299: How Can We Elevate the Perception of Early Childhood Educators? With Tym The Trainer

In this episode of "Childcare Conversations," Kate and Carrie sit down with Tym Smith—aka "Tym the Trainer"—to chat about his 38-year journey in early childhood education. Tym shares insights on advocacy, the importance of language in elevating the profession, and the economic impact of childcare centers. He also dishes on upcoming events like training cruises and conferences, perfect for learning and connecting with fellow educators. 

If you’re passionate about early childhood education, this episode is packed with wisdom, laughs, and a nudge to take pride in your vital work! 

Learn more at: https://www.tymthetrainer.com/

https://www.earlylearningleaders.org/wordsmatter/

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Transcript

Carrie (00:47)
Okay, guys, so today we've got Tim Smith here. And if you don't know his name, I think you've been living under a rock. So Tim Smith has been a trainer in the early childhood ⁓ environment for I'd say more than a decade, maybe not quite two decades, but definitely a long time. And he trains in Texas and around the country. And he's a board member for AELL.

So the Association for Early Learning Leaders, and he does a million other things. I don't wanna try to do all the things Tim has done. He's recently sold his several schools and is ⁓ having one of those retirements where you retire, but you don't stop working. So welcome, welcome.

Kate (01:40)
Tim, we are so excited to have you. So why don't you tell folks who are listening who maybe aren't 100 % familiar with who Tim the trainer or Tim Smith is. We can give you all kinds of also known as and a little bit about, I don't know, the two minute version of your story in early childcare to owner to sell it.

Tym Smith (02:03)
All

right. Well, thank you all so much for having me on your podcast today. This is super cool. I actually am about to hit two decades of training and coaching in 2026. Tim the trainer turns 20 years old. So we're going to be having some lots of celebrations in 2026 with that milestone right there.

I started working in early education 38 years ago. I think we were 12. That's when they let you work at like 10 years old back then. So 38 years started out, you know, in after school programs. When I graduated, taught pre-k for a long time, went into administration, director.

I was a multi-site ⁓ operator, a regional director for a large childcare company here in Texas. Did that for a long time. Started training and coaching. Left in 06 to start training and coaching full-time. Started saving my pennies, bought my first school, ⁓ and then grew one school into nine programs on six campuses.

So I did operations in addition to training and coaching and advocating. And then like you said, I sold my schools last year and I'm back to just focusing on training, coaching, advocating, failing miserably at retirement, but I'm having a lot of fun doing it. A lot of fun doing it.

Kate (03:43)
Well, you you can always have fun when you're spending your spare time at the bar at the airport. ⁓

Tym Smith (03:51)
We actually were just talking about this, you know, it's when you become friends and you know the bartenders at the Admiral's Club on a first name basis and you know their shifts and what terminals they're at, there might be a problem.

Carrie (04:07)
You

might be traveling a little bit more than average.

Kate (04:11)
That's, that's, that's, that could be a story all in itself, I think there, Tim. So we know that this week, so the week that folks are listening to this episode, you are enjoying Colorado Springs and you are a part of the speaker lineup with Shift, which is sponsored by Hinge Advisors. Tell us a little bit about.

why you wanted to be part of this particular conference. What is it about this conference? Because this conference sells out like it's like it's public two hours and it's sold out. Why should, who is this conference for? Why should somebody do it? And why did you as a speaker trainer and in this case, former owner ⁓ want to be a part of this conference?

Tym Smith (04:57)
I have known Kathy for a long, long, long time in the industry. We've been able to help each other and support each other quite a bit throughout this journey. Her book that she wrote and published last year, I was very blessed to be able to contribute a chapter to her book. There it is. I see it right there.

⁓ So that was pretty awesome. ⁓ This conference is for owners, directors, leaders, administrators, ⁓ and I'm gonna say it's top notch. Like it's the cream of the crop up there for sure. And Kathy and her team always, they do such an amazing job. They spoil the heck out of you, all right.

And the content is always spot on. It's all business. So, you you don't have a lot of fluff and singing and dancing and you know, all that. It's very business driven, but it's exactly what you need to hear at the perfect time. She has got such an eye and an ear for knowing her audience and knowing what people need.

And that's what makes it really magical. So ⁓ I'm ⁓ again, very, very happy and blessed to be able to present ⁓ for Kathy one more time ⁓ at Hinge in Colorado. And it's kind of like a homecoming too, you know? ⁓ When you're working the conference circuit and especially, you know, being an advocate, being a leader.

You just make all these connections with people all over the country. And whenever you get to an event like this and you get to reunite and catch up, it's a lot of fun and it fills your bucket. And I think right now we all need our bucket filled as often as possible. And I love hearing other people's success stories. I love celebrating with people.

