e059 – The Part-Time Jungle Podcast: Your Child’s Story with Sabrina Adair

06/07/22 • 45 min

What is the best way to understand and communicate with our child? Sometimes it may feel like they are not listening or are trying to purposely make us upset, but that simply isn’t always the case. What is key is understanding our child’s story. Joining me for this conversation is Sabrina Adair, M.Sc.O.T., a practicing occupational therapist, passionate advocate for parent empowerment, and the author of Understanding a Child the Occupational Therapy Way: Recognizing and Communicating the Unique Potential of a Child (2021). She is a mom of four beautiful children who have taught her patience, perseverance, and compassion and that we’re all wonderfully unique individuals with our own unfolding stories. Sabrina’s experience working with children has inspired her drive for innovation and inter-professional collaboration. In 2019, she founded Enabling Adaptations, a private therapy company focused on helping parents and caregivers to find ways to effectively understand and communicate their child’s needs in order to create positive environments where children can reach their greatest potential. Sabrina is an award-winning entrepreneur and shares her successful approach to improving children’s lives at speaking engagements, parenting workshops, and more. Sabrina holds a post-professional Master of Science in Occupational Therapy from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Sabrina resides just outside Toronto, Ontario, with her husband and children. Listen in as we talk about: Living by ‘the schedule’. Sabrina shares that with four busy kids, activities, and lives, living by their schedule is what keeps them on track every week. How to better understand your children and their stories. Sabrina explains how as parents, we need to start by understanding ourselves in order to understand our children. Being curious with your children. For Sabrina, the key is having this curiosity with our children. It gives us more time to pause instead of making rash and judgmental decisions. Strategies to help communicate your child’s story to other people. Sometimes our kids have things going on within them that other people can’t comprehend. When we can listen to our children and understand them better, we can help them communicate their stories to others. Connect with Sabrina: Instagram: @enablingadaptations https://www.instagram.com/enablingadaptations/ Facebook: @enablingadaptations https://www.facebook.com/enablingadaptations/ Website: https://www.enablingadaptations.com Book: Understanding a Child the Occupational Therapy Way: Recognizing and Communicating the Unique Potential of a Child by Sabrina Adair https://enablingadaptations.com/resources/my-book/ LIVE BY THE SCHEDULE Sabrina explains, as most moms can relate, her kids have busy schedules packed with lots of activities! She shares how she lives by her family’s schedule that’s pre-planned out. This way, she knows who is doing what, who is going where, and when she has that schedule set up, she blocks her business into the gaps. She shares the strategy that works for her, which is to dedicate specific times for each specific task. This helps her batch her time and work as an entrepreneur, while still spending quality time with her kids. HOW TO BETTER UNDERSTAND YOUR CHILD’S STORY “You need to start by understanding yourself in order to understand your children.” Sabrina explains how as parents, we need to start by understanding ourselves in order to understand our children. Knowing where our own stories come from is essential to understanding that of our children. She shares how we each have stories that are ingrained in us, more often than not from before we are even born. How we navigate and understand these stories for ourselves is crucial to understanding our kids. BEING CURIOUS WITH YOUR CHILDREN “When you’re curious about your child,

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e058 – The Part-Time Jungle Podcast: Through the Eyes of an Optometrist with Dr. Danielle Gordon

Dr. Danielle Gordon joins me on my podcast to talk about balance, being an alternative leader, education and optometry. Danielle is an optometrist and the owner of Sphere Optometry, a full-scope purpose-driven optometric practice and optical shop in Calgary Alberta. Sphere is all about kindness and connection, ocular and holistic wellness, and giving back to their local and global community. Also, the team at Sphere harbors a deep love for independent hand-crafted eyewear, and delivering intuitive and compassionate care. Sphere is also the home of the Fit to Read Project, a project that Danielle launched to connect books with kids in need. Danielle graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Science and Doctor of Optometry degree, both with honors. Since then, she has been passionate about helping her patients to live fully and joyfully, and creating positive impact in the world around her. Outside of work, Danielle loves to spend time with her husband and two young children, get her heart rate up with a good run, and relax with a good book and hot cup of coffee. Listen in as we talk about: Finding grace in balance. Danielle shares how she’s still learning to find balance, and the importance of giving herself grace in the process. Being an alternative leader. Challenge the stereotypes around what it means to be a leader. Optometry for kids. As an optometrist, Danielle shares with us signs to look out for in terms of eye health, and how to find the right optometrist for your kids. Education as a tool. Danielle values education, reading and learning and speaks about the importance of access to books and how this led her to create the Fit to Read Project. Connect with Danielle: Instagram: @sphereyyc https://www.instagram.com/sphereyyc/ @fittoreadproject https://www.instagram.com/fittoreadproject/ @dckloepfer https://www.instagram.com/dckloepfer/ Facebook: @sphereyyc https://www.facebook.com/sphereyyc Website: https://sphereoptometry.ca/ FINDING GRACE IN BALANCE “Am I doing the best with what I have? Am I doing the best that I can in this moment?” It’s no secret that as moms, we welcome all the tips and tricks when it comes to finding balance between work, kids and everything else! I asked Danielle to share how she juggles it all, and she candidly tells listeners that for her, finding balance is definitely a work in progress. Her perspective is a permission slip for all parents who don’t have a ‘fail proof’ system in place (hint: almost all of us)! Danielle really tries to be fully present in whatever she is doing. In the motherhood and work juggle, you are wearing a lot of hats. When Danielle is wearing her ‘work hat’ she tries to focus on work. When she is with her kids, she tries to truly compartmentalize and put aside work. She tries to really enjoy her children for what they are bringing. They grow up so fast! When it comes to the idea of balance, she shares that for her and her family, it looks different in different seasons. And while her plate is often very full, she is now trying to learn how to schedule rest and blank space. BEING AN ALTERNATIVE LEADER What makes a good leader? How do we determine who is a “good” leader or not? Typically, we have an idea that comes to mind when we think of leaders in our lives – typically more extroverted. Danielle shares her take on leadership, highlighting how she is introverted, likes being by herself, and is curious and quirky. She had many doubts as a business owner that maybe her leadership style wasn’t a leader that other people were looking for. What she found is that this wasn’t the case. She believes that your skills can allow you to become the leader you want to be in your own way, and that your skillset makes you unique and is exactly what people need. It’s about building relationships in different ways by being authentically yourself. OPTOMETRY FOR KIDS Throughout our conversation,

