Individual Parent Coaching
If you’re looking to gain clarity about your family goals, troubleshoot solutions for specific issues, or simply lay the groundwork for a smoother journey, I’m glad to guide you toward becoming the parent you aim to be.
Coaching Specialties
Challenging + Concerning Behaviors
Challenging behaviors mean a child is dealing with challenging feelings. When children don’t have appropriate ways to express these feelings, they turn to behaviors that often worry parents. The beautiful thing about challenging behavior is that we can take it as a clear sign that a child needs our guidance, acceptance, and confidence. Kids who feel better, do better!
Receive help establishing simple, easily maintainable spaces that foster free play and age appropriate functional independence. The environment that is optimally set up helps children feel respected, capable, creative, self-driven, and included in family life.
Home Environment Setup
Contrary to the modern “wait for readiness” approach to toileting, I help parents embrace an “always ready” mindset that helps children stay in or regain connection to their innate body wisdom. I love guiding parents through the toileting process, either through elimination communication with their infant, or through toilet learning with their young toddler.
Infant + Toddler Toileting
Looking to create a culture of enjoyable family meals from the start? I love helping parents feel confident establishing mealtime norms so that family meals become a place of connection and joy. I’ll help you take the pressure off feeding challenges so your child can become a naturally adventurous eater.
Enjoyable Mealtimes
Connection-Based Sleep Transitions
If you’re looking to avoid cry-it-out style sleep advice but still seeking ways to transition your baby toward more independent sleep, I offer guidance rooted in my knowledge and practice of Aware Parenting. You can preserve and even deepen your attachment relationship and meet your whole family’s needs for more rest!
Parents often ask me for input on the best local childcare facilities, but a childcare option that feels great for one family may not be what suits your family. I can help you clarify your vision for your child’s care and provide you with a list of important questions to ask caregivers so you know your child will be supported in the ways that your family values.
Childcare Choices
FAQ
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My specialty is early childhood, particularly pre-baby to age 3, though I also have experience with children up to 7 years old, and most parents I work with have children under this age. Even if you have an older child, feel free to reach out if you’d like to connect and discuss your vision or challenges. The majority of what I practice can be applied to all ages of children, though it can start to look a little different as children get older, particularly in the pre-teen and teen years. Even if we don’t pursue coaching, I’d be happy to point you toward some resources to help you with navigate life with your older child.
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So many philosophies and child development experts have made invaluable contributions to the field of respectful caregiving and attachment, and it’s my belief that, while they all have wonderful perspectives to offer, different families will resonate with different approaches. I aim to be flexible in my suggestions based on what each family needs. Generally, I draw from philosophies and experts focused on healthy attachment, non-punitive discipline, therapeutic play, and respectful caregiving alongside clear limits and expectations that help balance the needs of the adults and children in the family. Here’s a non-exhaustive list of the philosophies, experts, and books that inspire my approach:
Montessori
RIE®/Pikler
Aware Parenting (Aletha Solter, PhD)
Positive Discipline (Jane Nelson)
Hold on to Your Kids (Gordon Neufeld, PhD + Gabor Mate, MD)
How to Talk book series authors Adele Faber + Elaine Mazlish
Simplicity Parenting (Kim John Payne)
Playful Parenting (Lawrence Cohen, PhD)
Connection Parenting (Pam Leo)
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After a free 20-minute exploratory call to determine if we’re a good fit, I’ll send you an intake form and child temperament questionnaire so I can get more information about your family’s needs and goals.
After that, we’ll have our first coaching call. Coaching calls are conducted via Zoom and are 1 hour long.
In our initial call, we’ll go over your intake form, diving into any topics that need particular attention, discuss family dynamics, and end with an actionable step or two to get you started. Within the next 48 hours, I’ll email you a Google doc with my notes and suggestions from our conversation. This is an ongoing, collaborative document where you are also welcome to write down any of your questions, concerns, and observations for us to discuss in the next session. Updated notes are sent after each coaching session as needed.
I am available for one-time coaching sessions or on an ongoing basis. One-time calls might be useful to you if you have just one particular question or circumstance for which you’re seeking clarity.
Ongoing support may be a better option for you if you’d like to disrupt a challenging pattern, troubleshoot your longterm family vision, or simply like the idea of a weekly check-in when the going gets tough. For ongoing support, we’ll start by meeting weekly, and as you observe that things start to feel better, we can move to bi-weekly or monthly calls until you’re feeling confident to handle challenges on your own.
If something tricky comes up again, my door is open to previous clients for one-time calls and quick email exchanges for questions about specific scenarios or behavior.
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Many factors influence how long it can take to change a family pattern or resolve a tricky behavior. When we’ve been doing things one way for a long time, change can be a little tougher to bring about, but it’s truly never too late. Parents must be the initiators of the change, but the good news is, the sooner you can lean in and trust the process, the sooner you’ll see results. Depending on the scope of change you’re seeking, you’ll find that you may need at least 4 to 6 sessions, but we can continue the coaching relationship for as long as you feel you need the support.
