Parent Coaching
Loving support and gentle guidance to attune your wisdom in raising your beautiful child.
for expectant parents/carers and those of children from infancy to pre-teen
"Go and love someone exactly as they are. And then watch how quickly they transform into the greatest, truest version of themselves."
Wes Angelozzi
Dearest Parent
Might you feel..
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Overwhelmed by time or responsibilities, stuck in firefighting or consumed by meeting the survival needs of your child?
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A sense that prioritizing space and support to attend to yourself and regard the whole landscape will serve both you and your family well?
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Burdened by guilt, shame or something else, or overtaken by repeating triggers and the struggle to transcend them?
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Exhausted by navigating your child's tricky behaviours or treading on eggshells around them?
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A longing to have your parenting style understood by your partner or a desire to alter their approach?
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Drawn to come home to your own power and clarity in taking care of your child?
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The determinants for lifelong wellness across physical, mental, social and emotional health begin forming in the early years, and the significance of relational interactions between adult and child are widely evidenced.
Yet how do we nurture and nourish these pathways and develop our own parenting style amidst the cacophony of advice and cultural norms?
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If any of these apply for you, my heart is with you and I would be delighted to support you and your child flourish.
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You wish for the very best for your child and notice something is off track for them.
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You know that parenting is challenging right now and the long gone villages of support leave a void.
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You feel torn by time, or you struggle with your temper, meals at the table, acceptance and guilt, freedom or boundaries, screens or sleep.
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What you wish for your child is different to that which you received, or what you ate and how you felt is different to the dreams you have for your kin.
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You are curious to look through or try on a preventative parenting lens grounded in your instincts
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You have a sense that your presence matters and that your becoming is as much a part of the parenting journey as their maturation.
Below are some of the areas I support parents across:
Parent Reflection
How might your parenting benefit from my space to reflect, be heard and remember your deepest knowings about you and your child? Tremendously! The lovingly witnessed expression of your thoughts and feelings has profound positive effects on both you and your child. You will claim aha moments of powerful insights and answers ready to be acted upon in daily living.
Parenting Syle
Identify your own style, find your instinctive truths on parenting and navigate any challenges in the way of your authenticity. Find clarity and consistency on questions such as how might you uphold gentle parenting with setting limits or giving consequences? Or how might you deal with separation anxiety and more.
I welcome working with you regardless of whether or not you have a current difficulty.
"You have been incredibly valuable in helping me to gently claim back the lead as a parent." Parent and Therapist
Anxieties, Fixations & Sleep
Anxieties and rigidities often masquerade as small things and make hard the flow of living and sleeping. When we attend to expanding your child’s sense of safety and make more room for expression we can diminish the need for caution, vigilance and angst.
Demands and Aggression
When our child moves to take charge, orchestrates or lashes out, the parent-child dynamic is off balance and we feel without power. Often we can no longer locate that tenderness for our child as foul frustration ensues. Together, we will look behind our child’s tough mask, and reaching back to their heart whilst melting their big defence.
Food Troubles
For children food can easily become the one thing they do have control over, when the other aspects of living are determined by their caregivers. When this happens, fussy eaters become very fixed and battles of wills rarely end well. I will help you address this using the lens of food and attachment, and apply my rich experience working with food to have meal times enjoyable for everyone again.
Sensitivity
More and more children are entering our world with heightened sensitivity. Responding to their senses and feelings with authenticity, knowing that emotional regulation will be delayed and paving the way for this development are essential insights in navigating your sensitive child.
Sibling dynamics
Sibling conflict can be exhausting and strains family life. This signal will once addressed, lead to more harmonious interactions.
Stuckness
The development and learning is arrested in a stuck child. They will find transitions hard and may not show any emotion. Through your invitation and safety, play and expression, I guide you in freeing your child and restoring their development.
Peers and Screens
When peers matter more than parents, a child’s orbit neglects your voice and she may be governed by measuring up, conforming to and navigating peers all alone. Pining after digital devices or pursuing someone/ something else is another signal about your child’s satiation. When we examine these features for your child, we will develop ways to loosen the grip of peers and screens.
