Our Stick Of The Week! is Shira Fogel. Shira is in the NOW as owner of Tiny Talkers, a company striving to help make learning sign language with pre-verbal children a simple task by providing parents and caregivers with all of the information that they need to be successful in their journey. Since the early 1990’s, interest in teaching pre-verbal infants to communicate by signing has skyrocketed. While several books and how-to videos have been created on the subject, parents are generally left to their own devices. With Tiny Talker’s classes, parents no longer have to go at it alone. With the new Tiny Talker's webcast workshop, parents and caregivers all over the world can learn Shira's easy technique for learning how to communicate with babies.
Shira Fogel
Shira is the mom to "two amazing human kids, one furry kid and the wife of an awesome high school teacher. In her former life (before kids), Shira was a sustainability specialist for the government. She still holds true to those roots by volunteering as the Green Team coordinator at the school and running an after school club for kids against pollution. Shira is also a closet karaoke singer…well she may be fully out of the closet by now.
Tell us about your noodle on the wall (NOW).
As a child I was always fascinated with sign language. Whenever we went to an event that had an interpreter, I always begged my mom to let us sit behind that section so that I could watch the interpreter and try and guess what she/he was saying. I always thought it was a beautiful way to communicate. Then flash forward to being a new mom. I had heard about the concept of using sign language as a means to communicate with pre-verbal children, but there were no resources in my area that I knew about that would help me learn. I dug into books and the internet and eventually taught myself and my daughter how to communicate with sign language. The payoff was huge. When we were at the park, people would assume my baby was deaf because of the high level of communicating we were doing back and forth with ASL. By the time she was a year old, she knew over 100 signs and was well on her way to becoming an early prolific speaker as well, which is often the case for babies who sign. This exact same scenario played out again a few years later when my son was born.
As a child I was always fascinated with sign language. Whenever we went to an event that had an interpreter, I always begged my mom to let us sit behind that section so that I could watch the interpreter and try and guess what she/he was saying. I always thought it was a beautiful way to communicate. Then flash forward to being a new mom. I had heard about the concept of using sign language as a means to communicate with pre-verbal children, but there were no resources in my area that I knew about that would help me learn. I dug into books and the internet and eventually taught myself and my daughter how to communicate with sign language. The payoff was huge. When we were at the park, people would assume my baby was deaf because of the high level of communicating we were doing back and forth with ASL. By the time she was a year old, she knew over 100 signs and was well on her way to becoming an early prolific speaker as well, which is often the case for babies who sign. This exact same scenario played out again a few years later when my son was born.
I was looking for a way to be able to spend more time with my children and given the fact that I felt like I was already teaching daily classes at the park by all of the fascinated parents who wanted to know how to sign with their children, my noodle was born.
Is your NOW simmering, al dente or fully cooked and why?
My noodles are al dente. My vision started off simmering with one class and now has expanded to several and I’m hoping to add even more as my schedule allows. I have the most fun in my weekly “Sign, Sing & Play” classes where I get to work directly with the children and get my weekly baby fix! We sing, sign, dance, play instruments and creatively and abstractly work on learning the signs that are the most important in their worlds. Writing the curriculum was a lot of hard work, but the payoff has been well worth it. I love watching the kids grow and thrive. They all feel like extended family to me.
My latest creation is the webcast. For years I’ve longed to find a way to help people outside of the area. With the creation of the Baby Sign Language 101 webcast, I am so excited to now say that I can!
My plate is full right now, but I wouldn’t say that the noodles are fully cooked. I’m always looking for new ideas to reach more people and making the noodles that are cooking taste the best they can be takes constant stirring. So my work is never really done!
Is your NOW simmering, al dente or fully cooked and why?
My noodles are al dente. My vision started off simmering with one class and now has expanded to several and I’m hoping to add even more as my schedule allows. I have the most fun in my weekly “Sign, Sing & Play” classes where I get to work directly with the children and get my weekly baby fix! We sing, sign, dance, play instruments and creatively and abstractly work on learning the signs that are the most important in their worlds. Writing the curriculum was a lot of hard work, but the payoff has been well worth it. I love watching the kids grow and thrive. They all feel like extended family to me.
My latest creation is the webcast. For years I’ve longed to find a way to help people outside of the area. With the creation of the Baby Sign Language 101 webcast, I am so excited to now say that I can!
My plate is full right now, but I wouldn’t say that the noodles are fully cooked. I’m always looking for new ideas to reach more people and making the noodles that are cooking taste the best they can be takes constant stirring. So my work is never really done!
What recipes can you give other Creative Moms Taking On The Creative?
1 cup of inspiration
1 cup of a well thought out plan (heavy on the marketing)
¾ cups of patience
½ cup support
1 Tb adaptability and managed expectations
Mix thoroughly until your ingredients have reached a quality consistency. Invite more cooks into the kitchen (ie: reach out to people and businesses with the same ideologies as me) and stir some more. Cook until it looks done. Keep in mind that although you have the ingredients to this recipe, it can sometimes take years before it tastes perfect.
1 cup of inspiration
1 cup of a well thought out plan (heavy on the marketing)
¾ cups of patience
½ cup support
1 Tb adaptability and managed expectations
Mix thoroughly until your ingredients have reached a quality consistency. Invite more cooks into the kitchen (ie: reach out to people and businesses with the same ideologies as me) and stir some more. Cook until it looks done. Keep in mind that although you have the ingredients to this recipe, it can sometimes take years before it tastes perfect.
What motivated you to throw your noodle?
