They say it’s not the destination; it’s the journey.

{ By Cara Tyrrell – Core4Parenting }

I say the journey has been amazing but the destination is pretty great too!  I’m Cara Tyrrell, founder of Core4Parenting, and my journey began in a small rural town in Southern Vermont, born and raised.  I am a lifetime lover of littles and was born with an intuitive connection to small people. I scored my first solo babysitting job when I was 12. The children were 2,4, 6, and 2 months. I was in heaven.  As a mom, I look back and think – was that mom crazy or just crazy desperate? We are still friends, so one day I asked her what made her feel comfortable leaving her 4 kids with 12-year-old me? Her answer, “I just knew they’d be ok. I trusted you from the moment we met, seeing how you were with them.”

I knew from very early on, that my work on this earth was in service to little people. I followed their tiny, toddling feet as a serial babysitter and then travel nanny. Even while completing my formal education, I found families to which attach myself. 

I graduated with Bachelor’s degrees in ASL and Linguistics, then pursued my Masters in Education which led me to my first classroom. And I thought yes, this is it! This is how I serve little people. I can use my intuitive connection with them to instill a lifetime love of learning.

And so I spent years working in preschool working and kindergarten, watching small people show up eager, excited, and ready to learn. And then something happened. Year after year my students showed up less and less ready to be comprehensive learners in my classroom. 

They were solid in their ABCs, 123’s,  colors, and numbers, but struggled to independently navigate the social-emotional, interpersonal skills, and physical body control necessary to learn in all areas of the classroom.

It concerned me enough to step back and do some research and here’s what I learned. 

• Science has proven that 85% of foundational brain growth is done by 5 years old. (read: before they even start Kindergarten!)
• Statistics show that only 40% of incoming Kindergartners test as comprehensively ready in all four learning areas.

The majority of my students weren’t ready and their early learning window had already closed. These contradictory finds left me feeling like there had to be a better way; that someone needed to help close the gap. I chose to leave the classroom because the solution to this started at birth. 

I leaned into my small town country girl, save-the-world-one-kid-at-a-time vision, and founded Core4Parenting’s bigger vision – Teach parents how to be their child’s first teacher!

In 2013, I left the classroom to write the curriculum. I had two tween girls at home and became a nanny again! Over nine years I served two families from the birth of their kids to when they started school. I brought my early years methodology for hands-on beta testing experience and watched as parents adopted the Dual-Core Development Model – prioritizing the parent/child relationship as a gateway for opportunities to practice the four skill areas for success in school and life. 

I feel incredibly blessed to be the founder of a company whose big vision is to empower parents as they engage with their little people, enriching their early learning, and raising happy, healthy, world-ready kids!  

Let the journey continue to the next, best destination!

Cara Tyrrell, M.Ed, is the mother of three girls, an early childhood educator, and the founder of Core4Parenting. While teaching preschool and Kindergarten, she identified a pattern of underdeveloped skill sets in her students leading her to found Core4Parenting. Her work empowers new moms on their parenting personal development journey while teaching them how to maximize their baby’s early learning. Graduates of her courses move from new mom overwhelm and anxiety to confidence and clarity.

Follow her on Instagram @Core4Parenting and sign up for her weekly newsletter, The Core4Connector.

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