If you love thinking deeply about childhood, early childhood education, caring for children, and supporting children’s right to play, this is the podcast for you! Each week, host and self-proclaimed early childhood nerd Heather Bernt-Santy invites practitioners, writers, and thinkers who share her commitment to doing the very best we can for children, their caregivers and teachers, and their families to discuss big ideas, real life practices, and cool research. Let’s get nerdy!
I don’t know about you, but this Nerd loves Lisa Murphy!
So it was so fun to have her say, “I keep a list of topics and questions that I want to pod about!”
Here’s the first episode of what we’re calling “Lisa Murphy’s Grab Bag,” an ongoing series of episodes where Lisa brings that list to That Early Childhood Nerd.
Included in this conversation:
An off hand remark at a nail salon that left Lisa wondering, “do children have freedom to ‘not like someone’s tone’?”
If you were a child in your own class today, would you want to come back tomorrow?
How do Heather and Lisa feel about having to make dinner decisions?
Who do you have in your life that stretches your adult zone of proximal development?
Is it kinder to be direct?
Why do toddlers pick their noses and why don’t we all already know the answer?
Which 80’s soaps did you watch and why?
Lots of heart, lots of laughs, and lots of Lisa and Heather—enjoy!
Order the latest edition of Lisa’s PLAY book here: https://www.redleafpress.org/Lisa-Murphy-on-Play-3rd-Edition-The-Foundation-of-Childrens-Learning-P3195.aspx
Order Heather’s book, Using Schema Play Theory to Advocate for Free Play in Early Childhood, here: https://www.tcpress.com/products/using-schema-play-theory-to-advocate-for-free-play-in-early-childhood_9780807783177
Join our new Patreon community! For just $5 a month you can support all the Early Childhood Nerdwork podcasts AND join our Discord server to chat with the hosts and others who are working for children, their families, and their teachers: https://www.patreon.com/cw/EarlyChildhoodNerdworkbyThatEarlyChildhoodNerd
Thanks for listening!
23 Sept 2026
NERD 0430 Children's Behaviors and Children's Learning: Tools Over Tactics
One of host Heather Bernt-Santy’s favorite things is to find someone who takes something she is instinctively feeling and brilliantly putting that feeling into words. In this episode, her guest Amy Chiu has done just that.
Amy joins the show to talk about how easy it can be for early childhood practitioners to take the tools we have in our toolbox and use them as tactics for control or compliance. Listen to find out what she means when she says:
Tools become tactics when the goal shifts from understanding children to controlling outcomes
Taking deep breaths becomes a tactic when a child is expected to “calm down” on command
Scaffolding becomes a tactic when participation matters more than agency
Visual schedules become tactics when they leave no room for humanity, flexibility, or individual rhythms
Find more of Amy’s work at www.theworkofplay.com
Order Heather’s book, Using Schema Play Theory to Advocate for Free Play in Early Childhood, here: https://www.tcpress.com/products/using-schema-play-theory-to-advocate-for-free-play-in-early-childhood_9780807783177
Join our new Patreon community! For just $5 a month you can support all the Early Childhood Nerdwork podcasts AND join our Discord server to chat with the hosts and others who are working for children, their families, and their teachers: https://www.patreon.com/cw/EarlyChildhoodNerdworkbyThatEarlyChildhoodNerd
Thanks for listening!
16 Sept 2026
NERD 0429 Developmental Theorists and Ageism with Dr. Jennifer Fane
Could child developmental theories be ageist, encouraging us to see only children’s deficits?
This week host Heather Bernt-Santy discusses this question with Dr. Jennifer Fane, co-author of the book The Sociology of Early Childhood: Young Children’s Lives and Worlds.
The conversation begins with this quote from the book: “We believe that child development theories are often ageist, because they carry an implicit assumption that we begin life as deficient, and get better, wiser, and more capable as we get older. Such theories reassure adults that they are capable, but are often very damaging to young children, who are left feeling incapable, and so encourage passivity and helplessness. Many of these developmental theories have led to a deficit approach to education, in which educators spend most of their time focusing on what young children cannot do (by using developmental checklists) rather than what they enjoy or do well. A less ageist perspective suggests babies enter the world capable of absorbing knowledge and drawing conclusions at a rapid pace. As we age, we acquire more knowledge and experience, but we also slow in the rate we can learn, and become more limited in our creativity and curiosity.”
Find the book here: https://a.co/d/0dEf1MdP
Find more of Dr. Fane’s work here: https://www.signal49.ca/team-members/jennifer-fane/
Order Heather’s book, Using Schema Play Theory to Advocate for Free Play in Early Childhood, here: https://www.tcpress.com/products/using-schema-play-theory-to-advocate-for-free-play-in-early-childhood_9780807783177
Join our new Patreon community! For just $5 a month you can support all the Early Childhood Nerdwork podcasts AND join our Discord server to chat with the hosts and others who are working for children, their families, and their teachers: https://www.patreon.com/cw/EarlyChildhoodNerdworkbyThatEarlyChildhoodNerd
Thanks for listening!
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