HISTORY
Shortly after having my second child, I decided to try to organize a social gathering for any other parents interested in babywearing in Taupo. At that first meet up, myself and three other mums started to formulate a plan to share our love of babywearing with the wider community. We realized there was a great need for a sling library and someone who could provide support and assistance to families to share information on safety and help parents to have greater access to babywearing as an early parenting tool. With an amazing combined effort and thanks to many generous people, the Taupo Sling Library was founded and quickly began to grow. Then an opportunity for training became available so that we could provide families access to a comprehensive babywearing information service.
WHY I BECAME A CONSULTANT
Basically I fell in love with the convenience of babywearing and discovered so many benefits that I wanted to share it far and wide!
With my first child I didn’t really know much about babywearing, but I was given a couple of carriers which I tried but did not find very comfortable, so initially I didn’t get off to a great start with it. It was not until my son was a bit older and I started working as a homebased educator that I looked into it again and found some more comfortable options. When I look back with the skills and information that I have now, I know that my day to day life could have been helped in many situations by using a carrier. So that is why I really want to help parents become aware of the many options and benefits early in their parenting journey.
Because I am so passionate about babywearing, I have spent many hours learning, watching videos, trialing, experimenting, practicing and researching different options and techniques in addition to my training. I understand that not everyone is keen or able to do this. I can condense this information and share it so that they don’t feel like they’re fumbling around cluelessly in the dark! I want to share my knowledge with others and I have always loved teaching.
I have experience teaching at many different levels (early childhood qualified, primary school, and varied experience teaching adults).
Bringing together my knowledge, experience and love of babywearing, with my passion for teaching and education, created a logical and synergistic combination.
I especially want to share information about safety and baby physiology, as I found this so enlightening during my training.
WELCOME TO
SNUGGLE UP
Here I will share with you my story and cover how I came to set up this babywearing education and consultancy service.
I really want to share this tool with others to make their life easier and help grow secure attachment between babies and their primary caregiver which I believe will have a ripple effect across society.
So I guess you could say, that my goal is to change the world, one family at a time!
MY PHILOSOPHY & APPROACH
My goal is to nurture families and support them to discover and share in my love of babywearing.
I aim to give parents information and tools and then allow you to make your own assessment of the risks and benefits in each situation. Everyone's parenting journey is unique, I provide information and you can choose what options work best for you.
I want to empower you to feel confident in making your own parenting choices.
TRAINING & QUALIFICATIONS
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Babywearing consultant training undertaken through Slingababy
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Graduate Diploma of Teaching Early Childhood Education
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Bachelor of Arts degree in French
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Treasurer and Peer Support Leader for Taupo Babywearers
My greatest and proudest achievement in my life is of course my three wonderful children! My first child is a happy fun-loving 8 year old, my second son is 4, and my youngest boy is now an active exploring toddler just over one. Wow it’s amazing how quickly that happened! I am also grateful for the constant support of my loving fiance. We've been together for nearly 20 years. We chose to settle in Taupo in 2007 after spending a few years working and living overseas. Previously I worked in hotel management and then retrained to become an ECE Teacher.
Some of my other interests and passions are: ecological extended breastfeeding, cloth nappies, natural health & nutrition, homebirth, hiking, French language, travelling, sewing, gentle parenting approaches, baking & cooking.