When I began parenting over 19 years ago I had an idea of what I didn’t want to do but didn’t realize I would need to build a whole new skill set, essentially from scratch, in order to parent my kids how I really wanted to. I had a rude awakening when my good intentions flew out the window in the heat of the moment and I was the reactive, shaming, ill-equipped mom I didn’t want to be.

Fast-forward a decade or more, add in adopting an older kiddo from foster care, graduate school, a private therapy practice and school counseling gig and I finally began to get the gist of what I needed to heal and grow so I could parent in the way I intended to. Here’s what I learned along the way and want to share with you…

First, I had to focus on me. I could not give what I didn’t have so growing my self-compassion and ability to set healthy boundaries, healing my trauma, work on mastering my thoughts and behavior and soothing my nervous system were paramount to me showing up in any role, especially parenting, in the best possible way.

Second, once I put a good amount of love into my own healing and growth, I needed the actual life/social/emotional skills to model and teach to my kids. Love wasn’t enough! I read a ton of parenting books, had a steep learning curve managing big behaviors in the school (and home!) setting and was trained in the Positive Discipline parenting method. Needless to say, I have a lot of tricks up my sleeve!

Over the past several years I’ve honed in on some incredible life and parenting hacks and I’m sharing them with you in my two online courses, SHIFT: How To Rewire Your Brain for Healing, Growth and Connection and SHIFT: 5 Must-Have Tools In Your Parenting Toolbox. Check out my COURSES page to find out more about the courses. I hope to see you in class!