What we cover · Relationships with children

Getting alongside the child who's playing alone.

A child has been quiet all morning. A three-year-old is telling a story nobody can follow. Some of your educators know exactly how to get alongside; others check they're okay and move on. Everything else in the room is built on this — so this is where the Program starts.

What you're seeing

Connection that depends on which educator is closest

After the session

What your educators do differently

01

Get low, and wait

Sitting at their height and saying nothing for thirty seconds does more than any question. Children start talking when they don't feel interviewed.

02

Ask about the thing, not the child

"Tell me about this" invites a story. "What did you make?" asks for a label.

03

Use their word back

If the tower is massive, it's massive. Borrowing their word tells them you were listening.

What the session looks like

The role-plays

Trios: one is the quiet child, one the educator, one watches for the moment the child starts talking. Then the unfollowable story — and the questions that keep it going. Everyone practises the thirty-second silence, which is harder than it sounds.

The sentence they leave with: "Tell me about this." — then thirty seconds of nothing.

Not another PowerPoint.

Are you and your team tired of the slide deck and the online click-fest? Louis's sessions are practical, on your feet and genuinely fun. You'll role-play the moments that actually happen in your rooms — the parent at pick-up, the child who hits, the drizzle at the door — and leave with language you'll use tomorrow.

Educators remember what they've said out loud, not what they've watched.

See what a session looks like
Two ways to run it

As a 90-minute Reset, or inside the Program

On its own

Team Practice Reset

One 90-minute session on this topic for your whole team — role-plays, the scripts sheet, a one-page action plan and a leader debrief. Online or in your centre.

See the Reset →
With the other five areas

Confident Practice Program

This is module 1 of six. Run all six as one intensive day, or embedded fortnightly across the term so it becomes how your team does PD.

See the Program →

Where: online for any centre in Australia · in your centre in Melbourne · interstate by arrangement (travel quoted upfront). Investment: depends on team size and format — Louis gives you a straight answer within a business day.

Where it sits in your QIP: NQS Quality Area 5 (relationships with children, 5.1 responsive and meaningful interactions). EYLF v2.0 Outcome 1 (identity) and Principle 1 (secure, respectful relationships). Written mapping supplied.
22+ yearsin Australian early childhood centres
4 yearsas a kindergarten teacher
Mentorto graduate & internationally trained educators
Authorof Babies to Bosses, Toddlers to Trailblazers
AlignedNQS QA1 · 3 · 5 · 6  |  EYLF v2.0  |  APST
Ask about a Reset on this

Tell Louis what's happening

A sentence or two about your rooms. He'll reply within a business day with how he'd run it and what it would cost.

Get Louis's read on your team

Tell Louis what you're seeing. He'll come back within one business day with what he'd do, what it would cost, and whether Praxibel is the right fit — a real reply, not an autoresponder.

Louis has your note. Expect to hear from him within one business day.

Louis reads every note himself. Your details are used only to reply to you.

Every child known, not just supervised.

Tell Louis what you're seeing and he'll build the session around it.