Main eCourses forum

[Genevieve Simperingham]

Which course did you attend? What did you get out of it so far? Where are your learning edges? Feel free to start new topics to share your questions/ struggles/ successes. And in your first post maybe add a reply which gives more background info about yourself. You could copy it from your original eCourse private forum.

[Meg Rodney]

Hi, I’m Meg, and I was a mentor of the February-March 2015 eCourse and enjoyed it so much. For those who don’t know me, I live in Arizona, USA with my husband, 2 boys (Quinn is 12 and JT is 8). We have a sweet dog, a tortoise, and a couple of chickens that keep us entertained, too. My husband and I split our work schedules so that we can homeschool our boys, which is wonderful but leads to some challenges in finding time to connect with one another.
I came to peaceful parenting well after having become a parent. Prior to having children, I never thought I would spank, and I envisioned being a happy, peaceful mama. Unfortunately, just as I envisioned a natural childbirth and ended up with a C-section with my oldest, I also found that parenthood was not quite how I envisioned it would be. I characterized my oldest as ‘high-strung’ and ‘challenging.’ He ‘pushed my buttons’ at every turn, and I was exhausted and at a loss as to how to parent him. My husband and I used punishment regularly (and ineffectively). I was so disappointed in the mother I had become, and I was desperate to change. A few years ago, I discovered peaceful parenting, and my relationship with my children, especially my oldest, was transformed. And, best of all, I finally became the mother I had always dreamed I’d be, and I have so much peace in my heart and home. Life truly is good now.

[Tabitha Jonson]

Hi everyone,
I’m Tabitha. I have two children, now 8 & 9 years. My eldest, in particular, is very sensitive and strong willed and this has taught me so much as I’ve worked to find ways to parent in ways that support him. I believe if we had parented with punishments etc we would have huge conflicts now – as opposed to the manageable disagreements & discussions that are part of life. 🙂

I love the support of Genevieve and the mentors as we are still and always will be learning and sorting out our own ‘stuff’.

I look forward to connecting with you all and hope we can support and your family.

[Genevieve Simperingham]

thanks Tab for the intro!

[Genevieve Simperingham]

Previously, we had a separate forum for each eCourse, but it’s a pity for all those great threads to not be available to all members, so we’ve started doing things differently and inviting current and past eCourse participants into the same forum.
It would be great if you could introduce yourself. I’ll add links to previous eCourse forums in another comment below. You can revisit your forum and copy some of your previous introduction into this thread. You might also enjoy re-reading some of the discussions from that forum.

Which course did you attend? What have you got out of learning peaceful parenting so far? Where are your learning edges? Feel free to start new topics to share your questions/ struggles/ successes.

[Maggie Travis]

Hi ladies, happy to be here with my husband, Mike. I have been following Genevieve since I was pregnant with my oldest son who is now 4.5! We have three kids now: Ben 4.5, Mae 3, and Margo 10mo. I get peaceful parenting 100% and have been on my own path of healing since I was a teenager. So 20 years later, the peaceful parenting philosophies click for me. I am not so good when it comes to co-parenting and as the babies were added and my career developed and stress piled on I reverted to loud screaming like I grew up with. So I am so grateful to have my husband here with me. So we can grow together. And be the parents we want to be.

Hi this is mike. I’m happy to be here and looking forward to working on and becoming the dad that I wanted and needed growing up;for my children and my wife Maggie.

[Genevieve Simperingham]

Welcome Maggie and Mike, it’s really great when parents can do this learning together. I hear you Maggie that the co-parenting is difficult for you, as is so often the case. I’m glad you’re both here and doing this together! Mike, very touching to read your intention in doing this course, to become the dad that you wanted and needed growing up, both for your children and for Maggie. And hopefully with many benefits for you as well as those little breakthrough moments of better communication and connection shine through.

There have been a lot of couples who have done this course together in recent years and for many, it’s helped them start to come on to the same page and better work together as a team. Our parenting views are so personal, so emotional, and potentially so charged which can make it hard to have those calm level conversations. But sitting and watching a video of someone else sharing their views can help to shift some of those more difficult dynamics. I don’t know if the timing will work for you, but hopefully you saw the post in this forum letting people know that there’s a zoom call for members tomorrow to answer any questions you have relating to doing the course or any technical questions relating to becoming more familiar with the member’s areas. It’ll be 2.30 pm New Zealand, Auckland time. Which I think works out to be 10.30pm there in Gettysberg which actually sounds like it’ll be too late. But if there’s something you’d like me to address you can share it here in the forum or email us; [email protected]

Maggie, how great that you have been following PP for all this time, and yes having been on a healing journey all these years, I can see why this approach resonated with you because it really is as much about parents healing themselves as meeting the needs of the children, because one depends on the other! And yes getting the concepts, yet putting the theory into practice on a busy stressful day when there are so many needs to be met is a whole different ball game! Hopefully the immersion of doing the course, and doing it together will really help.

