A Happy Childhood

Nichole is a preschool and reception specialist, and also the founder of @mummyandtrainers , a journey she initiated almost six years ago with the aim of advocating learning through play and supporting parents to implement play at home.

To me, she is the teacher every parent would wish for their children, so who better than Nichole to have this beautiful conversation and unpack the magic of play during childhood.

We chat about the importance of play in our children’s mental health and about helping our children develop emotional intelligence so, of course, resilience was a necessary topic. Nichole shares her knowledge on how to nurture resilience through play and very wisely says “don’t hide the world from your children” —Thank you Nichole!

She explains as well the difference between free play and structured play, which one is best and why. And it was inevitable for me to ask Nichole her view regarding screen time, as a teacher and a mum.

Finally. she gives us valuable advice on how to make the most of our children’s play.

For more information about Nichole, please visit her IG, Facebook or Twitter account @mummyandtrainers

You can also find me on IG as @ahappychildhood

Music by: Dave Delgado

Luciana Triggiano-Marta is a Certified Yoga Teacher and student of eastern spiritual practices. She wears many hats and she is deep into many different traditions, so she continues her studies in different fields in order to be able to help people who are starting the path of self-love and self-discovery.

In our conversation, she shares her story and how grieving and pain took her into a journey of healing and self-love.

She also shares how her experience shaped her in a positive way, her perspective about life and her thoughts about the question most of us ask ourselves when having a really hard time: “Why me?”.

But moreover, she beautifully explains her healing journey and talks about her yoga practices, staying present with our feelings, self-love and reparenting by connecting with our inner-child, as resources to heal.

Finally, she shares some words for parents who are grieving the loss of the mother or father of their children.

For more information about Luciana and her spiritual practices, head to her Instagram account @theyogasalad

Special thanks to Dave Delgado for the lovely music!

This time I chat with Valentina Pietrangeli, co-founder of Trust The Rain, about Parents Expectations.

We dive deep into the real meaning of parents expectations and highlight important concepts such as unconscious parenting, self-awareness, parental dissapointment and fear of failure.

Valentina clarifies my dilemma about parents expectations, because from my perspective, placing expectations on our children is actually healthy and positive. But the question here is, when does it become negative? She explains how to find that sweet spot where our expectations are helpful and not harmful.

She talks as well about the consequences on our adult mental health when we have been brought up with high expectations, and she shares how she is managing and healing some of these consequences as a grown up.

For more information about Trust The Rain, visit their IG account @trusttherain

A reflective episode where I share 5 powerful parenting reminders, that have made things easier for me and my family since the start of the pandemic.

I talk about the perfect parent, mum guilt, self-awareness and of course, social media, among other topics.

In these Covid times, it is definitely worth having on hand these mantras — they are always helpful though!

I would love to hear YOUR mantras!

A very simple and bite sized episode, yet a meaningful one.

Yes, we are in lockdown, so this time I decided to briefly share with you a little family project I started this year.

Maria McIlvena is a Pediatric Sleep Consultant. We talked about the relationship between Sleep and Children’s Emotional Wellbeing. Maria explained her own Sleep Training approach and how Sleep Problems impact children’s happiness. She also shared her answer to the question “Should I let my baby cry or not?”, and her thoughts on the link between Co-sleeping and children’s mental health. For more information, go to www.harmonysleepconsulting.com

This is an introductory episode where I explain what this Podcast is about, and share my personal thoughts regarding modern parenting and happiness.