Laura Minnigerode on Listening Partnerships During the winter holiday season, I often feel overpowered with emotions about the past. While I cherish memories of being with my family, I feel out of touch and alone. We are separated by thousands of miles and communication styles. It’s hard to reach out. The feelings hit hardest on the
By Laura Minnigerode When I was a co-teacher in a 2-year-old class at a half-day preschool, one of the oldest children was Ryan. He was very sweet and sensitive. In free play at school Ryan did fine, but he had a lot of feelings about his dad that came up during circle time, which came immediately after. He often cried
By Laura Minnigerode Emma was born so early that she identified as a “Micro-Preemie.” That is, she weighed less than 800 grams and was born before 26 weeks. When I first met her, she was about 9 months old and weighed 15lbs, and she had a lot of fears about being picked up. Her history had included