Mission and Vision: why am I here?

Mission statement: To inspire confidence and self-reflection in parents and teachers.

Vision statement: To support the adults who support children.

I’ve worked with parents and kids for over ten years now in a number of roles - a lead teacher, an assistant, a sub, and a camp counselor. I’ve learned so much about children in these years working with them, but I’ve also learned a lot about us Grown Ups who have kids in our lives.

I know how much stress and pressure we’re under. How isolating it can feel to be a parent to a toddler or preschooler in a world that does not always support families; how overwhelming it can feel to be a lead preschool teacher with all the pressures of the classroom; how monotonous and sometimes thankless it can feel to always be wiping down tables as an assistant teacher. The time we spend with children may be some of the most impactful moments of our lives, and the work may often be joyful, but it is also incredibly demanding!

The task of raising healthy children is that much harder when communication and partnership are difficult for the adults who are responsible for children’s care - including parents and other family members, teachers, and school administrators. It seems common today to see videos online of either teachers blaming parents or parents blaming teachers for a variety of issues related to children today. The truth is, this is simply a difficult time to raise children, and there is a chronic lack of support for both parents and teachers.

I want to offer this support. Through providing information and resources, encouraging self-reflection, and creating spaces where parents and teachers can come together and support each other in the day-to-day struggles of being with children, I want to help guide caregivers towards trusting their own innate wisdom and feeling confident in their roles with children.

I am constantly reading and taking trainings, and I want to pass along the information I’ve gathered. For me, learning about children’s developmental needs through Montessori training and their attachment needs through the Circle of Security training fundamentally changed the way I interacted with children, when all I had was conventional wisdom and my own trial-and-error experiences. Now, I have a roadmap for understanding children.

Because teaching is extremely challenging, I’ve also spent a lot of time learning how to be my best self in the classroom, which largely means recognizing my boundaries, communicating them well, and learning to control my emotions. My search for wisdom keeps bringing me back to the experiences of my body, and the human need for connection. I’ve learned about how our bodies hold onto emotions that we haven’t let ourselves feel, because emotions are physical chemicals that can build up in our systems. I’ve learned how to locate my feelings, listen to their messages, and release them. (You might have heard this described as emotional regulation, nervous system regulation, or Somatic therapy.) I’ve also learned how to work on the negative stories I tell myself, so I don’t get so overwhelmed emotionally in the first place, and how to recognize and meet my own needs so I don’t self-sabotage. Perhaps most importantly, I’ve learned how to communicate my boundaries to others calmly, before I’m unable to control myself from lashing out.

Now I have a roadmap to understand myself, and other people as well. I want to share these roadmaps with you.

I plan to use this blog to provide analysis of how these different modalities and philosophies interact, and to share books and other resources that I think will be useful. I’ll share exercises I’ve learned which help me remain calm in stressful moments, as well as information about the teachers I’ve learned from, so you can seek them out yourself if you’re interested in diving deeper.

My ultimate goal for my work is happier children, families, and communities, and a peaceful world. This might seem like a lofty goal, but as Montessori said, “Education is the best weapon for peace.” I want to arm as many adults as possible with the know-how that will bring peace and happiness to our lives.

Ethics and values

I want to support my community for the purpose of creating a happier and more peaceful world; this requires clearly defined boundaries, to care for myself and for you.

As a coach, you can depend on my honesty and integrity in the feedback I offer you. I will be loyal to the goals of your family, and I will take care not to cross personal lines. I will teach healthy boundaries by maintaining my own healthy boundaries. I will be personally accountable for my presence, my responsibilities, and my mistakes, and I will make every effort to repair any ruptures I cause.

I will lead with the assumption that every parent and teacher who comes to me cares deeply about the children in their lives and wants to be the best version of themselves. I will respect your autonomy as an individual and your personal growth, knowing that we all have our own experiences that shape us, and our own journeys of discovery.

I will try to help parents and teachers notice any blind spots they may have, to encourage fairness, justice, and equality among the children in their lives, and in their interactions with adults. I will make an effort to seek differing perspectives from my own, to be mindful of my own blind spots, and to try to remain open to feedback when they are brought to my attention, correcting any errors in my behavior, and making amends when I cause harm.