I didn't grow up with a blueprint for what good parenting looked like.

My childhood was marked by neglect (and sometimes violence) and from a very young age I knew that when I had children of my own, I wanted something completely different for them. I was the first in my family to graduate from college, where I studied Communication and Early Childhood Development. Before I ever had children I was already reading every parenting book I could find, searching for the understanding I hadn't been given and determined to do better.

That search led me to Montessori, and it changed my life!

I spent the next 25 years in the classroom, on the floor, at child height, watching how young children really grow, struggle, and thrive. And the whole time I was doing that, I was also raising my own two children, using everything I was learning, making mistakes, repairing them, and discovering firsthand that what worked in the classroom worked just as powerfully at home. I wasn't just teaching these principles. I was living them.

What those years taught me, in the classroom and at home, is something most parents never get access to: that behavior is always communication. That underneath every meltdown, every act of defiance, every moment that pushes a parent to their limit, there is a child trying to tell you something they don't yet have the words for. When a parent learns to hear that, everything changes.

That is why I became a certified Parent Coach through the Jai Institute, to bring everything I learned in the classroom and in my own home to the parents on the other side of the door.

My own healing journey is the foundation of everything I do. I am living proof that the family you envision is possible, even when the one you came from didn't show you how. My two adult children are my greatest joy, and my deepest evidence that this work is worth it.

I built Parenting on Purpose for every parent who loves their child fiercely and just needs someone in their corner on the hardest days. I would be honored to be part of your journey. 🦋