Blog
Building Children’s Self-Esteem
As parents, our job is to help our children cultivate self-esteem. In order to do that, they need to know and become connected to the self. If children are not connected to who they are, they will not develop self-esteem. We live in a world that is quick to teach us...
How Children Learn
..and what we need to know as parents Knowing how children learn can ultimately unlock their blueprint of potential. Think of your child, as the seed of a tree. Inside every tree lies a blueprint of creation that is there to guide the growth of that tree. Our...
Looking after your relationships as parents
It was about 8 weeks after Sam, my first son was born. I was storming around the house, slamming doors and packing my bags. I told Peter I’d had enough, and I was leaving. We then argued about who was taking the baby. I couldn’t even fathom that he thought he could...
Parenting as a Spiritual Practice
Did you know that we learn to parent, by the way we were parented, at least subconsciously. That may or may not be good news. What is helpful to know, is that our reactive thoughts and feelings come from our subconscious programs. Our job as we grow, is to upgrade the...
Moving Forward in a World With COVID
Reclaiming Our Community and ConnectionHello my dear, thanks for tuning in. I had my first in-person class over the weekend, since the lockdown. It was so lovely to have people back in the training room. I was acutely aware of the fear levels of people in the room, as...
Communication – listening and talking is a skill to develop
The biggest superpower we have as humans is our ability to communicate – both talking and listening and very few of us are taught how to do this. My husband often quotes the saying, we have two ears, one mouth – use accordingly. In other words, listen twice as much...
It Takes a Village
They say it takes a village to raise a child – and yet we don’t often have much of a village these days. Sometimes we need to look outside of our own extended family to create extra support and bring a richness that comes from having many different people as part of...
The Importance of Play for Young Children
As an only child of a single mother, I grew up entertaining myself. When mum got home from work, she didn’t have the time or space to entertain me. I knew from an early age that my own fun came from me, and what I could make, create, discover and imagine. If ever I...
Life After Birth: Managing the First Few Days
Read this before your baby is born and get your partner/a loved one to read it to you asap after your baby arrives. Having a new baby is like learning a new job where you’re expected to work 24/7 on limited amounts of broken sleep, with a boss who doesn’t speak your...
Your Baby has Arrived! Tips for Partners
You have been an amazing partner during the birth – now what happens? It’s a very intense time of learning and adjusting when a new baby lands, particularly for the birthing mother. Not only does her body need to heal from the birth and return to a non-pregnant state,...
Creating Family Rituals
My son gazes lovingly into my eyes one night as I put him to bed. This has always been an important time of connection for us. I have sung him his own song since he was a baby. This song signals the words I want to deeply instil within him, that he is loved and he is...
Cultivating Emotional Intelligence
It was one of those days where everything felt hard. Getting up was almost human torture, feeling like I must have had a 10-minute sleep, not the 7 hours the clock reported. Getting the boys breakfast was mundane and nerve wracking as every disgusting noise and...
The Emotions of Pregnancy & Parenting
One of the couples I worked with had a very difficult first birth. As a result, they researched other ways to welcome their second baby into the world. This time, they changed their model of care to a more woman-centered model. They completed my course and the mum did...
Rapid Transformational Therapy to Help You Grow as a Parent
“I can’t help it, I fly off the handle at the most ridiculous things.” “I’m not the parent I want to be, I seem to have this pent-up anger, and my daughter triggers me.” “I’m sick of feeling anxious all the time. I have this continual fear that something bad is going...
The First Forty Days
The moment has finally arrived - you're finally gazing into that beautiful face of your newborn. All of the mystery surrounding the identity of your baby has been resolved in just one moment. You're fascinated by the unique little features and the perfection of...
Becoming a Grandparent
Grandparents are gold in the life of a child. They come with experience, their hearts full of love for their family, and no real responsibility to the child, other than keeping them alive 🙂 This means they can be playful, breake the rules, spoil them and give them...
Breathing Better Is Not That Hard
I am blessed to see my families again after they have had their babies, and I do get some beautiful compliments about how my course changed their labour. But during a birth debrief with a couple, I received one of the most wonderful and confusing compliments I have...
Finding Your Voice in Labour
I have a distinct memory of looking at my husband’s face during my birth with James, with desperate eyes, pleading with him to read my mind – to get a towel for the floor, a hot pack for my raging bum, a drink of water, call the midwife and not to tell her she has...
Reclaiming what was lost in birth
It’s her second birth, and she’s chosen a homebirth. She’s excited to experience birth as a connected family event. She trained her body and mind and brought a great level of commitment and love to her impending birth. She has done all the right things to prepare. The...
From Calmbirth Canberra to Transform Your Birth and Transform Parenting – An evolution story
It’s close to a year since I first decided to leave my beloved Calmbirth community. To further my experience of working with new families and act on creating the vision of transforming not only birth experiences, but the parenting experience. When you teach something...
Reflections on my Personal Meditation Practice
It was the first day of my training, over 14 years ago, when I was listening to Peter Jackson, the founder of Calmbirth, talk about the role of the subconscious in childbirth. I was smitten, not only with Peter's lovely kind manner and his relaxing voice but also his...