As the saying goes, kids say the darndest things, and one North Carolina teacher couldn’t resist sharing the unexpected parenting advice she received from her elementary school students.
Nancy Bullard, a science teacher at Huntingtowne Farms Elementary School in Charlotte, North Carolina, was on maternity leave in January when she posted a now-viral video where her six-year-old students had offered their top parenting tips to soothe a crying baby.
The kids wrote one-liners such as “Make it a fruit salad!” and “Give him cotton candy!” One offered a serene, “Show him the sky!”
MORE: 5-year-old's advice to mom is the motivation we all needCommenters were quick to reply to the kids’ amusing advice. “The fruit salad thing would work for me,” replied one.
"’Show him the sky’ was the best,” another weighed in.
“Most of these would work on me,” another added.
“Kids are hilarious and unpredictable,” Bullard told “GMA” in an email interview. “That is one of the reasons I love my job so much. You never know what will come out of their mouths or what is going on inside their heads. I could tell by their responses that some students help care for younger siblings at home while others have no idea what babies actually need.”
Bullard, who’s been a teacher for the past 10 years, has been open about sharing her road to motherhood with her K-5 students, both in the classroom and online.
“I knew I wouldn’t be able to hide my baby bump forever and it would become obvious that I was pregnant,” the educator and new mom wrote.
“I began the year by announcing my pregnancy, letting students know that I’d be gone for three months after Thanksgiving,” she continued. “I didn’t want them to get caught off guard when I stopped coming to school, plus I wanted to reassure them that my leave was temporary. I promised them I’d come back before the end of the year and would show them pictures of my baby when I returned.”
Bullard said she and her husband welcomed a baby boy named Sam on Dec. 1, 2021, a joyous event that was years in the making. She has shared through her “mrs.b.tv” TikTok and Instagram her IVF journey and pregnancy and even though they’re personal topics, she turned them into teaching moments.
“My channel is dedicated to science education and there is a lot of science involved in IVF,” Bullard explained of her decision to share both the highs and lows of her long path to parenthood. “I saw this as a great opportunity to educate people about the complex IVF process, and to help them understand why couples might need to undergo fertility treatments.”
MORE: Debunking the top 3 myths about infertilityBullard shared that her fertility treatments included two unsuccessful intrauterine inseminations (IUIs), surgery for endometriosis, and two more unsuccessful IVF cycles before her third successful IVF transfer.
For others experiencing infertility, Bullard wrote that she had a message for them.
“I know how hard it can be to see pictures, videos, and articles about people and their babies,” she wrote. “If anyone reading or watching is going through their own infertility issues, I want them to know they are not alone and to stay hopeful.”