[Meg Rodney]

Welcome, Maggie and Mike! So good to have you here, and so wonderful that you are both here together, trying to be on the same page. I know the info you will receive will be very valuable, and your kiddos are so lucky to have two parents devoted to raising them with compassion and love. 💕

[Ann Marie]

Hi,I’m Leanne and I’m known to Genevieve and Wendy 😊 I did the ecourse a few years ago but doing it again.
I’m a single mum to twin boys who are almost 7. Both recently diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum and having Sensory Processing Disorder, and one also has ADHD and Tourettes. I’m in the UK, I home educate them, and have no family and little support.
I have complex PTSD from an abusive childhood. So there are a lot of issues in the mix!
I came across peaceful parenting when the boys were babies.
I struggle with getting overwhelmed,reacting instead of responding and yelling 😕 I know I need to do more self care and work on being better resourced, but REALLY find this hard.
Already finding that doing the course again is really helpful. The boys are older and present different challenges, and revisiting the course material is always good!
Thank you for making this available as part of the membership ☺️

[Genevieve Simperingham]

Hi Leanne,
So good that you’re re-engaging with the eCourse material, and as you say the boys are now at a different age and different stages in their development, so you’ll be reading, watching and listening with different issues and challenges in mind.

There are SO many very specific needs relating to ASD, SPD and ADHD and also the tourettes, which I know you’re so switched on to. And yet, so many of these basic principles and these approaches are just so relevant and applicable whatever the challenges may be. When my kids were little, I needed to just keep dipping in to doing the reading to keep resetting my expectations, to keep strengthening those ways of viewing and responding to the issues. The hardwiring is so deeply embedded for all adults really, and these approaches aren’t modelled a lot, which all makes it harder to keep it all in the front of the mind, especially with all the extra complications and high needs for the boys and parenting with complex PTSD is just such an ongoing challenge! So good on you for doing the course, despite struggling to do the self-care, you’re doing it by accessing these resources which will hopefully continue to be supportive.

And the printables (there’s quite a few in the last unit of Module 1) can be great to print out and put up as reminders and prompters!

[Meg Rodney]

Hi Leanne. So good to have you here. I imagine revisiting the course now that your boys are older will bring new things to light. I know that there have been times when I suddenly get an aha! moment when reading an article I’ve read several times before or in a discussion about a topic I’ve discussed many times before.

Even with your level of awareness and all the healing you have done, raising your boys alone must be challenging. Their specific needs bring certain challenges, too, and they are fortunate to have a mama who is so attuned to their needs.

I imagine self care is hard to come by for you. Hopefully the materials in the e course and elsewhere on this site will give you some resources to help with squeezing in self care where you can, too.

[Kelly Murdoch]

Hey Everyone, I’m Kelly – Mum to Mason (3.5). This is my second time on the course. I’m hoping to refine my pp practice and get back ‘on track’ with some things.

We recently moved house then six weeks later started visits to preschool. As soon as the preschool visits started I noticed more meltdowns over things like brushing teeth or no more cookies etc. I have stayed as present as I can for the tears and eventually my son cries ‘the house is empty!’… which leads to talks about moving houses and the things we did at our old house.

At the moment I’m struggling with depression which is why I’ve enrolled Mason into preschool. So that I can recharge for a couple of hours and actually gain the energy to set limits and connect which has been VERY challenging lately.

Wishing everyone the best with the course and in their pp journeys. It’s great to be here.

[Genevieve Simperingham]

Hi Kelly, it’s great to have you back again 🙂 Moving house can be a huge transition, and especially when you’ve been generally feeling so very low. Moving house and adjusting to the new and making the new house a home all takes a lot of energy!! Good on you for figuring out a way to gain a bit of time and space to yourself and hopefully Mason will make new friends and form some good bonds at the early childhood centre.

