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PODCAST

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast

Where big feelings are welcome, tricky behaviour isn’t shamed, and early childhood educators finally feel seen.Are you an educator, teacher, or school leader navigating the messy, beautiful world of guiding children’s behaviour, emotions, and sense of belonging? You’ve just found your people.I’m Danica - early childhood mentor and consultant, and your go-to gal for honest, heart-led conversations about what actually works when supporting young children. Inside The Bloom Room, we go beyond sticker

education parenting

All Episodes

00:15:52

EP 69 | Is Saying “Good Job” Really That Bad? When...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/10/05

Come along to my online workshop on October 10: Leading Behaviour With Warm Authority.When did praising children become so dang controversial?!There’s a lot of noise around praise, from warnings about “good job” destroying intrinsic motivation to advice that we should avoid praise altogether. In this episode, I’m unpacking what the research actually tells us about praise, when it can be genuinely useful, and how we can use it as meaningful feedback without turning it into approval children need to

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00:28:35

EP 68 | What If We Scaffolded Behaviour Like We...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/09/28

Come along to my online workshop on October 10: Leading Behaviour With Warm Authority.What if we scaffolded children’s behaviour in the same way we already scaffold every other area of their learning?As educators, we understand that knowing how to do something and being able to do it independently aren’t necessarily the same thing but, when it comes to behaviour, we can forget this pretty quickly. In this episode, I’m taking Vygotsky’s ideas around scaffolding and the Zone of Proximal Development

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00:26:20

EP 67 | What Are We Missing When Behaviour...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/09/21

Come along to my online workshop on October 10: Leading Behaviour With Warm Authority.Why can we have hundreds of behaviour strategies at our fingertips and still find ourselves wondering what the heck to actually do when behaviour gets hard?Strategies absolutely have a place when we’re working with behaviour, but having more of them doesn’t necessarily make us better equipped to support the child in front of us. In this episode, I’m unpacking why behaviour strategies keep letting us down and why

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00:24:00

EP 66 | Firm AND Fair: Finding the Middle Ground in...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/09/14

Come along to my online workshop on October 10: Leading Behaviour With Warm Authority.How do we hold boundaries without becoming harsh - and stay responsive without feeling like we have to let everything go?There can be a real tension between being firm and being fair when we’re working with behaviour. In this episode, I’m unpacking warm authority and what it looks like to bring warmth and steadfastness together, so we can lead with confidence, protect children’s dignity, and respond to the child in

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00:32:32

EP 65 | Is It Really the Child… or Is It the...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/09/07

Why can a child cope beautifully in one environment yet really struggle in another?Behaviour is incredibly contextual, and the spaces children spend their time in can have a much bigger influence on behaviour and regulation than we sometimes realise. In this episode, I’m unpacking why the environment is plays a major role in our behaviour support ecosystem - and why the most useful thing we can change is often what’s happening around the child.You’ll hear:✨ How visual and auditory input can

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00:25:51

EP 64 | The Behaviour Cheat Code: Understanding...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/08/31

Why can two children experience exactly the same thing... and respond completely differently?Temperament gives us a really useful window into how children experience and respond to the world around them, and understanding it can change the way we make sense of behaviour. In this episode, I’m unpacking why I think temperament is one of the closest things we have to a behaviour cheat code.You’ll hear:✨ The three broad temperament types: slow-to-warm, easygoing and spirited✨ The assumptions we can make

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00:20:06

EP 63 | We Need to Talk About Consequences

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/08/24

Consequences get a pretty bad rap in behaviour support. Sometimes, fairly so. They’re widely misused, often completely disconnected from learning, and becoming more and more punitive - but consequences and punishment are not the same thing.In this episode, I’m unpacking how consequences can have a place in rights-affirming behaviour support - and become powerful teaching tools - when we use them intentionally.You’ll hear:✨ Three common misconceptions about consequences and accountability✨ The

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00:27:48

EP 62 | Who Are Your Marigolds? Finding Your People...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/08/17

This is the final episode of The Bigger Than Behaviour Series!There’s a lot about education that feels heavy right now, and this series has made space for that heaviness - but there’s something else I think we need to talk about: the people we move through the system with.In this episode, I’m exploring the idea of finding your Marigolds - the people who help us grow, remind us who we are when things get hard, and give us somewhere safe to put the messy parts of this work.You’ll hear:✨ Why finding

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01:07:49

EP 61 | How to Make a Difference When the Education...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/08/10

It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the challenges facing education right now. I've felt the heaviness, too. When the conversations are about burnout, behaviour, staffing shortages and system-wide change, it's easy to start believing that meaningful change is always somebody else's responsibility.In this episode, I sit down with Nikki - early childhood consultant, mentor and founder of NG Wellbeing Consulting - to explore what happens when we stop waiting for the perfect solution and start recognising

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01:11:34

EP 60 | It Was Never Meant to Be Us vs. Parents with...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/08/03

