Cultivate Mankato: May News 2020

VOL. 02 MAY 2020

This Month's News

Parent Resources

Modern Family Story

Luau, Vote for Us, Parent Appreciation

Connecting with Laura, Social Mindfulness Practices

Stories Shared by Local Families

NURTURE. GROW. EMPOWER

Highlights

May News Edible finger painting with the infants

Yoga with the school-agers

Message from Candice Happy May! Spring is certainly in the air. We’ve been busy at Cultivate keeping spirits as high as possible.

Shredded paper fun with the toddlers

We’ve welcomed in new families and have had to say sad goodbyes to other families. Through all this, we are grateful for the support and encouragement we continue to receive.

Stay safe and happy!

CANDICE DEAL-BARTELL Executive Director

Dancing with the toddlers

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Kinderlime is Rebranding Kinderlime name will shift to Procare Connect. However, the app Today the

New Strollers We purchased 4 seat strollers and we cannot wait to take our babies

will continue to function the same way,

and toddlers on a

simply under a new name.

walk! If you haven't seen a consent form, ask your lead teacher.

Photography: Assumed Consent

Outdoor Plans We have picked out a playground and we will also be installing a rubber flooring, adding greenery to the fences and a mural to the cement barriers. Due

Cultivate Mankato has an 'Assumed

to the uncertainty of COVID-19 and the

Consent' photography policy. If you are

financial impact it may have, we may

not wanting your child's photograph

have to put this on hold until we are

taken for promotional materials, please

able to get a better understanding of

fill out the Photography: No Consent

what our summer will look like.

form and return as soon as possible. If this form is not filled out, we assume consent. Thanks!

Parent Appreciation Join us during drop off, the morning of Friday, May 8th for Parent Appreciation Grab & Go Breakfast (coffee and donuts).

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New: Resources on Web We have created a parent resource page on our website. Here you can find links to different parenting and child development topics, you can visit our YouTube Channel to watch story time with Sunny the puppet, and if you are needing some extra support or guidance, you can setup a

Watch for Cars in Alleyway Please remember to watch for cars coming down the alley.

zoom meeting with Laura, our Early Childhood There is a blind corner so please

Coordinator!

make sure to walk on the

Check it out here:

sidewalk, approach the alley

www.cultivatemankato.com/parent-resources

Mark Your Calendar!

Aloha!

slowly and look for cars.

Happy Work Anniversary Anissa Please wish Ms. Anissa a happy one year

You're

work anniversary next time you see her!

invited to a Luau on

Thursday, May 21st

from 5:30-7:00pm in our outdoor play area!

Closed for Cleaning We will be closed all day Friday, May 22nd for a deep cleaning of our building!

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New Team Members Please Welcome our newest team member!

Hi, my name is Allysa Bruns!

Hi, my name is Katie Hawbaker!

I am a freshman at SMSU in

I currently attend MSU for exercise

Hello my name is Gerri Williamson! I am currently a Junior

Marshall, MN. I am studying

science. I want to go into cardiac

here at MNSU. When I have free

elementary education and love

rehab. I have two little girls of my

time I enjoy taking my dog on walks

working with kiddos. I love my dogs,

own, with a boy on the way!

and being around my friends! I

being outside, seeing my friends,

wanted to work here because I love

and playing games with my family!

to be around children!

Hi, my name is Ethan Bartell!

Hi, my name is Hannah Nelsen.

Hi my name is Merrit Stoltzman.

Ethan is a freshman at Mankato

I am currently a student at

I am currently a freshman at the

West High School and an athlete.

Minnesota State University,

University of St. Thomas. I love

He is one of five children. He has

Mankato. I am majoring in Health

traveling and experiencing new

joined our team to help us maintain

and Physical Education and

cultures and different parts of the

our exceptional cleaning practices.

minoring in Developmental Adapted

world! I am so excited to join the

Ethan is also our resident

Physical Education. I enjoy outdoor

Cultivate Mankato family and make

handyman!

adventure, hanging out with my

strong relationships.

animals, and working with kiddos.