We’ve already had a bit of conversation by email and it sounds like you’ve been really helping Mason feel very seen, heard, understood and cared for when expressing his big emotions. It’s often the way that when children are struggling with change, they’re generally more stressed and have less capacity to cope and hence more meltdowns! But great that he’s now expressing “the house is empty” which would indicate that he’s right at that core of feeling and expressing the loss that he’s processing. I remember when I moved from Ireland to New Zealand when my oldest child was three, I found it really hard and felt like I’d kind of lost my spark and enthusiasm, there was so much grief to process but so little time to sit and be with those feelings, it all just took time. I used to worry so much about the impacts on my son, yet as long as we’re tuning in and giving our children that space to feel really seen and heard when the upsets do come out (over whatever little thing they’re struggling with be it what’s on their toast or their lego creation), and as long as we can maintain enough of those moments of warmth, smiles, cuddles, laughter, play, engaging with whatever’s at the centre of their world in that moment – then inch by inch they can and do express, release and resolve the impacts of change and slowly create the security they need to feel in their new environment.

I know you’ve already read “Helping children adapt to change” and I really believe that every part of this eCourse will help you remember all the ways that you can maintain more harmony and connection between yourself and Mason as you go through your daily challenges. When these lovely PP approaches get a bit fuzzy, the old default files (beliefs) from our hard-wiring just take over again. We have to work hard to give energy to the newer healthier beliefs and approaches yet as time goes on they really do start to more and more become the norm.

Also, I don’t know if you dipped in to the Self-Healing Group much in the past, but there’s lots of great resources in there that might help you in your journey of increasing self-care and self-healing and generally giving more of that good quality time and attention and compassion and care to yourself.

[Meg Rodney]

Hi Kelly, and welcome back! I hear that this is a difficult time for both you and your boy. So great that you are able to recognize his meltdowns over little things as being a sign that something is off. It is so hard to stay lovingly present in those moments, but it is obvious that your boy feels loved and supported and is able to verbalize that the house is empty. Beautiful. 💕

So good that you are able to stay mindful of your own feelings and needs at this time and are seeking ways to love and support yourself. I know this course will also provide love and support. And I’m glad that you are here.

[Kelly Murdoch]

Thanks Genevieve 💙🙏

[Kelly Murdoch]

Thanks Meg 🙏💙

[Angelique Gatenby]

Hi I’m Angelique, Mum to Lola nearly 12 & Travis 9, I joined a few months ago and have nearly completed the Mama Meltdown ecourse. My husband Craig is aware I’m doing the course and finding it helpful. We both work in his business and I also keep up another job part time so life is busy. The reason I joined is after hearing Genevieve on a podcast and what she had to say resonated with me. I’ve been struggling maintaining my calm with my strong willed son, I either feel like I’m giving in, and feel guilty, or setting boundaries and feeling guilty for being too inflexible. There is also a lot of sibling rivalry going on at times. So it has been very helpful joining up and having this great support

[Genevieve Simperingham]

Hi Angelique so glad you shared a wee intro with us all here. Wow life does sound very busy, so much you’re juggling, yet choosing to fit in some parent education and support for yourself and Craig, which is so very admirable! And hopefully you’ll start to gain more and more benefits as you learn and implement the new approaches. Big work, and it’s usually slower than we’d like, but just so great that you’re here and availing of the resources and support.

I can’t remember if I already shared the video version of my response to your question about your boy getting out of bed wanting to sing the waiata lately, but just so you know you can access it on the same page as I posted the recent Zoom video call on Strong Willed kids. You can find it through the right side bar “recent posts”.

Great that you’re chipping away moving through the Mama Meltdown eCourse. As much as we’ve aimed to make it super accessible and easy to move through we also know that when it comes to dipping into those feelings and triggers that it can bring up a lot to process, so feel free to share or ask questions as needed.

[Mara]

Hi everyone, I’m Mara, mum to a very active and strong-willed 3.5-year-old girl. I first heard Genevieve speak a few years ago at a local conference and her name just kept popping up recently. I am a fully qualified ECE teacher, currently working as a home-based educator, and our company had the pleasure of hosting a Peaceful Parenting workshop with Genevieve last night. It was exactly what I needed as I have been struggling with my girl’s behaviour lately. We were both part of an emotionally and verbally abusive relationship, there was alcohol and drugs involved, until I finally had the guts to move us into a better place. However, as her dad is currently making an effort to be a good father, he is a big part of her life, but as we’re working through parenting arrangements it seems our daughter is struggling, overwhelmed ad confused by the situation. Talking to other child development experts she may have developed attachment issues which I would love to help fix so we can both overcome our trauma and live a happier life if that makes sense.

