A Strong Start Should Not Be a Privilege| Wize Explorers

In August of 2022, I came home to Mississippi from Houston, Texas, to meet two new little boys in our family. They were born one week apart, both in August, right in the middle of a world still trying to recover from the pandemic. At the time, we already had a four-year-old and a three-year-old in the family. Then, about two years later, another little girl joined this new generation. In a short span of time, our family had grown by five.

Five new babies. Five new personalities. Five bright little minds were born into a world that looked very different from the one many of us knew as children.

That experience made early childhood feel more personal to me. I have always been an educator, but watching my own family grow during that season sharpened something in me. These children were not just statistics. They were ours. They were curious, funny, smart, active, observant, and fully alive. But they were also born into a digital world, a pandemic-shaped world, and an education system still trying to find its footing.

And my family was not the only one.

Millions of children were born between 2019 and 2023 into some phase of disruption, recovery, isolation, economic pressure, and digital dependency. Some missed the normal early childhood experiences that used to happen naturally: church nurseries, playdates, story times, group care, preschool routines, community outings, and regular face-to-face interaction with other children and adults. A strong start should not be a privilege. Research is now beginning to show what many parents, teachers, and caregivers have already felt. A 2025 nationwide analysis found that children born during the pandemic showed significant delays in developmental milestones, especially in language. (American Academy of Pediatrics)

That does not mean something is wrong with these children. I want to be very clear about that.

The child is not the deficit. The access is.

Some children are born into homes where books are everywhere, travel is normal, museums are weekend plans, preschool is already paid for, and adults have the time and resources to turn almost anything into a learning experience. Other children are born into homes where love is just as strong, but the adults are juggling work, layoffs, rent, food, transportation, childcare costs, caregiving responsibilities, and survival. Both children are capable. Both children are brilliant. But they are not always given the same start.

That is the early opportunity gap in plain language. It is not about one child being smarter than another. It is about one child having more exposure, more support, more tools, more trained adults, and more room to grow before school begins.

During the pandemic, technology became part of survival. I understand that. Parents were working from home, losing work, grieving, teaching, cooking, cleaning, worrying, and trying to keep everyone steady. If a tablet gave somebody twenty quiet minutes to breathe, answer an email, cook dinner, or keep a toddler from climbing the curtains like Spider-Man, that was real life... noooo judgment over here.

But we also have to tell the truth. Technology cannot raise the whole child. Some children learned how to swipe, scroll, tap, and skip ads before they learned how to sit with a story, hold a pencil, wait their turn, manage frustration, or talk through a problem. Studies during and after the pandemic found that many young children experienced increased screen time, and some research has linked prolonged screen exposure with a greater risk of delayed language development. (sciencedirect.com)

Technology is a tool. It is not the teacher, the counselor, the playmate, the storyteller, the music leader, the art guide, the science coach, and the emotional support system all rolled into one. Children still need conversation, movement, music, books, hands-on play, guided exploration, and adults who know how to help them make sense of the world.

That is where my concern grew into a calling.

I kept thinking about the adults. The parents. The grandparents. The childcare workers. The new educators. The family members who stepped in because somebody had to. Many of them love children deeply. Many are doing an excellent job keeping children safe, fed, clean, loved, and on a daily routine. And I want to be careful here because when we talk about “structure,” people can misunderstand that word.

Many childcare centers absolutely have structure. They have schedules. They have meal times. They have nap times. They have safety procedures. They have compliance rules. They have staff trying to keep classrooms moving and children cared for. That is real work, and it deserves respect.

But the kind of structure I am talking about with Wize Explorers is different. I am talking about an intentional learning framework: a clear plan that helps adults move children toward school readiness, language growth, early literacy, number sense, social development, creativity, problem-solving, and confidence. I am talking about a strategy that does more than get children through the day. It helps prepare them for what comes next.

Because kindergarten is not what it used to be. For many children, kindergarten no longer begins with slowly introducing ABCs and 123s from scratch. Many children are expected to enter with early language skills, basic number sense, social readiness, the ability to follow routines, and some familiarity with books, sounds, letters, and simple words. Children who have had rich early exposure often walk in ready to build. Children who have not had the same access may walk in trying to catch up.

And when children start behind, the cost does not stay small.