And that's what it's all about. And there's happy hours, happy hours, happy hours. And just when you thought you were done with happy hours, there's another happy hour. So.

Kate (07:30)
did find it great that they sent us exactly what to wear to what happy hour. So I was like, cool. I'm not sure where I'm going to own anything neon for that event, but. ⁓

Tym Smith (07:43)
Go get your 1980s trunk out, you know, you still have it. ⁓

Carrie (07:47)
didn't do the neon in the 80s. I wore baggy clothes and I was that end of the spectrum in the 80s.

Kate (07:57)
I was not. So ⁓ I can recreate some looks. do not, I did not keep them. I am not that person, but so Tim, you mentioned it's like a homecoming because you get to meet folks that you've maybe met in the advocacy circles. And before we jumped on this podcast, we actually were talking about some States and how maybe some States haven't ⁓ maybe done the best, instead of calling out States,

Talk to us a little bit about some of the things that you advocate for, why, how somebody else can jump on that bandwagon, either locally on their state level or even on a national level. What would be some folks? Because I know that we have folks who listen and sometimes we spend a little more time on advocacy. So usually if the two months during Texas legislation, even though we have listeners, we have, you know,

20,000 people that subscribe to the newsletter. We have listeners all over the globe. So we know that not everybody is advocating during those two months, which is why we share a lot of episodes on the topic. So what are some things that folks who might need that refresher? Because 2026, they're about to run into a legislative session in their state ⁓ in January, 2026. What are some things that maybe they could do or they need to help?

Maybe they need help in understanding. There we go. That's the words I'm looking for.

Tym Smith (09:25)
Yes, I was, I got the opportunity to co-wrote ⁓ a campaign called Words Matter to help elevate the status of our industry. I'm a big believer that we have to be seen different before we will be treated differently. ⁓ And as we continue to advocate and move through the legislative process,

getting our decision makers to understand how important we are in young children's lives, how important we are to the families that we serve, ⁓ that we are not babysitters, we are not daycare workers, we are early educators. ⁓ And it is critical. And the last two times I've gone to Washington, D.C. to visit the Capitol,

You know, we've really talked about, you know, a lot of people talk about the high cost of childcare and why it is so expensive. And you often hear the comment that, you know, ⁓ childcare is more expensive than a four-year college degree. And I'm like, yes, as it should be, right? Because these are the fundamental years that we're working with. What we do from birth to five,

is going to create their academic success. It's the foundation for their academic success. So yes, you should be paying more money than you do for that four-year college degree. But kind of ⁓

Kate (11:01)
Okay, this is just me and my whole the concept of a four-year degree because how many people with a four-year degree really finished it in four years? you know.

Tym Smith (11:10)
This

is true. This is true. So you know, we talk a lot about the high cost of childcare, but what we're not talking about is the why. Why are parents having to pay so much for childcare? And even when we look at funding from the state level, from the federal level, where is that funding going? And what is it paying for? That's where we need to bring the attention, whether it's the high cost of general liability insurance,

that can you even get affordable liability insurance for your particular program based on your compliance history? ⁓ You know, that type of thing. And getting people to understand that the more publicly funded pre-K we are up against, ⁓ we have to recreate our business model for every four-year-old and every three-year-old that we lose.

And we have to supplement that with more infant toddler preschool care. And when you look at cost of care, we know that we don't make money on infant toddlers, right? But we're having to fill those spaces with these kids, offset it with increasing the pricing just to be able to keep our doors open. And it goes on and on and on and on, right?

Carrie (12:34)
The countries that have had the most success with having a functional childcare system in the current world economic structure are those who have mixed delivery systems. The countries that are like, no, no, no, the government's gonna do all of it have not been as successful as those who have mixed delivery systems. Whether you're talking China, Malaysia, Singapore, the Netherlands,

We've seen all kinds of countries tackle it and the ones that have been the most successful and had positive outcomes for kids are those with mixed delivery systems where there's some public, some private and some nonprofit. They all have to be in there if we want the system to work well.

Kate (13:22)
I mean, we do that with K to 12. Right. We've got private charter public homeschooling. Right. We have. Yeah. Microschools like we've got a whole a whole.

Carrie (13:30)
church schools.

Kate (13:35)
bucket full of versions there. mean, ⁓ we agree with you 100 % Tim. So you are absolutely and I think most people who are listening probably agree that it's a vocabulary. One of the vocabulary phrases, Carrie and I keep trying to get folks to switch is the phrase business and to really talk more for the privately owned programs about their revenue because again, in most communities, they really don't understand their impact.

⁓ The number of families if you've got, know, even 50 and I use even as just a small number, right? So you've got 50 families, which means you've probably got You know At least probably 40 people working but probably more like 80 people working and so you take their base income times 40 or an average income So you've got 80 families times 40,000 carry do math for me. What is that 30?