Out of all the things that I did with my children to encourage the ever coveted “attachment parenting” status, the ability to communicate before they could speak was the best thing I ever did. It was a game changer for me. Making a positive difference in the world is a big deal to me. I saw this as a chance to share this wonderful gift with other parents and caregivers and to help make their lives a little easier and above all, more fulfilling. Parenting isn’t always easy, but this is something that with a little effort can have a huge impact for families.
While beginning on my own journey seeking knowledge on the best way to teach my children sign language, I struggled to sort through information on the internet and find what truly mattered to me in books. Finding resources was not an easy task. Plus, just learning the actual signs wasn’t enough. Babies learn in very different ways than adults do and it was challenging to find something that clicked for me. Add to that the fact that my daughter was a non-sleeper (I want to cry just thinking about how little sleep we got during the first two years of her life) and I was overwhelmed and wishing I could just take a quick class and learn everything I needed to know in one day. It was in those moments that the idea for the Baby Sign Language 101 Workshop was born.
Out of all the things that I did with my children to encourage the ever coveted “attachment parenting” status, the ability to communicate before they could speak was the best thing I ever did. It was a game changer for me. Making a positive difference in the world is a big deal to me. I saw this as a chance to share this wonderful gift with other parents and caregivers and to help make their lives a little easier and above all, more fulfilling. Parenting isn’t always easy, but this is something that with a little effort can have a huge impact for families.
While beginning on my own journey seeking knowledge on the best way to teach my children sign language, I struggled to sort through information on the internet and find what truly mattered to me in books. Finding resources was not an easy task. Plus, just learning the actual signs wasn’t enough. Babies learn in very different ways than adults do and it was challenging to find something that clicked for me. Add to that the fact that my daughter was a non-sleeper (I want to cry just thinking about how little sleep we got during the first two years of her life) and I was overwhelmed and wishing I could just take a quick class and learn everything I needed to know in one day. It was in those moments that the idea for the Baby Sign Language 101 Workshop was born.
What inspires you as a Mom and as a creative person?
Anything and everything inspires me. Needless to say Pinterest is dangerous territory for me ;-) The personal side of my creative strength comes from journals that I have been working on since college. I have tons of journals filled with inspirational quotes, poems, slogans, meaningful and inspiring song lyrics…you name it. If something resonates with me, it goes in the journal. Reviewing my journals is empowering for me and fuels my creativity. I also love to create art with my kids and by myself. Anything right brained makes me happy and recharges me.
Professionally, other mom owned businesses that are successful inspire me. It is those people that I often seek out advice and collaboration from in order to learn and be motivated by their lessons they often have to share.
How do you juggle Mamahood and your NOW?
We don’t have any family living close by and no child care so my husband and I are our own support team. This means that I stay up way too late at night working so that I can be a (mostly) fully present mom when my kids are around. My children do understand though that sometimes I have to miss out on the fun stuff because work obligations can occasionally conflict with their schedules. On these occasions though I think it is really important and empowering for my children to see me as an entrepreneur with dreams of my own to accomplish. It teaches them a powerful lesson and shows them that hard work can pay off.
Anything and everything inspires me. Needless to say Pinterest is dangerous territory for me ;-) The personal side of my creative strength comes from journals that I have been working on since college. I have tons of journals filled with inspirational quotes, poems, slogans, meaningful and inspiring song lyrics…you name it. If something resonates with me, it goes in the journal. Reviewing my journals is empowering for me and fuels my creativity. I also love to create art with my kids and by myself. Anything right brained makes me happy and recharges me.
Professionally, other mom owned businesses that are successful inspire me. It is those people that I often seek out advice and collaboration from in order to learn and be motivated by their lessons they often have to share.
How do you juggle Mamahood and your NOW?
We don’t have any family living close by and no child care so my husband and I are our own support team. This means that I stay up way too late at night working so that I can be a (mostly) fully present mom when my kids are around. My children do understand though that sometimes I have to miss out on the fun stuff because work obligations can occasionally conflict with their schedules. On these occasions though I think it is really important and empowering for my children to see me as an entrepreneur with dreams of my own to accomplish. It teaches them a powerful lesson and shows them that hard work can pay off.
Overall though, I would say that being a good mama is priority job #1 for me and business always comes second. I like it this way and feel very blessed that I have the opportunity to do both. Maybe someday my noodles will be fully cooked but right now I like the family/work balance that we have created and I appreciate my husband so much for always showing unwavering support and encouragement for my growing business even when the chips were down. He has stuck with me like that noodle on the wall!
What is your ultimate pasta dish?
A few weeks ago I was at my friend’s house and she got hungry and said “I think I’m going to make some pasta.” The next thing I knew she was pulling out flour, oil and eggs and she LITERALLY made pasta and the alfredo sauce that was on it. I was floored. It was mouthwatering good and store bought pasta may never be the same for me again. I’d like to say that she inspired me to run out and buy a pasta maker but sadly I don’t have time to add that into my nightly what’s for dinner frenzy. It looks like I’ll be hanging out a little more often with my friend instead.
What is your ultimate pasta dish?
A few weeks ago I was at my friend’s house and she got hungry and said “I think I’m going to make some pasta.” The next thing I knew she was pulling out flour, oil and eggs and she LITERALLY made pasta and the alfredo sauce that was on it. I was floored. It was mouthwatering good and store bought pasta may never be the same for me again. I’d like to say that she inspired me to run out and buy a pasta maker but sadly I don’t have time to add that into my nightly what’s for dinner frenzy. It looks like I’ll be hanging out a little more often with my friend instead.
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