Spreading the love At Mini First Aid, we’re not just passionate about teaching first aid. We absolutely love working together with some cracking little businesses around the country. Active Phonics is one of those and we hear today from Founder and Director, Rachel Naylor – an experienced primary school teacher and Mum to Archie (5) and Elsa (2). Rachel explains just how Mini First Aid inspired her to set up her own business. I first came across Mini First Aid when my little girl was born. My eldest, Archie was born 10lbs 4oz (yes really) and was a ‘solid’ baby. Elsa, in comparison seemed small at 9lb 3oz! She was much more ‘fragile’ than her brother and I have to admit that I always worried about her a little bit more in the early days. When she was around 3 months old I started to think ahead to weaning and my next thought was ‘choking’. I felt that for my own piece of mind, I needed to learn the right skills to feel confident when introducing her to solid food.   With a couple of friends, I went along to a Mini First Aid class and I never looked back! I’ve got to admit that the main reason I went was for the section on choking but the course covered so much more than that. It really was the best class that I did in the early days and all for only £20-an absolute bargain in my eyes! Seeing Mini First Aid in action and the passion that Kate had for helping others got me thinking. At the time, my eldest was 3 years old and in the pre-school room at Nursery. I realized that at this age, lots of parents start to think about how they can help their child with reading. My passion within my teaching career has always been literacy, phonics in particular. I realised that there was very little provision out there for pre-school children and little support to help parents work with their children. From that point, I began to turn my passion into a project and ‘Active Phonics’ was born! I now run pre-school phonics sessions in private day nurseries in Leeds and surrounding areas; parent & child classes; as well as parent phonic information evenings.   There really is nothing more rewarding than living out your passion through your work. It’s even better when you know that you are having an impact on children’s lives, whether it be keeping them from harm or preparing them for their life at school. Thanks for inspiring me Mini First Aid. I look forward to working with you on your early years classes and in using ‘The Mini Adventures of Freddie’ with pre-school aged children!