[Meg Rodney]

Welcome, Mara. We are glad that you are here. It is so good that you are so tuned in to your little one and understand that she is having a hard time. There are such great resources throughout this website, and we are happy to help if you have any questions. We look forward to having you here 😊
-Meg

[Genevieve Simperingham]

Hi Mara welcome to the Village membership, I’m so glad you could come along to talk. I’m hoping that all you learn here in the Village will help to make life smoother with your little girl and the children you teach/ care for. Oh boy what a journey you’ve been on! I can only start to imagine what a hugely stressful and harrowing journey it’s been, the opposite of what’s needed in these early pivotal years of parenting!
Leaving an abusive relationship is an incredibly brave and courageous move to make. And as you say the challenges continue and you so want your girl to recover from the attachment issues she may have suffering through it all, as well as figuring out how to best care for her and help her heal and develop resilience as her dad now comes more back into her life. And Mara you’ll also no doubt be on your own healing journey so hopefully, we can support you in this as well. Feel free to post specific questions in this or the main Village green forum.

Maybe our Mama Meltdown eCourse might help you in developing your self-care and self-healing plan. Or you can look at the resources in the self-healing group.

Maybe have a look at the resources in the ending parental conflict resource kit. https://www.peacefulparent.com/coparenting_ending_parental_conflicts/

There’s a recent post I put in the peaceful partnering group with a link to a collection of articles relevant to parents separating and the imapcts on the children; https://www.peacefulparent.com/groups/peaceful-partnering/forum/topic/childrens-reactions-to-parental-separation-and-divorce/

This article might also be helpful: Parents fighting – is it harmful to children?

[Sarah Kincaid]

Hi, I’m Sarah. I have two daughters, ages 7 and 4. I’m taking the Peaceful Parenting Instructor training, and I’m brand new to the community. I have always been deeply interested in behavior and what shapes it. I’ve worked in children’s psychiatric hospitals with children who were severely abused and neglected, in a group home, and have done in-home behavior support services doing intervention with children with extreme behaviors. I could share endless pages about my thoughts and feelings around the methodology used in some of those places but I’ll try not to be long-winded. Later, I took in a teenager who was homeless and dealing with mental illness and homeschooled her to help her get through high school. I realized somewhere along the way that I love teaching and have taught preschool (ages 3-5) and most grades between 1 and 8. When my first daughter was born I realized that I wanted to be home with my kids while they were young, so I took time off from teaching and enjoyed being with her and my younger daughter. A lot of things happened in the next few years that raised the stress level in my family. Then, last year, I was talked into taking a job as a teaching principal in a small private school. The extensive responsibilities of the job as well as the busyness piled onto the stress we were already dealing with sent the stress level in my home sky high. My kids’ behavior plummeted and mine did, too. I didn’t have time to understand and meet my kids’ needs. It was awful, and I resigned from my job, effective when that school year was complete. When the COVID quarantine began I watched my kids melt back into their more normal selves and begin to thrive again. It solidified within me the importance of being available to respond to my kids in the way they need me to. We are homeschooling this year and really enjoying it. I started thinking about all of my experiences with children and the importance of the parenting role. I want to be a resource to parents who are struggling and need some support, and I want to provide education and support to parents in my community who can’t afford a private coach. I began looking for a parent-coaching program that would help me to achieve these goals and to become a better parent myself. The Peaceful Parent Institute seemed like a good fit for me, so here I am!

[Meg Rodney]

@sarahgoatherd – Welcome! I enjoyed reading about your journey and what led you hear to continue your parenting/coaching learning. You are clearly attuned to how your life stress and busyness can affect your children’s behavior and how difficult it is to stay connected when we have so many stressors in our lives. How lovely it must have been to have your girls melt back into their contented selves upon being home with you. I homeschool, too, and it blends so beautifully with peaceful parenting.

There is so much rich and wonderful material here, and Genevieve is such an amazing coach/teacher that I am sure your experience will be rewarding and bring you closer to your goal of supporting other parents in their journeys. Tabitha is enormously helpful and insightful as well. And I am happy to help any way I can as well. We are happy that you are here.

[Genevieve Simperingham]

Sarah, a very warm welcome to you! Like Meg I also really enjoyed reading a little bit about your journey and hopefully you’ll share more as time goes on. I’ll be interested to hear more about your experiences working with severely abused children in the hospital environment.

