Producer Cynthia Lamb introduces Teacher Tom’s Podcast, a new show on the Mirasee FM podcast network, hosted by “Teacher Tom” Hobson. In this bonus episode, Maggie Dent examines how consumerism, fear, and competition negatively affect parenting.

Maggie Dent is an author, educator, and parenting and resilience specialist with a particular interest in the early years and adolescence.

“Because play is the best teacher to raise a capable, competent, resilient kid.”

— Maggie Dent

Maggie Dent is an author, educator, and parenting and resilience specialist with a particular interest in the early years and adolescence. Commonly known as the “queen of common sense,” she is also an undisputed “boy champion.”

Maggie’s experience includes teaching, counselling, and working in palliative care/funeral services and suicide prevention. She is an advocate for the healthy, common-sense raising of children in order to strengthen families and communities. She is a passionate, positive voice for children of all ages.

Maggie is the host of the Listnr podcast The Good Enough Dad and the award-winning ABC podcast Parental As Anything. She is the author of nine major books, plus several e-books and other resources for parents, adolescents, teachers and early childhood educators, and others who are interested in quietly improving their lives. Maggie is the mother of four sons and a very grateful grandmother who resides near Sydney, Australia.

“Teacher Tom” Hobson is an early childhood educator, international speaker, education consultant, teacher of teachers, parent educator, and author. He is best known, however, for his namesake blog, Teacher Tom’s Blog, where he has posted daily for over a decade, chronicling the life and times of his little preschool in the rain-soaked Pacific Northwest corner of the USA.

For nearly two decades, Teacher Tom was the sole employee of the Woodland Park Cooperative School, a parent-owned and operated school knit together by Teacher Tom’s democratic, progressive play-based pedagogy. Teacher Tom came into teaching through the backdoor, so to speak, having enrolled his own child in a cooperative preschool, where he began working daily in his daughter’s classroom as an assistant teacher under the tutelage of veteran educators — although he’ll be the first to tell you that most of what he learned came from the children themselves. When it was time for his daughter to move on, he “stayed behind.”

Today, Teacher Tom shares his play-based pedagogy through online e-courses for early childhood educators; produces online early childhood conferences; consults with organizations about his “Family Schools” program; and inspires early-years audiences around the world (Greece, UK, Iceland, Australia, China, Vietnam, New Zealand, Canada, and across the US) both virtually and in-person with his engaging views on early childhood education, play, and pedagogy.

He was pressured by his blog readers into authoring his first book, aptly named Teacher Tom’s First Book, and is thrilled about the 2023 release of Teacher Tom’s Second Book.

Resources, people, and websites mentioned in this episode:
Mirasee
Teacher Tom’s website: TeacherTomsWorld.com
Maggie’s website: MaggieDent.com
Maggie’s podcast, Parental As Anything: https://www.maggiedent.com/blog/category/maggie-in-the-media/radio-podcasts/abc-radio/parental-as-anything-podcast/
The Gardener and the Carpenter (book) by Alison Gopnik: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/28595855

Credits:
Host: Teacher Tom Hobson
Producer: Cynthia Lamb
Assembled by: Michi Lantz
Audio Editor: Marvin del Rosario
Executive Producer: Danny Iny
Music Soundscape: Chad Michael Snavely
Making our hosts sound great: Home Brew Audio

Music credits:
Track Title: Blueberry Jam Jam
Artist: Simen Andreas
Writer: Simen Knudsen
Publisher: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Track Title: Childlike Wonder
Artist: Reveille
Writer: Brendan St. Gelais
Publisher: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Track Title: Tick Tock
Artist: Ivy Bakes
Writer: Erick Pena
Publisher: A SOUNDSTRIPE PRODUCTION

Special effects credits:

24990513_birds-chirping_by_promission used with permission of the author and under license by AudioJungle/Envato Market.

To catch the great episodes coming up on Teacher Tom’s Podcast, please follow us on Mirasee FM’s YouTube channel or your favorite podcast player. And if you enjoyed the show, please leave us a comment or a starred review. It’s the best way to help us get these ideas to more people.