Ms. Wandi

Young children have this magical ability to make a neighborhood feel like a real community. To go one step further, they can sometimes make a community feel like a family! Kids have such a genuine sense of care and kindness, and that warm energy is so beautiful to be around. A dedication to quality childcare is actually a family business. Many of my relatives own their own daycares, so I have spent my whole life seeing the success of small daycare centers. In fact, I actually went to college for Early Childhood Education. Running my own daycare has been a dream of mine. It’s a great way to offer local kids the attention and education they deserve while also serving our community!

Every child is special, which means they each learn in a unique way. At this program, we implement the Montessori inspired method of education, so a lot of our activities are child-led and designed to spark creativity and independence. There are some exciting things we work on all together, like story time. Because I’m bilingual in English and Spanish, a love of language is also encouraged in this program. The kids have a lot of fun learning new words and ways to speak to one another. They’re also really inspired by the things we do to promote self-expression. Arts and crafts is usually their favorite part of the day because it lets them get a little messy and experiment with new materials. It’s incredible to see that even when they’re using the same paints or given the same loose prompts (for holidays or to commemorate the change of seasons, for example), each work of art is so specific to the individual artist! Hopefully this helps them see how wonderfully special their perspective is.

My program is run with patience and empathy. The most important thing will always be the wellbeing of the children. In order to create a supportive environment for them, it’s vital to take the time to listen to their problems and to try to understand where they’re each coming from. For instance, when I was working with kids in a school setting, there was one student who was quite disruptive and wouldn’t listen. This led me to open up a line of communication with his mother, who was able to shed some light on a difficult home situation. Together, we were able to work together to put her son at ease and on a better path.