You have so many life experiences in those different capacities; educational, therapeutic, motherhood and more that have brought you to this moment in time and I truly hope that all you’ll learn here will both enrich your family life and also help you achieve your very beautiful aspirations to help more parents in your community. How beautiful to see your girls slowing decompressing and to all regroup and again deepen the connections in recent months.

[Victoria Maus]

Hello everyone 👋🏻

I’m Victoria, but you can call me Toria, and I’m so excited to be here for the Instructor Training! I’m in Birmingham in the UK and I’m mummy to two wonderful daughters; Eleanor is 9 years old and Phoebe is 7 years old. Until I had my eldest daughter I was a primary school teacher but I gave it up to be a full time parent. I’m married to a wonderfully supportive man, Andy, and we also run an IT business together.

In July 2019 we took our daughters out of school to be home educated. I won’t go into it here, but if anyone’s interested I did write a blog post about why! It was a life-changing decision in the absolute best way.

What I thought I knew about education has been completely turned on its head and I’ve absolutely loved finding out about different educational styles. It’s led me here really; I want to put together what I know about education and parenting to run courses and workshops for home educating families. I feel that completing the Instructor training is going to give me a solid foundation to really help people.

When I’m not home educating my girls, I love to blog, sew and read. I look forward to getting to know you all in time 😊

[Katy Weade]

Hello, everyone!
My name is Katy Weade. I just signed up to go through instructor training. I am doing this to increase my knowledge base and continue my education for my Life & Parent Coaching Practice (Motherhood Aligned). I am really excited to add more tools to my toolkit and love the teachings I’ve seen from Genevieve. I look forward to connecting with all of you!

[Meg Rodney]

A belated welcome to you, Katy! I hope you are enjoying the training thus far. I’m confident that the knowledge you gain will be a great addition to your toolkit within your Life and Parent Coaching Practice.

[Genevieve Simperingham]

Welcome Toria and Katy,
Toria I’ve been so enjoying your participation in the training! What a journey you’re on with your homeschooling of the girls, and so great that you can make it work to run the IT business with Andy and home educate and do the training and hopefully when you start to work with clients, you can continue to find ways to make it all work.

Katy it’s great to have you on board! And it looks like you’ve since found your way in to the eCourse units yay! Onwards and upwards! Your website looks really lovely, I’m sure the training will really support your good work you’re already doing with parents, there’s just SO much more PP needed in our world! And you’ve joined just in time to be hopefully able to join one of our fortnightly zoom calls with trainees tomorrow morning. Also watch out for Zoom calls open to all members and trainees which you’re more than welcome to join as well.

[Helen Nuttall]

Hi Everyone,
Im Helen, i have just started the peaceful parenting instructor training. I have 4 children aged between 11 and 20.
I have had many parenting challenges along the way, i homeschooled all my children for 5 years, and my 18 year old daughter has just finished year 13 in correnspondace, homeschool. My two younger kids are now in mainstream school.
I had counselling with Genevieve for around two years, and followed peaceful parenting for most of my parenting journey. I am not a perfect Mum and get triggered quickly, and can loose my temper!! I feel that due to these challenges i am able to help parents in difficult situations, and once i have completed the instructor training, i look forward to being able to work with parents, especially those with similar challenges.
I am a jeweller, and am studying Reiki. I live on Waiheke Island, New Zealand.
Best wishes, Helen

[Meg Rodney]

A belated welcome to you, Helen! I hope you are finding the training enriching. I have also homeschooled my kiddos and know that the extra time together does allow for unique challenges, though I love it more than I ever knew I would. So wonderful that you seek to help parents who have similar challenges with triggers and temper. I am confident that the training will support you in that goal.

[Marie-Yianna Kalekas]

Hi Everyone,
I started the instructor training back in November but am only just braving the forum! I live in London and have two boys, 9 and 4, both home/unschooled.

In the early days of new motherhood, I read Why Love Matters and found The Way of the Peaceful Parent on FB, which felt like coming home. I didn’t have a peaceful childhood and was determined to learn better and do better. Redundancy happening when my son was just a few weeks old was both stressful and a blessing because, in hindsight, he was very intense. Being a peaceful parent was relatively easy with only one child for the first 5 years and without competing demands on my attention, so I didn’t fully recognise the intensity at the time. Of course, I slipped up, had various parental meltdowns and found the days long and hard, but I had printouts stuck all over my walls and I completely immersed myself in reading about the parent I wanted to be. I read no fiction in all that time, just geeked out on neurodevelopment, oxcytocin, polyvagal theory, active listening, emotion coaching and attachment! My psychology degree and passion for researching, long unused professionally, came into their own in an unexpected way.

