Ep. 1 Who is Cara and What is the CORE of Core4Parenting?

Welcome to episode one. I am so excited to start this journey with you, and I thought we'd start by getting to know each other a little bit, or at the very least you getting to know me.  I am Cara Tyrrell founder of Core 4 Parenting, but I am so much more than that. Here's a short snippet of my journey to becoming the founder of a parenting company.

I was born intuitively connected to other little people.

That is just who I am. I describe myself as a lover of littles, and it is true to this day. As I grew up, I realized that that connection, that intuitive knowing of what these little people needed and what they were feeling in the moment and what would holistically bring them back to center to help them be their best selves is what I wanted to do.

As a teenager, that meant babysitting and as an older teenager, that meant travel nannying. But what I knew is I had to incorporate that into my entire life's trajectory somehow.  So, I decided to become a teacher.  I went through four years of education and double majored in American Sign Language and linguistics, which led me to doing a master's degree in deaf education and becoming certified to teach K through 12.

It was such an incredible journey. Being able to get into the classroom with preschoolers and kindergartners, first graders, both deaf, hard of hearing and typically developing with full hearing and be able to guide them through who they were in that moment, what came easily to them, what was a big struggle and mold my teaching to what they needed to be their best selves and develop a lifeline, a lifelong love of learning.

Year after year, kids kept coming to my program less and less ready to learn.

I did that for nearly a decade and then I decided I really needed to switch gears because year after year kids just kept coming to my program less and less ready to learn in every area of the classroom. I noticed they knew their ABCs, colors, and numbers, but they were less and less in tune with their physical body awareness, how to control it, how to understand what was happening with it. Their social, emotional, interpersonal skills were lacking.

How to recognize what they were feeling, how to connect with other kids, how to listen to other people, how to make sense of those emotions so that they responded appropriately instead of reacting. And all of those are vital when we are in a small or large group learning space.  So, I left the classroom. I had tween girls at home at the time; they were 12 and 14 years old.

I returned to my first love, nannying, except this time I brought with me an idea, the Core 4 Parenting methodology, soul and science-based strategies, taught to our children between birth and five to become well rounded and grounded in all four of those learning areas that they need to be successful when they start school.

I spent nine years with two different families working with their kids from birth until they went to school and it was joyful and it was educational. I learned that this works. And I am thrilled that at the height of the pandemic, I felt called to bring it to the world. 

The Core 4 Methodology

The Core 4 Parenting methodology anchors the relationship between you and your child with the core four connectors, honesty, respect, trust and open communication, while teaching you how to see or create opportunities.  To practice the core four skills that indicate success in school, the social, emotional, interpersonal, physical body control, and of course, cognition that they need, and when all of those come together is when the magic happens.

That's the methodology.  I hope that this has piqued your interest. I hope you want to learn more because that's what this podcast will do. It'll give you the opportunity to dive deep into each of those spaces and I'll share techniques, tips and tricks, scripts and all the things that connect who your child is to what skills you want to design in them, so they can go on to lead a very happy and successful life.