Babycare
Drinking, sleeping and growing are the key occupations of the new born. Yet when even one is awry everything is affected. Establishing these foundations now can be far simpler than later on. Whether you are after help in establishing rhythm, attuning to baby, making sense of her digestion, nourishing the quality of mother’s milk, navigating weaning and developing your happy healthy eater, I would be honoured to guide you.
Pre-pregnancy & Pregnancy
Preparing for pregnancy, birth and motherhood and nourishing your growing baby in the womb are vital aspects which inform the life-long health of you and your little one. My pregnancy food and health wisdom develops your confidence in anticipating and flourishing through these life changes.
"Thank you so much Anna for your support and guidance.
I thought I had lost my ten year old to her peers and to the internet.
Now our connection is deepening again, she allows me to guide her again, her heart is melting, she is openly sharing her struggles with me and trusting me as her mother." Marta
My Approach
What you will get
My natural, gentle approach applies early child development, attachment developmental psychology, neuroscience, natural food and health expertise and coaching.
I also bring over twelve years experience in teaching, parenting and facilitating the unfolding of human potential through my work with children in schools and with parents.
If you are after support with your child's challenging behaviour, we will explore this from the root. We then personalise ways to expand your relationship and interactions together and weave room for play, emotional expression, rituals, nourishment and more in a tailored solution for you.
A safe space to be heard, in the weight of your challenge or interest and an opening for movement and growth, coupled with the support to reignite your parenting instincts.
I guide you in becoming the answer. This might be:
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Through deepening your understanding of your child
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in reaching out to your child
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in providing safety
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in holding your child when they are full of feelings
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in navigating your triggers
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in nourishing your child
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in accepting the entirety of your child
Reclaiming clarity, wisdom and power is the fuel of parenting.
I support you in finding your unique answers, to move with grace through daily living, and act upon your own wisdom for freedom and flourishing for both you and your child.
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“We can bring these principles, of nature, nurture and nourish, into our parenting and our children, and as we do the potential for all humanity expands.”
Anna Freedman, from Raising Humanity, Raising Your Family.
"I contacted Anna in my first trimester and what I got was incredibly more than I expected!
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As well as supporting my choices and navigation of food and lifestyle, Anna created space for a much deeper conversation about the energy that was shaping my thinking and actions.
Each of the sessions were powerful experiences, helping me prepare for and embrace the journey into becoming a mother.
Anna has a sensitive way of being and listening, with highly perceptive feedback and guidance. My discoveries in those sessions became landmarks and invaluable reference points which I continually refer to.
I am so grateful for our sessions and encourage everyone to work with Anna."
Charlotte
"I feel so blessed that she is coming back again, and we cuddle, laugh, and when she has a melt down it feels more manageable, less aggressive."
"You have been there for me at every step which I am forever grateful for! The care and deep understanding you bring from your experience is incredibly valuable, alongside your expertise in attachment parenting and how to gently claim the lead back as a parent."
"I wish every parent who struggles finds their way to you, because I feel so many of us intuitively want to do this peaceful gentle parenting, but lack the skills or get mixed messages from old versions of parenting styles. This is the age now where we need to balance gentleness, softness with firm boundaries and consistency. It is not an either - or, it is a healthy balance of both!” Julia
About Anna
I spent a long time working in food and education, and attending to the healthy nourishment of my growing family. When I witnessed that the instinctive drive for attachment (the sense of connection a child feels towards you) overtook eating, learning, and thriving, I knew I had to realign my priorities.
What followed was intensive training in developmental attachment psychology and coaching, personal growth and parenting reform.
I am always awe struck at the implicit care of parents and the possibilities opened by my supportive conversations. In guiding parents I distill and personalise essential insights which move a child to deeply rest, play, grow, learn, care, love, and live.
It is my highest wish that every child unfolds fully.