I retrained as a babywearing consultant and worked as a perinatal peer supporter and breastfeeding advocate for my local sling library, with my son present. I found it heartwarming how the smallest peaceful actions within my own family could ripple out when I observed other families adopting peaceful tools I used with my own, and I thought I could cope with growing my family.

When my second son was born, I found myself floundering. I simply couldn’t split myself into enough pieces to be present for or attend to everyone’s needs, although I ran myself down trying and then being extra hard on myself.

I’m here now, having come out the other side of the overwhelm, to learn tools to better parent and connect with my two boys, because I know that immersing myself in the ways I want to be is the best way of staying focussed. I have wanted to work as a coach since before becoming a mother. With all my experience, I hope to help other parents to start out peacefully and to pick themselves up, upskill, and get back on track when they inevitably stumble – and to be kind to themselves along the way!

Really looking forward to getting to know you all 🙂

Marie-Yianna

[Meg Rodney]

A belated welcome to you, Marie-Yianna! Your dedication to your children and to helping parents shows in your intro. I hope you are finding the training to be a wonderful supplement to all the learning you have already done. Home/unschooling gives us parents so many opportunities to practice the principles of peaceful parenting, and it is a wonderful journey, isn’t it (my boys are 18 and 14 and have been homeschooled from the get-go)?

[Orianna Nienan]

Hi everyone, I am Orianna.

I have a son, Parker, who is turning 12 in July. Since he was born I have been conscious of what I share with him as “Truth.” I do not use profanity in our home and it has been very rare that I have ever raised my voice. However, we have a somewhat antagonistic relationship and it is difficult to relate. We are such different people. He is a strong spirit and super willful.

I am a single mother and Parker has never met his father. He has spent a lot of time with my parents over the years and they have modeled behavior that I view to be problematic, and yet What Is, Is.

So, I joined this group to help me better relate to Parker. I realize it is not about changing him, but rather bringing myself into a place of neutrality – especially in our communications. Even with kind words the energetics behind words – the emotions – are still there. I want to handle my own “internal community” and I think that the work of inner peace is the same as peaceful parenting – because we parent our internal community first.

I am so grateful for this work and I am excited to learn new approaches and tools for cultivating peace!

Orianna

[Meg Rodney]

Welcome, Orianna. It is good to have you here. I love reading about your dedication to improving how you relate with Parker. My challenging relationship with my oldest, who I characterized as strong-willed, is what brought me to peaceful parenting when he was about 9 years old. He is now 18, and it is not an exaggeration to say that peaceful parenting and all I learned here with Genevieve, have transformed my relationship with him. So insightful that you realize how important handling your “internal community” is for your parenting journey.

[Katey Breuker]

Hello! My name is Katey Breuker. I’m a licensed social worker, parenting coach and homeschooling mother of 3. My kids are 11, 8 and 3. My own childhood was less than ideal and becoming a parent has forced me to take a hard look at my trauma and how it has impacted the way I interact with my kids.
I’m so excited to be a part of this group and to learn more compassionate parenting strategies.
Thank you!

[Meg Rodney]

Welcome, Katey. I’m happy that you will be here to learn more strategies on compassionate/peaceful parenting as you continue on your own self-healing journey, parenting journey, and professional journey. I also homeschool my boys (18 and 14; well, not the 18 yo anymore, he just graduated!). Homeschooling gives us many unique opportunities to implement these strategies.

[Allie Kraft]

Hi! I’m Allie, I’m from Minnesota, US. I am a stay at home parent to a my 5 year old son and very-soon-to-be 3 year old daughter!
My husband and I struggled with fertility and when I finally was pregnant we spent so much time talking about what kind of parents we didn’t want to be, and gentle parenting just came naturally to both of us. Then with my second pregnancy I started unearthing so many more fears and anxiety, I was an “overfunctioner” and was always doubting my abilities as a mom, striving to always give them the best version of me, wondering if I was doing something wrong because no one in our circle really parented like we did.
Once (through therapy) I started understanding how my past has affected me and started leading me towards self-healing and mindfulness, and the more I read about peaceful parenting the more I was inspired and found confidence as a parent! I’m so grateful to have found this group! 🙂

[Meg Rodney]

Welcome again, Allie (I replied in the other intro in the training group) 🙂

[Cassady Wank]

Hi everyone!