It's easy it is to fall into blame - parents blaming educators, educators blaming parents. And when we do? The children miss out. In this episode, I sit down with Abby Thomason from Early Emotions to explore what happens when we stop searching for who's at fault and start exploring what children - and the adults around them - actually need.Together, we unpack why children's mental health is still treated differently from every other area of development, why early intervention shouldn't stop at

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01:19:27

EP 59 | What Do the NDIS Changes Really Mean For...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/07/27

Over the past few months, you've probably heard bits and pieces about the changes to the NDIS and the introduction of Thriving Kids. But what do these changes actually mean for children, families, and the educators supporting them every day?In this episode, I sit down with occupational therapist, author, and founder of Move About Therapy Services, Dave Jereb, to unpack the changes that are coming and the ripple effect they could have across early childhood settings and schools. Together, we explore

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00:41:27

EP 58 | Are We Preparing New Educators For the...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/07/20

University teaches you the theory, but what happens when you step into a real classroom?In this episode, I sit down with Chloe - a recently graduated early childhood educator - to explore the gap between what we're taught at university and what it actually feels like to support children, families and colleagues in the real world.You'll hear:✨ What surprised Chloe most when she stepped from university into the classroom✨ The invisible mental and emotional load that no textbook can prepare you for✨

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00:52:16

EP 57 | Could Love Be What's Missing in Education?...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/07/13

Most of us begin this work because we care deeply about children but, at some point, many of us discover that caring isn't as simple as we thought.In this episode, I sit down with Sarah Louise Nelson - early childhood educator, researcher, university lecturer and PhD candidate - to explore the concept of professional love, and why relationships aren't just a nice addition to education; they're the foundation that everything else is built upon.You'll hear:✨ What professional love really means (and

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00:58:28

EP 56 | Quality vs. Compliance: Who Chooses? with...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/07/06

Quality has become one of the most talked-about words in early childhood education but, somewhere along the way, many educators have been left wondering whether we're actually creating quality - or simply chasing it.In this episode, I sit down with Narelle Nettelbeck of Bugs and Bare Feet - early childhood consultant, mentor, and educator with more than three decades of experience - to explore what happens when compliance, expectations, and constant pressure start pulling us away from the very

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01:16:37

EP 55 | Behaviour Isn't The Real Issue with SproutED...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/06/29

There’s a lot of conversation right now about children who aren’t coping at school - but what if the real question is whether the system is still meeting the needs of the children it's designed to serve?In this episode, I sit down with Brooke and Gemma - educators, consultants, university lecturers, and homeschooling parents - to explore what happens when children don't fit neatly within traditional schooling, and why so many families find themselves searching for alternatives.You'll hear:✨ Why some

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00:53:30

EP 54 | The Weight of School Leadership with Jenny Cole

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/06/23

What happens when passion, commitment, and hard work still don't feel like enough?In this episode, I speak with Jenny - educator, leadership consultant, strengths practitioner, and self-described recovering principal - about burnout, leadership, emotional intelligence, and the impossible expectations many people in education are carrying.You'll hear:✨ Why so many educators and leaders are doing their best but still feel like they're falling short✨ What Jenny learnt from experiencing burnout as a

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00:58:55

EP 53 | Is Teaching An Impossible Job? with Amity...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/06/15

What do we do when the problems feel bigger than any one person can solve?In this episode, I speak with Amity - teacher, literacy specialist, researcher, and homeschooling parent - about the tension between seeing what's not working in education and still choosing to show up with hope.Together, we explore what happens when we zoom out and look at the bigger picture, the danger of slipping into blame, and why meaningful change often starts with much smaller actions than we give ourselves credit

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00:59:27

EP 52 | The Impossible Standard of the “Good Teacher”...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/06/08

Teaching has a funny way of becoming more than a job. For many of us, it becomes part of our identity and the way we measure our worth.In this episode, I sit down with Carissa - former teacher, school leader, coach, and mum - to explore what happens when our identity becomes tangled up in being a "good teacher", and why so many educators carry impossible expectations of themselves.Together, we unpack the pressure to be everything to everyone, the self-sacrifice that often gets mistaken for

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00:17:42

EP 51 | Is the Education System Stuck?

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2026/06/01

A few weeks ago, I shared a post on Instagram that struck a nerve by giving voice to something many of us had been quietly carrying: the feeling that something isn't sitting right in education right now (check out the post here).In this opening episode of The Bigger Than Behaviour Series, I unpack the thoughts, questions, and grief that inspired the series in the first place. I ponder what happens when children, families, educators, and leaders are all struggling, but we're too busy pointing fingers

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00:29:07

EP 50 | What Warm Authority Looks Like: Rethinking...

The Bloom Room: An Early Childhood Podcast ·

2025/12/15

Warm authority isn’t about controlling children - and it’s not about “letting them get away with things” either.In the final episode for Season 4, I dig into one of the most misunderstood aspects of behaviour support: what it means to hold your authority without slipping into power-over or permissiveness. This is the episode I wish every educator and assistant could hear before heading into a new year.You’ll hear:✨ The critical difference between discipline and punishment✨ Why high warmth and high

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