Carrie (14:31)
Zero zero. Yeah, 32 and then you need some zeros. Yeah, so 3.2 million dollars of income of people who are able to work not counting the employees of the child care center So you end up being about 3.5 million dollars of financial impact in the community by being what is considered a small school a 50 kid school and

Kate (14:37)
like that.

Carrie (14:58)
That impact is part of what I think as advocates, we need to take forward to local, regional, state and national ⁓ policymakers because they're like, no, no, childcare is not a big deal. like, billion dollars is the amount of revenue that comes through childcare in the United States. That is the same as all of the non-gasoline sales, inconvenience stores in the United States.

So everything that a convenience store sells other than gas is the same as childcare. And that's a big deal. And it is bigger than the movie theater industry. It is bigger than the revenue created by... In New York, the plays. So it's bigger than the revenue created by Broadway. And we think of all of those as being big business.

Tym Smith (15:47)
Bye.

Right?

Carrie (15:55)
but childcare is moving as much money through the economy as...

Kate (16:01)
Well, I think, yeah, and right now what you're talking about is just the raw volume in the industry. We're not talking the financial impact in the community. So Tim, if you can tell, we have our own version of a soapbox related to the workforce development because we want the folks listening to say, okay, yes, own a, you own a business.

So be proud that you're a business owner and you can absolutely need to be involved in advocacy with state, local, national organizations like AELL and some of the others, but also don't forget to be part of your business advocacy communities because...

Carrie (16:41)
If you're not the owner, if you were the director, you are the manager of a big, well, a million dollar business. You're the manager the same way somebody who runs a restaurant is a manager and don't discount being a director and go, I just run a small childcare center. Bologna and cheese sandwiches. I'm sorry. Nobody says I'm just a manager of the, you know, of a restaurant. And it's the same.

Sorry, I will stop.

Tym Smith (17:12)
Well, and like I was I was in Tennessee last week and they were telling me about you know centers that were possibly going to be closing down because of some of the some of the funding cuts and some of the shift in policy and You know and I had told them I said well collect your data You need to put together, you know, how many families will be impacted by this closure the revenue that you just mentioned

the number of employees that would be losing their jobs, the amount of property taxes that will no longer be paid, the amount of unemployment taxes, social security, Medicare, that will no longer be paid after these people are laid off. I mean, really think outside of the box. The dollars gets their attention. And when they start realizing that all these centers that are closing, the larger impact that it has

on the community, the state, and even the federal government. That's big, right?

Kate (18:16)
Absolutely. Like I love the fact that you tell people to get their data because whatever's not tracked doesn't really exist. Right. So and I think when folks start collecting the data and then because we were had a conversation a few weeks ago with ⁓ some owners in Indiana and we said well not only collect that data but then go to the hospitals or find out where people are quitting because now they're staying home with their school age kid or they're they're cutting their hours to part time.

really do the math and try to figure out how many people in your program are now not gonna work at that local employer because now that local employer has their, you have the data that says, look, I know that at least 15 of your staff have stepped down to change their hours, which.

According to what they've told me is roughly X number of hours that you now don't have coverage in your organization because my organization now pays $1 a month for school aged care. know, woo hoo.

Tym Smith (19:16)
Right?

Well, you know, and kind of going back to what I started with, you know, seeing ourselves as professionals, our teachers, our teachers, we are educating young children. I just met two ladies that worked at a facility in Virginia, I believe it was, ⁓ that, you know, the parents continued to refer to them as daycare and daycare workers.

⁓ This facility was located at a government situation. So they were funded by the government. And for over 15 years, they've been asking for their building to be painted, their classrooms to be painted for some new furniture and equipment because it was getting old and worn. And they just kept getting called no, no, no. Well, then they started this words matter campaign and started using terms like early education. ⁓

to the way that they wanted to be seen and how they wanted to be called. And they educated the parents and basically told the parents, you're gonna start referring to us as early educators. And even the government agency that was housing this program put like a swear jar in their office for any time an employee said the word daycare, they had to put a dollar in the jar.

to be able to change that mindset and start using, you know, different terminology. After about six months of this and people were using the correct terms to refer to the center and the employees, guess what? They got their building painted. They got new furniture and equipment and they got a lot of other enhancements that they weren't even, you know, expecting. And I was like, I was loving the story so much because I'm like, yes.

This is exactly what it's all about. We have to be seen different before we will be treated different. And this is a perfect example of what happens when you elevate your status in the industry.

