Kate DeRolf and Erika Watkins

00:01 Okay, so the great thing with our child care and I know we use you say program but it is we can Center and a child care home. So we have three child care home and three child care centers and I rest my sister Lisa a lot because the name of our facilities is really Lisa Safe Haven Child Care LLC overall, but then there is Lisa Safe Haven 1/2 New Beginning merchants of Hope because at that the next season we were at a child care conference and the speaker had a book. I don't merchants of Hope and we we struggled with the name cuz we have lost my aunt and her beloved butterfly. So he's not me see butterflies when I can see Katie anything to connect you to them that's going on, right so we came up with me because I thought we wanted to sell we wanted to give people hope that's in our community. Sometimes they just don't see that. So then we moved onto estate agent Academy 1 and 2 so our names

01:00 Wait, but overall cheaper work identifier. They knew us at least the station. I'm in those businesses really started out of the home that we still have where we actually live and we love that because just watching it change from our home to a child care. So my sister who was on her third child was a son she had wanted a son I decided to quit working because he couldn't digested formula properly Hazard joke is Enfamil must have been playing around with their formulas or something because he just couldn't digested so that caused her to get tired of being called for the house and hearing about him being he'll just like, you know what you're not think I'm going to quit working. I said, you cannot quit working like you can't afford to do and even though her husband was in the mail take you really needed both income and from our community. It's not a common place where you hear a stay-at-home mom. So the beauty

02:00 On our block is that the people who reside there grew up there and have inherited their past their families home. I'm so they knew my sister was home. So they can stay at least we can you send my baby to school Melissa. Do you mind doing it? So it just started to grow I came home one year I said, where is your living room furniture? It was a small classroom and she just started making sure that they have faith when they were dropped stop that they had something to do in the bathroom. Each child have their own toothbrush and I'm thinking we'll by the time they got to you that they should have already done things. Right? He was like, nope. Cuz if they anything I enjoyed the pain she felt didn't do it, you know, maybe in Russian and because she had more time he made sure every child had a comb or brush their own product a toothbrush all these things because she bow to not just give more to her children but to all of them so our model used to be where treating other children as as if we thought were treat how we would treat our own then we start again.

03:00 Employees who didn't see the same thing. We like that logo because that doesn't mean you could do certain things because you do that with that was really for us. So we always say our business is came out of luck though. She trusted that I had an education background, She has her CDA and tried to go to school with Matt Stairs I have to die. So I call her the Visionary is really who God gave that to and I just picked the right alongside her and it's really been great. I'm working with my sister the last 20 years. We Mark the businesses at about 22 23 because that's how old my nephew is so we know that we wouldn't have moved in that direction if she weren't here. So we're here now and we just love what we do. We can't see us doing anything else. Oh, no. I actually not so early childhood. Is it into calling you do not do it for the money or the glamour at all, you do not but it's for love of children.

04:00 I've always loved children. I've always loved small children animals to see his late. Like I said before they're so honest and I get bored easily. And when I first got an insta profession, I worked my way up I start off as a classroom aide. I was a teacher for a number of years. Then I became an administrator and what I found was and the only reason I left the classroom wasn't because of the stress, which it is stressful. There is a very high stress rate trying to keep any small person, especially 24 of them when they are zero to three or three four or five or whatever agent you have.

04:41 Engaged and so it was always new challenges and I loved the children that were the hardest children in terms of behavior and those children challenge me, but I also know from my sister is being adopted and just having seen different things how blessed I am and how different experiences shape who we are and I always wanted to give back and so those children that were the most challenging you just knew needed the most loved and so I wanted to work with them and keep them engaged and make them lifelong Learners and I just love seeing the changes that would take place now, I just with their growth, but just ate in the things that they would expand upon in the things that come out of her mind. I mean my my nephew

05:29 We we had experience with him a few years ago that that we had almost lost him and thank goodness. He is he is so resilient. I mean children who say they are a testament to resiliency and with him. He was sitting during a c warning in kindergarten which is a physical being in front of a screen all day and those teachers keep them engaged and it was a music lesson. They're talking about Beethoven and he just saw pictures of I know who that is. And I said, okay, it's only tell me you know who that is. And he said that's George Washington interesting. I think tell me what makes you think of George Washington. He says that he has white hair and it looks like George Washington and I love how they how they interpret things and parents talk about how my child can read, you know, where where I want my child to read books and we're single at 3 and 4. They are reading because your child

