Have you ever felt you were meant to do something else?

After almost 20 years of working in advertising as a graphic designer I did, and took a leap of faith.

A midlife crisis, you might say.

I prefer saying, that I finally listened to my heart. A mother of two young children at the time I realized I wanted more to life, I wanted to work with children and have more time for my own.

I had recently become a motherless daughter and remember so well my mother telling me how much she regretted not having had more time with us, because, for a single, career driven, mother of three, time was a luxury.

Growing up I had always been that child, the one you see at parties or at the park playing with younger children caring for them with a maternal instinct. Today you can often find me on the floor in full conversation with our younger guests.

In middle school I went from being the youngest for 11 years, to suddenly being an older sister to not one, but three brothers in the space of 18 months (long story, I’ll save for another time).

At that time, I was living with just one of them and took pride in caring for my little brother, almost as if he was my own child. I would spend my school holidays volunteering at his daycare and took him with me where ever I went. All this to say, that children have been my passion for as long as I can remember.

Back to that leap of faith…

I decided one fall morning to quit my job and go back to school to work towards a masters in Montessori education. Immense gratitude goes to my supportive husband who accepted I quit that cooperate job and pursue my dream with two little ones at home.

My studies in Montessori education enabled me to work in a mixed age classroom with children ranging from 2.5 to 6 years old.

This was a huge change for me, I use to be able to close the door to my office when I needed time to reboot. Now, I was in a room with 24 children, some needing my attention some, working away and others being a little mischievous in their exploration.

That first year was difficult and yet I stuck with it, one thing I quickly realized is how important my sleep and self-care was if I was going to be supportive to my students.

I also quickly realized how bewildered parents were, often asking me questions about their own children’s behavior or how to properly set up their homes for them.

Maybe because I was one of the older teachers and had children of my own parents felt they could confide and trust my advice.

This is when I discovered “my why” …

Here was all this amazing information I had learned and was applying in the classroom, I was able to see firsthand how beneficial Montessori principles were to children’s well-being. How simplifying and minimizing their environment turned around their behavior for the better.

A few years into this work I started offering Home Consultations as a way of supporting the parents of the children attending the school. I remember clearly one mother telling me I needed to do more of these, that the information I was sharing was golden and essential to know and understand.

And that my friend, was the beginning of my journey of supporting, encouraging and hopefully elevating parents experience in raising the next generation.
I’m a firm believer that it does not have to be as hard as cultural norms would have us believe. Nor that it should be done alone.

We were once children ourselves and simply need the appropriate and updated tools and strategies to understand and remember what our unique child needs from us.

I’m on a mission to debunk the perceived notion that we have to endure our children and that they are hard to figure out.

The knowledge I received while doing my masters in Montessori education was full of revelations. Why didn’t anybody share this with me? Why isn’t this common knowledge?

And that’s exactly why today I make it priority to reveal to you all of the time tested wisdom and knowledge that is often only shared with professionals.

You no longer need to second-guess yourself, feel inadequate or think that you might be messing up your child.

I hope, that by simply sharing the knowledge I acquired, through my membership program, my upcoming podcast and my digital courses I can enhance the parenting experience on a global scale so that we may better nurture the next generation of freethinkers, nature lovers, creative and confident humans.

Tell me, what is your why?