Kate (21:27)
I love that story. We may have to chase you down and get their names and have them come on and tell us more. Because I think that really could be its own episode because I have all kinds of questions. I know that when we talk about it with folks, because Carrie and I try very hard to make sure that we stay relevant when we're talking to folks and we're in conferences. And you do run across the people that still refer to themselves as a nursery or a day school or, you know,

Like we're talking decades old vocabulary. you know, talking about, you know, okay, let's talk about what it costs to get a new sign. Is it really the new sign? know, let's, yeah.

Tym Smith (22:09)
Back in the 1980s, early 90s, daycare was a completely acceptable word. ⁓ It described us at the time, but it's not 1985 anymore. It's time to elevate. It's time to raise the bar. We have evolved, right?

Carrie (22:28)
And knowing what is relevant in different places, because in the UK, nursery is early education for certain ages. Where here in the States, it was just a term we use. So like, it's part of the licensing structure in some countries, right, using that term, and it means infants and young toddlers. And so

If you're saying you're a nursery and you're caring for infants and young toddlers and you're doing a lot of expats who are from the British diaspora, great, good marketing. Otherwise, what you doing?

Kate (23:06)
Ha ha!

Tym Smith (23:07)
Well, and it just comes back to just being proud of what we do. ⁓ when people are passionate about the job that they do, they don't get burned out. People that are passionate typically always exceed expectations. ⁓ It's that constant reminder of your why. And every single one of us have a why. Why do we work in early education? ⁓ Why do we do this job? It's not easy.

and it's not for everybody, you know? ⁓ But just being proud of who we are and what we do, it's pretty awesome.

Kate (23:45)
It is, and we could sit here and have a whole other discussion about the education of early educators, about the professional development and the continuing education required. So that's a whole other episode.

Carrie (23:58)
So we'll schedule

that and we'll do that in the new year.

Kate (24:01)
Absolutely, because we try really hard to keep our episodes to about 20 minutes. So Tim, I know you've got a whole bunch of stuff. You've got stuff coming up in January. ⁓ I'm sure there's some things you want to talk about a little bit that are happening in April. So I'm going to give you a few minutes right now to tell us about what's happening in January and April.

Tym Smith (24:21)
All right, fantastic. I have about three times a year, we do mini conferences where we have director training on Friday, teacher training on Saturday. So we will be in the Dallas Fort Worth area in Grapevine, Texas, January 23rd and 24th. You can find information on that event and register on my website, timthetrainer.com. And remember, my name is spelled with a Y. ⁓ So we've got that coming up.

I'm part of early learning leaders. have our executive invitational series, which is kind of like an owners only conference that's going to be held January 26 through the 30th ⁓ in Cancun, Mexico at an all inclusive, you know, resort. It's a tough one, y'all. It's really hard. ⁓ So I'll be

hosting EIS and I'm doing one breakout session in addition to my hosting responsibilities. But it's really an incredible event for owners and executive directors of nonprofits. So we've got that. And of course, the most popular thing that we do here at Tim the Trainer is we do training cruises a couple of times a year where we do professional development on a cruise ship.

We've been doing this for about 16 years now. We have our leadership cruise that will be April 26 through May 2nd. It sells out of Galveston, Texas. It'll be a six day cruise this year. We'll do 15 hours of training. We train the mornings that we are at sea, usually from about nine to one, and then you get to go play and have fun the rest of the time.

Always an absolute blast. And then of course, the last thing I just want to mention with early learning leaders, our national conference is going to be in Reno, Nevada. And that's going to be April 14th through the 17th. We have three amazing keynote speakers, breakout sessions, networking events. And the resort that we're going to have conference at in Reno is just

super, super awesome and beautiful. It's gonna be a really good time. So I would love to see ⁓ everyone there and all of that.

Kate (26:46)
All of that will be in our show notes. So if you were taking notes and you didn't get everything or you have questions or want the links, in the show notes will be links to Tim's page. It'll have links to AELL. And ⁓ you can decide if you want to go to Cancun, if you want to take a cruise, if you want to go to Reno.

I mean, December or January in Dallas, there's worse places to be. And we just hope that it doesn't decide to freeze that weekend because, you know, it is Texas. And so you never know what you're going to get in our one week of winter. when that one.

Carrie (27:23)
⁓

one week of winter will happen. We just know we're going to get one. We don't know when and we don't know how wintry it will be. Yeah.

Tym Smith (27:31)
It could be May.

Kate (27:37)
We're gonna go with the end of February. How's that? Or the first week of January. We're gonna leave Tim's events ⁓ safe. So stay out of that. So if you have any other questions or you'd like to reach Tim, we'll also have Tim's contact information in the show notes. So you can always jump in there and reach out to Tim that

Carrie (27:55)
or you can do the send the show a message and we'll get it to him also. You can always send us a message in the send the show a message. We'd love to hear from you. We read all of the messages that we get and try to respond to them if you include your return email address. So we will talk to you in a few days and keep running an amazing program.