06:29 Will tell you that is that is Donald's this until you every single thing you forget nothing. So that's one of those interesting things are so say Hey, you know, this is going on and you you will say different. Okay, and you know, we was engaged to her parents, but I'm going to tell you chances are we already know you hear your child has already communicate that with us and that's why I like working with little people because of you write little people are honest then I don't know I've always is coming up when I think about it as a young girl when we play school always wanted to be the teacher. I always happy assignment but I love children because they are so rare and they're so honest. I will prefer to play with children all day then spending a room with a bunch of adults need to because anything that they tell you

07:29 Is going to know if they say things in your life, but we at the educator have to keep that straight face. You have to go along with George Washington. You knew that wasn't George Washington, but as an educated you knew not to disrupt his world. You just needed to guide him back. But hey, tell me why do you think that door is locked and thinking skills and and part of that balances. We need Educators. However, we need people that have been in the classroom that are in the trenches that know what that stress feels like at Nola's triumphs that that know the celebrations and challenges and will advocate for teachers because I'm going to tell you right now and you know, this Erica I happy Teacher if it has happy children.

08:29 You need people to help drive that conversations help drive those agendas. I always say that I wanted to get paid for my mouth. And I'm so fortunate to be in a position now that I can help you. Change agent and help affect policy and making sure you know guide teachers of Tomorrow guys as teachers and Guy those children and fax. It is funny because I've been in the professional 1/2 now that the first children light adorno in high school and college and some of them are friending me on Facebook. And I mean, I'm friends with their parents and grandparents on Facebook already. But but I mean to see them come back as adults and they're going miss cake and then it was called Miss Kay cannot miss Kate because I'm looking up at them. Do you recommend not crying? Give me a story. That's amazing though. It really is. I my first fourth grade class I taught in 99

09:29 Cornell is her name and she is so exciting. Facebook has connected me to my students from that year and they remember me as Miss Robinson so they still call me back. So my husband stretches every now and again like come on now, she's marrying. I was like no I will always be Miss Robinson to them, but she has finished her doctorate degree in Psychology. And the way she has begun a YouTube video that she wants me to come to and I show up because what that's how you know, you've done the work and that's how how you know, you do when your first classroom remember you and they keep reaching out to you because you have given them something I'm that they cannot let go last year. She was going to Fly Me To Georgia, but I did not get back to her in time when she was defending her dissertation because she had included me in her dissertation.

10:29 Yeah, I was like with no sweetheart what happened? He said I was flying you, but she said I don't know I was going to ask you to pay for anything. I want to Fly youth Atlanta put you in a room because I wanted you to be there when I can cry but I defended my dissertation because she said you have no clue what you did when we do this work well, and we do a really really well. That's the kind of people we put into the world and that's the kind of people who come back and say thank you and they keep the cycle going. So what she doing now. She's tutoring in adding those psych psychology resources. I tell her all the time don't psychoanalyze me. I know I've always been a man probably be a mess until the Lord called me home, but it's amazing we do it.

11:20 Yeah, people in this is not for you. Please walk away and I'm not going to feel horrible about it. But I cannot have you you know, just destroying the life you chilling. They don't go away and they remember more growth happens in the first 5 years than any other part of life and there is no such thing as the first year teaching is is the hardest year because first of all your lesson plans continually change with your children, you're constantly tracking growth and it in a multi-faceted approach it in many different ways and the teachers it is apps. I I love watching teachers. I love walking into the classroom and being in the classroom with his children because you can see the joy in everyone's face and some days are hard but you are exhausted SE-R exhaust you can see it, but the fact that you can grow together and you get more Tools in your toolbox.

12:20 You grow with them as they grow and seeing that change.

12:24 I I wish every profession. I wish every adult could get at least one experience of that nature because if you focus on that if you think about who will join to be a night, like I said, I quote Fred Rogers, but they know he has a young think about for a minute where you're at and who brought you into being and that is so profound and it's powerful and the work that we do is powerful and to give these children of voice is one of the greatest gifts. I think that we could ever have

13:01 Absolutely now they know.