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May Menu

We would like to give families the opportunity to order the bread that River Rock makes for our children. There are two different options to choose from: Sourdough and Midwest Multigrain.

Click the menu to download a pdf

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Pick up is at Cultivate. Use the same link to order every week.

https://forms.gle/1YPGibrgVZovuwkM8

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Parent Resource

Balloon Breath Imagine a balloon above your head as you fill your lungs with air and slowly let

Coronavirus & Me The Story of the Oyster and the Butterfly: The Corona Virus and Me is

it out.Starfish BreathingHelp your little one trace their hand as a guide to deep breathing.

Calming Glitter Bottle

a great guide that includes a story and

Create your own glitter bottle and

a handful of activities that you can do

enjoy the calm as you watch the glitter

with your child at home.

settle

Click here to download a PDF

Five Senses Exercise Use all your senses to focus on the present moment.Pleasure GazingTake a few minutes to notice all the details of

Mindfulness Practices for Families When parents and children are feeling big emotions, it’s good to find some calm. Simple mindfulness activities can help. Mindfulness is noticing what’s going on outside—and inside—of us with acceptance and kindness. As mindful parents, we can be curious and open to understanding what our children are

your child’s beautiful face.

Breathing with a Buddy Rock a stuffed animal to sleep with some gentle belly breathingWant more information to explore mindfulness, check out this article for parents…

https://www.zerotothree.org/resources /2268-mindfulness-for-parents

feeling and experiencing. The

Content from:

mindfulness exercises here are

https://www.zerotothree.org/resources

designed to help both parent and child

/3406-mindfulness-practices-for-

experience a sense of calm connection.

families

As always, we are here to support you and your children during these times. If you need guidance or help supporting your child at home right now, Ms. Laura, our Early Childhood Educator, is available to set up a video/phone conference with any parent who is interested. She would love to chat with you!

Email Laura at laura.walser@cultivatemankato.com to set up a time to connect.

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Modern Family Story

By Jenna Odegard

There is supposed to be a halo around stay at home moms. This is the ultimate job. At least that is what I had been exposed to. I was told that this is the best thing that you can possibly do. And when I found out that it really wasn’t for me… it was earth shattering.

I didn’t feel satisfied with being a stay at home mom. I didn’t feel like I was accomplishing anything. And that was really hard to come to terms with. One of the most painful times of my life was just accepting the fact that I was not meant to be a stay at home mom. I think I'm a wonderful mom. I’m a perfect mother for my kids. But I felt such a calling that I had more to do, that I could impact a lot more people.

I own Bumbelou, the children’s store down on Riverfront Drive here in Mankato and I have a store in New Ulm. My husband John is the pastor over at Grace Lutheran. He also does story time at Cultivate. We own multiple businesses together and so between both of our full-time jobs and owning a third business (we renovate apartments and rent them out), we’re always juggling.

I was a high schooler before I owned a business.

Bumbelou was my second business. My first business I started in a similar fashion, making

in part time daycare at that point, so I would work during nap time and I would work on Tuesday and Thursdays when they were at school. It was always with the intention that it would become a full-time job. As soon as I was making enough money to send the girls to full time daycare, we went full time. It’s been an evolution since then.

One thing that is challenging about how busy our lives are is that we both don't have a lot of time for social life. We do have some great friendships that have stuck with us for a really long time but it's really hard to maintain new friendships. They aren’t really a thing right now. So John and I both really rely on each other. We are best friends and we go through everything together.

Sometimes John and I both feel we are stretched to the limit, which I gather is pretty normal with the kids’ ages. But being a parent and business owner and getting to go after our goals in life are wonderful things that make us feel satisfied about what we are creating and doing in this world. So even though it's hard, it’s a really big blessing. And, I think that’s what gets us through the hard times.

