Join us as we slow down, notice, and invite the plant world to help shape how we show up for children and for one another.Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for a future episode or something you want to reflect on with us? Email us at [email protected] and let’s talk.Follow along on Instagram @napcast206 for more reflections and behind-the-scenes moments.

What happens when a learning story isn’t written about a child — but for another educator?In this conversation, Nick (he/him) and Mike (he/him) explore what it means to write across difference and through relationship. We talk about the power of story as a way of seeing, the tension between objectivity and subjectivity, and the shift from checking boxes to telling truths. Anchored in a learning story written by Nick for his white colleague about a sign that reads “You’re on Indigenous Land,” this episode invites us to think about what it means to write to someone, not about them. To treat story as a form of care, reflection, and accountability.Interested in bringing Nick and Mike to your community? Got an idea for an episode? Have some comments? Email us at napcast206.com and let’s talk! Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at @napcast206 or https://www.instagram.com/napcast206/