I’m Cassady and I am a pediatric neuropsychologist in Illinois, USA. I have two children, a 7 year old boy and a 4 year old girl. I work part time and this past year have been homeschooling due to Covid. I think it’s been the one gift of this time, as it’s allowed me more time with my kids and also taught me so much about myself and my goals both personally and professionally. As a natural empath and highly sensitive person, I’ve always believed in peaceful and conscious parenting and have strived to use the methods in our home. I suffered from Post-Partum anxiety and depression after the birth of son which was eye-opening to me and highlighted just how many issues can arise when we have children and our own childhoods become highlighted internally.
At work, I find that when I diagnose children with disorders (ADHD, autism spectrum, learning disorders etc) parents really long for these techniques and there is a huge lack of awareness and knowledge of these types of parenting principles here in the US. I find especially when working from schools, teachers lack awareness and really benefit from learning things like non-violent communication and time-ins.
I’m excited to be here to learn more and connect with like-minded parents and professionals!

[Meg Rodney]

Welcome, Cassady. I am glad to read that the Covid situation had a silver lining with your increased time with your kiddos and that you learned so much about yourself and your goals. I am in Arizona and am a PT working in early intervention and agree that there is a lack of awareness and knowledge of peaceful parenting techniques. I am fortunate that our early intervention team includes a Psychologist and OT whose coaching strategies tend to align with peaceful parenting (a lot of meeting the need that is leading to a behavior). Hopefully the shift toward peaceful/gentle/compassionate parenting and NVC is happening, and it is encouraging that a professional like yourself is onboard.

[Tabitha Jonson]

So lovely reading all your introductions! I just have this feeling of an amazing flow on effect of where you are all helping your children and other families and children. Heartwarming and inspiring!

I’m Tabitha and I have worked with Genevieve for quite a few years now and am happy to be supporting with the courses and training. I have two children who are 11 and 12. Both very different people and, as so often happens, help me learn and grow. I’m a trained primary teacher and also work part-time as a tutor as well as running parenting talks and courses locally. We also home-educate using a life learning approach.

Hi Orianna, Great to have you here in the Peaceful Parent Village. Gosh, those strong-willed children really require us to grow, don’t they? I can relate to that. 🙂 So great that you’re wanting to really enhance that connection with Parker.

Helen, yes totally agree that having our own challenges can help us bring empathy and skills to other parents who are trying so hard as well. Such a journey, isn’t it, working on our ‘stuff’ so we can better support our little ones.

Marie Yianna, Glad you’ve made it to the forum. 🙂 I can really hear how passionate you are about supporting children and families and it’s great you can bring all that learning in both with your children and with others.

Hi Katey. Such a hard but valuable thing – that journey to break cycles and do better for our children. Great to have you here.

Hi Allie. Can totally relate to the self-doubt with parenting! So glad that you have found the tools & support to help you feel more confident.

Hi Cassady. I think it is also the case here where there is limited knowledge around responding to kids in a positive way in school and support settings. So great you are working to be able to do that for the families you work with. I’m wondering if you’ve come across Ross Greene’s book, Lost at School? and he has a website too. He’s more focused on the problem-solving part of Peaceful Parenting and less so on the emotional side but I feel like it could be really helpful in a school setting. Schools that have implemented his model have seen drastic reductions in suspensions.

[Meg Rodney]

Hi everyone! I just noticed that my intro on here is 6 years old, so I just wanted to do a quick re-introduction. I’m still living in Arizona, USA, with my husband and two boys (and our animals – the birds have changed but the dog and tortoise remain). My boys are now 18 and 14, and I am now about 9 years into my peaceful parenting journey. It is no exaggeration to say that peaceful parenting transformed my relationship with my oldest. I’m happy to report that the teen years were smooth sailing with him. We didn’t experience any of the angst that my friends complain of, and I attribute that to the open, safe communication and connection that peaceful parenting affords.

I’m so happy to continue to be a mentor here on this site and look forward to supporting you all any way that I can.

[Karen Fu]

Hi everyone,

I am Karen, mother of a 9year old girl. I am a passionate early childhood teacher. I am new here and doing the instructor training. By doing this course, I hope I could develop the ability to help other parents to overcome their parenting problems. So their children could benefit from a better way of parenting.