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e060 – The Part-Time Jungle Podcast: Becoming a Great Leader with Nicole North

How do you become a great leader? Better yet, how do we help our kids grow into great leaders too? Being a leader is so much more than your personality type. It has to do with your qualities, values and characteristics. Joining me for this very last conversation on The Part-Time Jungle is Nicole North.Nicole is the President and Founder of Whiteboard Consulting and has been leading large-scale leadership training initiatives with Whiteboard since its inception. Nicole’s formal education includes an honors BA from the University of Toronto and an MBA from Wilfrid Laurier University. She is also certified as a Coach and as a practitioner in Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessments and training, Method Time Motion studies, and Appreciative Inquiry.She is the creator, designer, and lead facilitator of The Limitless LeaderTM program that creates leaders and teams that feel limitless to create and innovate – paired with accountability and grace. Nicole has been designing and delivering online and in-person human skills content for the last 10 years and is a top-rated facilitator for her engagement and passionate approach to delivery. Listen in as we talk about:Asking for time and space. As moms, we often cater to everyone first except for ourselves. Nicole shares her best tips for staying healthy and present for her family.How to be a limitless leader. Nicole has developed a methodology that encompasses the qualities of being a limitless leader that empowers their team.What leaders need right now. How do you define a great leader? Nicole gives us insight into what makes a great leader, and what all leaders need right now.Helping our kids become great leaders. For Nicole, it goes back to helping our kids learn how to speak clearly and kindly. Connect with Nicole:Instagram: @whiteboardconsult https://www.instagram.com/whiteboardconsult/Facebook: @WhiteboardCons https://www.facebook.com/WhiteboardConsWebsite: https://www.whiteboardconsulting.caPodcast: At the Whiteboard https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/at-the-whiteboard/id1210237741 ASKING FOR TIME AND SPACEDo you ever take time out for yourself? Are you in tune with your desires, wants and needs as a person and as a mom? It’s no secret that we often cater to everyone first except for ourselves. Between busy kids, lives, jobs, activities, and more, it’s easy to put ourselves last on the ‘to do’ list/ Nicole shares her best tips for staying healthy and present for her family. This includes taking dedicated time on the weekend to relax, workout, and be present with herself. This helps her show up more fully as a mom, partner and leader.However, Nicole stresses that: “There is no perfect answer. Parenting doesn’t have to be done exactly the way that they say in the books.” HOW TO BE A LIMITLESS LEADER“The foundational component of a limitless leader is one that communicates with clarity, kindness, curiosity, and grace and holds people accountable.”When it comes to leadership, Nicole believes that there are ways to become a limitless leader. She has developed a methodology that encompasses the qualities of being a limitless leader that empowers their team – and it’s so much more expansive than you may think.Nicole talks about the very first and most important component, which is the ability to communicate clearly and kindly. She believes that the foundational component of a limitless leader is one that communicates with clarity, kindness, curiosity and grace and holds people accountable to what they say they’re going to do. WHAT LEADERS NEED RIGHT NOW“There is artistry to leadership. There isn’t a formula.”What do our leaders need right now? Whether you’re thinking of yourself or someone else, Nicole sheds light on what she believes leaders need more of right now. Her answer may surprise you! Nicole shares that foundationally, leaders need communication skills. We’ve been thrown into this virtual world which works fine for most of us, as we can have conversations,