Children are growing up in the midst of increasingly complex and challenging family situations and early childhood teachers need to communicate and build relationships of trust with those families to work effectively with them. It  isn’t always easy. This week, I went to 2 days of professional training around learning to understand the world of some of these children and their parents. The training used the works of Ruby Payne, from the US, but very much translated into real Australian contexts by the presenter. I would recommend this to anyone interested in better understanding how to interact with people from a range of backgrounds, but especially for teachers, who have a responsibility to meet children wherever they are and give them tools to succeed in life. Thanks to Nairn, the presenter, who knew her material so well, and who was so interested in and committed to sharing it.