"My advice is to focus on what you do best - and find others to do the things that are outside your strengths."
Ann McKitrick, founder of Nurtured Noggins, has dedicated her life to supporting and guiding parents and early childhood teachers through her comprehensive resources, coaching services, and podcast, Parenting in the First 3 Years.
With over 30 years of experience in higher education and early childhood development, Ann brings a wealth of knowledge and understanding to parents and educators alike.
She is a firm believer in building strong relationships and prioritizing personal growth, which she demonstrates through her work as a Mastermind Leader for women’s personal growth groups.
Ann’s mission is to help parents and teachers foster nurturing relationships with their children by viewing them through a developmental lens, ultimately promoting healthy parent-child bonds.
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Table of Contents
We are thrilled to have you join us today, welcome to ValiantCEO Magazine’s exclusive interview! Let’s start off with a little introduction. Tell our readers a bit about yourself and your company.
Ann McKitrick: I’m the founder of Nurtured Noggins, a comprehensive resource for parents, Texas Child Care Training, an online professional development website for early childhood teachers and host of Parenting in the First 3 Years Podcast.
I’m a parenting coach and early childhood specialist with 30 years of experience in higher education. I live near Houston Texas where I’m a happy empty-nester, Camp Gladiator enthusiast and Mastermind Leader for women’s personal growth groups.
If you were in an elevator with Warren Buffet, how would you describe your company, your services or products? What makes your company different from others? What is your company’s biggest strength?
Ann McKitrick: I strengthen parents’ relationships with their children by helping them understand their child and themselves as a parent.
I coach parents individually, lead mastermind groups for moms, speak at conferences, train early childhood teachers, provide online courses and host a podcast called Parenting in the First 3 Years.
My biggest strength in the ‘mommy space’ is that I not only have 30+ years of parenting to draw on, but just as many years teaching child development and working with parents and teachers, providing quality educational programs for young children
What advice do you wish you received when you started your business journey and what do you intend on improving in the next quarter?
Ann McKitrick: I wish someone had told me that it really is okay to keep things very simple and focused. When entering the online world I spent a tremendous amount of time learning through courses, coaching and reading. It was very helpful and got me where I am today.
But when there are many sources of information, there’s bound to be conflicting ideas about ‘how to do it best’. I have wrestled with a love-hate relationship with social media and blamed lack of momentum on a less than optimal social presence. And the question I ask myself always is, “But is that true?”
What I intend to improve on is spending my energy on the thing I do best: Relationship building. Networking. Speaking. Coaching. And either find someone to take care of the rest or build my business organically through relationships.
Here is a two fold question: What is the book that influenced you the most and how? Please share some life lessons you learned. Now what book have you gifted the most and why?
Ann McKitrick: The book that has hugely impacted me recently is “The Success Principles” by Jack Canfield. Each of the 70+ chapters in the book identifies and explains how to implement a principle of success for life and business.
If I can persuade the people I coach to simply follow Principle #1: Take 100% responsibility for yourself and pass that on to each of their children, I’ll be happy.
The book I give most often to parents is Dan Seigal’s, “The Power of Showing Up.” I always give it as a baby shower gift, along with a couple of excellent children’s books. It’s so respectful of what children need from their parents: presence.
Christopher Hitchens, an American journalist, is quoted as saying that “everyone has a book in them” Have you written a book? If so, please share with us details about it. If you haven’t, what book would you like to write and how would you like it to benefit the readers?
Ann McKitrick: I do not plan to write a book. But I’ve always thought if I did, it would be fun to gather crazy stories that parents tell about their children’s funny, questioning and odd behaviors and explain those behaviors with child development theory.
Why do children take things so literally? Why do they say such funny things? Why do they exasperate us so much? Why do they believe they have special powers? Why???
Nearly everything is explainable by understanding where a child is developmentally in their understanding of the world. Including tips on how the behavior fits into the stages of parenting would be insightful too!
I believe a book on this topic would soften and endear children even more to their parents, and would certainly increase understanding of child development.
2020, 2021, 2022 threw a lot of curve balls into businesses on a global scale. Based on the experience gleaned in the past years, how can businesses thrive in 2023? What lessons have you learned and what advice would you share?
Ann McKitrick: I believe businesses will survive in 2023 by staying agile as well as consistent.
We have to be reliable in our offerings and we also need to adapt to the needs of consumers. What I’ve learned is to not jump and change at every dip, but to maintain reliable communication and consistent quality in interactions.
My advice is to focus on what you do best – and find others to do the things that are outside your strengths.
What does “success” in the year to come mean to you? It could be on a personal or business level, please share your vision.
Ann McKitrick: To me, success looks like growing revenues, increased visibility, pursuing clarity and focus every day and never losing sight of my mission, which is to help others see, appreciate and understand their child through a developmental lens to prompt healthy, nurturing parent-child relationships.
Jed Morley, VIP Contributor to ValiantCEO and the host of this interview would like to thank Ann McKitrick for taking the time to do this interview and share her knowledge and experience with our readers.
If you would like to get in touch with Ann McKitrick or her company, you can do it through her – Instagram
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