[Tayler Scholes]

Hello, my name is Tayler Scholes. I have a three-year-old little boy (Memphis) and a 1-year-old daughter (Isadora). We live in a small-town in Missouri, USA. I was not raised with gentle parenting but quickly fell into it as a parent myself. My husband would naturally fall under permissive parenting and I would naturally fall toward authoritarian style, so together we decided to meet in the middle and use gentle parenting-and that has been great for us. I took a 6 week intensive course for helpers about Peaceful Parenting. I am a provisionally Licensed Professional Counselor, a Licensed School Counselor K-12, and a Family Intervention Specialist. I look forward to using this coaching with parents.

[Kelly Walker]

Hi everyone, my name is Kelly and I live in New Zealand with my partner Ric, our 7 year old son Max and our 4 year old daughter Maya.
I have long had an interest in attachment science and gentle parenting. It’s something I’m still learning! I’m here to improve my own skills and hopefully be able to pass that on to other parents at some point in the future.

[Elizabeth Slater]

Greetings from Northern CA – my name is Liz Belenis Slater, and my husband and I are experiencing the fledgling stage of the empty nest as our daughter, Libby (18) is in her first year of University – and what we are learning is this is also an amazing parenting season – but not from the “empty nest” perspective, but from how much your individuating child truly does still need you for parental guidance, love and emotional shoring. We are parenting and loving from a far as she needs, but it is more than I would have expected and beautiful. I have learned that the Freshman year actually can feel very much like the separation anxiety a toddler or school age child may experience, and the intensity of this was new to me, but it can be called Freshman Separation Anxiety – and do this our Pandemic may have added to this. I am finding College Age humans really do need loving, supportive parents and extended family who demonstrate unconditional belief in them…all ages beautiful. I am blessed to have many dear friends with young children as well that we frequently engage in and so beautiful to be with children in all ages and stages. Look forward to meeting many.

[Genevieve Simperingham]

Hi Liz, a belated response but I wanted to come back to what you shared here about the separation anxiety related to this first year of being in college and leaving the nest. It’s such a huge stage of development and huge life changes for teen and parent alike. But I love how you compare it with the separation anxiety the child goes through when they start pre-school or school and also some similar challenges for the parent as the needs change so much. But yes Libby will no doubt still need a lot of support from you and so great that you continue to be available and responsive. You will be really feeling the benefits now of that deep bond and all your hours of being present and listening which has resulted in Libby now feeling comfortable to continue accessing your support at the times when she needs it. Sadly so many kids of Libby’s age don’t really turn to their parents for the emotional support but instead just talk really about logistics which is a huge loss and makes it incredibly difficult for the kids to be venturing out in the world without that emotional secure base at home. Hopefully, Libby will feel comfortable to turn to you and her dad when things go wrong, especially if she’s the one who did something she hugely regrets.

[Shauna Black]

Hello, everyone. I’m located in Utah, USA. I have 4 daughters, aged 22, 19, 16, and 14. At the moment, they’re all living at home with me, as my 22-year-old just graduated from college and is searching for her first job. But she has some good prospects and will probably soon be moving. My two youngest are in high school. My 19-year-old dropped out of college last year and struggles with depression. Unfortunately, our relationship has been somewhat rocky for quite awhile now. In my search for better ways of handling this, I came across the book Hold On To Your Kids by Gordon Neufeld and Gabor Maté. I loved it, but found it difficult to implement the ideas into my every-day routine. Then I found this website and the Peaceful Parent method. This was exactly what I’d been searching for! I’m really excited to go through the training methods in this program and learn how to build better relationships with my kids, especially my 19-year-old. I’m also in school to become a secondary teacher, and I feel this training will benefit my future practice as well.

[Genevieve Simperingham]

Hi Shauna, great to read your introduction! We have a lot of members and PP instructor trainees in the US. Hold on to your kids is a great book! And yes the courses will most definitely equip you with the how to’s and lots of examples of peaceful parenting applies to different challenges. Those who commit to working through the courses, one module and unit at a time really do reap the benefit and I’m sure you will to. You might also enjoy reading an article I wrote for the Natural Parent Magazine following a week of attending Gordon Neufeld’s courses when he came here to New Zealand a few years ago. I love the work of both Gabor Mate and Gordon Neufeld. Good on you for doing these courses to further support you in your parenting of your children. And yes definitely all that you learn here will greatly benefit you in your teacher training and your future work with students. We have a lot of teachers and ex-teachers who work through these courses and the PP instructor training for professional development.

The science of emotion – Gordon Neufeld’s developmental model

[Shauna Black]

Thank you! I’ve perused some of the articles and started one of the courses and already felt I’ve learned a lot!

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