Early Childhood Matters

We loved outdoor explorers- it was engaging, fun, and a special time with my kid. I’d highly recommend anything Early Childhood Matters hosts!

This class is very engaging and has yielded impressive results for us, so far. We have appreciated the session lessons and been able to apply the strategies with our child.

We have enjoyed taking this class and even after the first session, we had action tools to apply with our toddler.
This is a small group so there is enough time to be heard and work on our specific needs. You need to get the book and do some homework to get the most from the class but it is worth it.
We now have the tools to break abusive cycles and power struggles for our children. Thank you, ECM.

We’ve participated in two explorer sessions and enjoyed the classes very much. It’s a relaxed way to get into nature with your child and give them the opportunity to socialize with other kids their age. I’ve learned some great parenting strategies/tips from the course as well which has been an added bonus.

It was a great experience and was enjoyed by everyone!

We absolutely loved Explorers! We did several sessions with Rebecca in SF and my son still talks about Teacher Rebecca several months later, especially when he spots an interesting bug. I initially signed my son up for Explorers to get him more social interaction with other kids as well as to get outside and explore - although my son went to a great daycare, he was developing a significant speech delay. Rebecca was so wonderful at helping the kids form relationships with each other, and my shy son was soon very comfortable with other kids and LOVED going every week. The pace and structure of the class was perfect. I personally really enjoyed the articles Rebecca shared, connecting with other parents who were also interested in getting outside and developing their parenting skills, and just slowing down to a 2 years old's pace. Although I lived in SF off and on my entire life, I learned various new hidden corners great for kid exploration from Rebecca that we have returned to many times. Very highly recommended!!!

Love this class. I can see the change in our LO since the class started on 11/5. He was super shy and reserve before this class and now a social butterfly. I also want to give a shout-out to teacher Alexis for her great advices. We can’t wait to be back in January.

The Explorers class with Alexis has been a saving grace for our family during this pandemic time. Alexis is calm, patient, and knowledgeable. She supports both the children and their caregivers and takes us all to fun places. Thanks, Early Childhood Matters!

I would highly recommend this course to any parent of a toddler! What a great course! Rebecca is an incredibly knowledgeable instructor who clearly is an expert in early childhood development. She handled the transition to Zoom format in a way that made the class flow beautifully and parents were able to engage with one another.

I took an online version of the Toddler Transition Class. It was great to take 90 minutes to think about communication and play-time techniques. I have been using what I learned all week (ten minutes of floor time & less narration during playtime). Thanks for a good experience!

We loved this play group. It was fun for my son and educational for me. Loved seeing kids all around the same age interact. Alexis was an incredible facilitator - calm, helpful, and a great teacher. I would definitely sign up again.

Great parenting classes run by excellent people. I’ve been in a 2nd time moms group, a toddler play group, and (currently in) a third time moms group. Love the way ECM team approaches parenting and always nice to meet some like minded parents in the city.

I loved the Second Time Moms’ Group. I learned a lot about parenting with two and how to prioritize self-care. And, I made some friends of two kids my kids’ ages. Rebecca is a wonderful facilitator, striking a good balance between listening and adding her wealth of knowledge in childhood development.

Rebecca is great. All of her classes are based on the research I was already following. She helps put it into action. I have really enjoyed and grown as a parent from her classes and playgroups.

The second time mom’s group was the best thing I did for myself as a second time mom! Rebecca is TERRIFIC!!

Took the Second Time Moms series - one of the best things I did during my maternity leave. Was a stress free way to get out of the house, connect with other moms and bond with my new baby while also learning strategies to make this an easier transition for my older child. I looked forward to the class each week and Rebecca was a great facilitator.

What a great class! You truly see your LO slowly progress their behavior within the 6 sessions.

I loved the Second Time Moms' Group. I feel like this group discussions gave me so many ideas for how to approach this phase with both my new baby, my toddler, and my husband. I can't recommend Rebecca's facilitation highly enough. This group was one of my favorite parts of my second maternity leave.

The Second Time Moms Group was amazing -- a great group of people, a terrific facilitator in Rebecca Walsh, and a safe, warm place to share the ups and downs of round 2 (or 3!). Having it at people's houses really contributes to the closeness, and the readings center the discussion.

I have already recommended ECM's classes to other parents, and plan to take the next on in a year when my 2-year old becomes a 3-year old. The most useful aspect to me of the Toddler parenting class was discussing/troubleshooting real-world examples from our lives with our class. Rebecca would go through some pedagogy, and then we'd talk about what was happening for us with our kids and different ways to handle the situation based on what we'd just learned.

Close behind this in usefulness was the normalizing of being the parent of a toddler. Sitting in a room with 8 other parents of toddlers who are all going through the same things is amazing! You feel sane and supported. It's great!

Small class size, personal attention, knowledgeable instructor with lots of resources.

Every class we take or group we attend provides value to us. While it seems counter-intuitive to get a sitter and go "learn to parent better"...it works! The time with Rebecca and the other parents is incredibly valuable and we cannot recommend her highly enough. She rocks. Well worth the effort and investment.

What a great program! My boys had so much fun exploring the outdoors each week and it was such a nice change to be able to get to know other parents a bit more than 'how old is your kid?'. It was great to have a casual discussion facilitated on a topic that everyone was likely experiencing at that time. The kids really bonded too which was nice to see at this age. We're looking forward to doing another session.

I took the "Parenting Your Toddler" class for 18-36 month olds from Rebecca Walsh. It was invaluable and I learned so much. I appreciated gaining some insight into what is going on in my toddler's growing brain and learning the various strategies--both preventative and in response to behaviors. I have seen a change in the way we interact when I am employing these strategies at home. I would highly recommend this class to any parent/caregiver of a toddler. Thank you for this oppportunity!

I can't say enough great things about Early Childhood Matters. I took the "Parenting Your Toddler" class series and also participated in an in-home play and learn group facilitated by Rebecca. Her approach is to identify what is going on in the toddler brain and respond positively and proactively. I don't know what I would have done during this time without Rebecca. She really helped me understand what was going on with my son and better ways to handle his frustration. There's only so much you can learn from a book or web site. Actual hands on guidance with someone watching you and your child interact and providing feedback is amazing. The other parents in our play and learn also had great results understanding and responding to challenging toddler behavior.

Our 2 year old daughter walked into her pre-school classroom for the first time with aplomb. I thought I could see her thinking 'oh -- this is just like the Toddler Playgroup -- toys, kids, teacher -- no problem!' She seemed to enjoy herself from what we could gather from a few sneak peaks, and the report of her new teachers/caregivers.Rebecca's readings and demonstrations opened my eyes to what was possible with chid rearing, and reassured me that much of what I was experiencing with my toddler daughter was 'normal', and that there are gentle, caring, and even relaxing ways of dealing with all of that.