Remediation is expensive. It is expensive for parents who miss work for meetings, evaluations, tutoring, and appointments. It is expensive for schools that have to add more interventions, more services, and more staff support. It is expensive for districts. It is expensive for government systems. And most importantly, it is expensive for the child’s confidence.

That is why early support matters so much.

Some needs can be noticed earlier. Some gaps can be narrowed earlier. Some children can be supported before frustration becomes behavior, before behavior becomes a label, and before the label becomes part of how the child sees themselves.

But we cannot ask adults to do work they have never been trained to do and then fault them for not knowing how to do it.

Not every person working with young children has a university background in early childhood development. Not every caregiver has been trained in school readiness, differentiated instruction, social-emotional development, early literacy, early math, observation, or how to use play as a learning tool. Many are operating from love, instinct, experience, and common sense. Those things matter. But they also need support.

That is one of the biggest reasons I built Wize Explorers.

I did not build it because childcare providers are failing. I built it because many of them deserve better tools.

I did not build it because parents do not care. I built it because many parents care deeply and still need a roadmap.

I did not build it because grandparents are not capable. I built it because grandparents are carrying whole households again and deserve support that makes sense.

I did not build it because children are behind by nature. I built it because too many children have not been given equal access to the learning experiences that help them enter school ready.

The economic reality makes this even more urgent. Families are being squeezed from every side. Federal government employment was down by 355,000 jobs from its October 2024 peak by March 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (Bureau of Labor Statistics) Childcare funding has also become unstable in many places. Tennessee, for example, announced new copays for families receiving child care payment assistance beginning October 1, 2025, and implemented a waitlist for its Smart Steps program in August 2025. (Tennessee State Government) National reporting has also shown states cutting childcare slots, lowering reimbursements, and raising family copays as pandemic-era funding ended. (The Hechinger Report) Head Start programs have faced funding threats and delays, with advocacy groups warning that missed federal funding during the 2025 shutdown put programs in more than 40 states at risk of closing. (First Five Years Fund)

That means more families are being forced to make hard decisions. Can we afford daycare? Can we afford preschool? Can someone stay home? Can Grandma keep them? Can an older sibling help? Can we make it work until kindergarten?

When families are forced into those decisions, they need affordable, meaningful tools that help them educate children at home or strengthen what is already happening in childcare settings. They do not need shame. They need support. They need language. They need practical guidance. They need a plan that does not require them to become a certified teacher overnight.

That is what Wize Explorers is designed to provide.

It is a Pre-K STEAM curriculum and support framework for adults who guide children ages 3 to 5. It brings science, technology, engineering, art, math, early literacy, music, movement, social-emotional development, vocabulary, observation, and whole-child learning into one intentional system. It helps adults understand not just what to do, but why it matters.

Children need more than worksheets. They need to investigate, create, build, sing, move, count, compare, listen, speak, imagine, observe, and ask questions. They need to learn how to focus. They need to learn how to share. They need to learn how to self-regulate, not “crash out” every time life tells them no. They need adults who can guide them with patience, consistency, joy, and purpose.

And no, this is not about going backward. Technology is here. The world has evolved. Our children will need digital skills. They will need innovation. They will need creativity. They will need to compete in a world that is changing fast.

But if we want them to use technology well, they need strong minds first. They need language first. They need curiosity first. They need critical thinking first. They need self-control, imagination, problem-solving, and the ability to stay with something even when it gets hard.

That starts early.

https://media.rss.com/start-wize-helping-little-learners-build-strong-beginnings/feed.xml

For me, Wize Explorers is personal. It is professional. It is spiritual. It is family. It is community. It is the educator in me looking at five little children in my own family and millions more like them, saying, “We cannot wait until they are older to take this seriously.”

We have to support the adults now. We have to prepare the children now. We have to strengthen childcare centers now. We have to give families tools now. We have to help communities build early learning experiences that are rich, joyful, practical, and possible.

That is my why. #ChildrenMatter

I built Wize Explorers because love is present, but love also needs a learning plan. I built it because care is present, but care needs tools. I built it because many children are bright, capable, and full of promise, but promise needs preparation.

A strong start should not be a privilege.

It should be something we fight for, build for, and make possible together.

That is why we Start Wize.