There have been times in our lives as parents where it feels as if we are just high fiving, tapping out and taking turns, and I think what got us through those times is our mission in life to create better lives and better people.

handmade products. I ran that for 8 1/2 years and sold it when Lexi was 6 months old. Then I was a stay at home mom for 14 months with Lexi. When I became pregnant with Lyra, I decided I wanted to be a working parent instead of a stay at home parent. We started Bumbelou at home for financial reasons. Working from home was the solution for how I was going to go back to work. The girls were

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Not only are our lives busy, but we also have had some surprises and setbacks. Last year in January, our building flooded and we had a lot of water damage. It feels like a lifetime ago though because we fixed it all up and we got the store back open. We got through the summer and then we opened a second location in New Ulm. We’ve been through so many other things since then that it feels like it was forever ago. Our building is quite old so we actually just finished one of the apartments and now we’ll start the next apartment soon. The last two years of our lives have been

front...this is the chaos of having young kids. I grew

renovation, renovation, renovation. It’s been

up in a very organized home and so my brain

constant. Now that I have my business open in

works better with organization. When things get

New Ulm, I do feel like things are slowing down a

nuts, when there are paint projects, legos and

little bit. The team over in New Ulm is wonderful. I

barbies and all the things get out, that’s a little bit

really feel security knowing that they understand

harder for me. Lexi thinks my biggest stress is when

what their job is and how to do it. It’s to the point

they want to watch tv and I won’t let them. But I

now where I don’t feel like I have to go over there

think my biggest stress is different now than it was

too often. And we just check in with social media

a few years ago. Right now it’s the guilt of having

and our team system that we have for

such demanding careers. But I also view it as a

communicating. So it feels like the stress has let up

huge blessing because I hope that my girls will see

a little bit.

how hard we are working and I hope they will be raised to be hard workers as well. We want to

Years ago, though, I finally accepted the fact that I

show them that if there is something that you want

will never finish my to-do list, and, it was this

in your life, you just go after it even though it is hard

acceptance, that I became a much happier

and challenging.

person. I think I’m still working on that on the home In the near future, we as a family are hoping to do a lot of traveling and I’m so excited for that. I haven’t traveled a ton in my life, but it has always been a goal. Before having kids I’ve always envisioned myself being able to travel with them and I think we are just about there. I’m also looking forward to when I am able to have mature conversations with my kids. When we can talk about the complexities of life. Really looking forward to that. But I’m also nervous for my girls as they grow up in a world where technology is everywhere. With my business, I am on my phone constantly and I’m sure they will replicate it in some manner. I’m not sure how we will navigate that when the time comes.

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Message from Jenna during COVID-19 In the space of a few weeks we have flipped on our heads and back again. From running two busy shops to working around the clock solo to discovering we can use our talents, machinery and staff to make face masks and later this summer looking at reopening… we are just working one day at a time to process, learn, love and grow. There is so much uncertainty, but we hold onto the hope our community has given us that Bumbelou will pull through stronger than ever. It’s a blessing for us to have work and to be providing so many people with masks. I’ll never forget the outpouring of kindness during these months.I've messaged John to see if he wants to give an update. His job has shifted in a very interesting way focused on digital media + connection... plus he is now a homeschooling dad as I work 12 hour days at Bumbelou! Neither of us saw that coming!

Message from John during COVID-19 As a father of two, I am learning to be a kindergarten teacher and also trying to maintain a sense of normalcy for my kids. At the same time, my role as a pastor has changed to a video and sound technician, and YouTube content creator. Things I never thought would be part of my role in helping people meet God where they are, but I have discovered there is a great opportunity to step outside our comfort zones and really grow in new and exciting ways. It’s hard, so if you are struggling, you are not alone. Having the attitude of looking for opportunities in the midst of the struggle makes all the difference for me when I am forced outside the normal and expected though.

Going in to the office at 8pm to start my day so that I can support my kids and our business hasn’t been my favorite, but picking flowers in the middle of the day to press and make into bookmarks, as we work on our collection for math class is worth the trade off. Maybe we don’t always choose what our day will look like, but we do get to try to choose how we respond. I’m hoping to have a good day.

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