I was born and raised in Northern Italy, in a city called Genoa, on the Mediterranean sea. Then, I studied and began working in Milan, before following my fiance and now husband to Southern France, where I’m writing from now!  But life also brought me to Germany for a couple of years, to Texas  and in Portugal as a student … and tomorrow, who knows?!

And besides, it’s so exciting to discover new .. people, places, ways of seeing life!

Let’s become serious for a sec :

I took a master degree in management for arts, culture and communication, with the dream of working into the touristic field.. and then, I changed paths so many times!

Marketing, sales, secretary,  volunteering as an early child educator in an international school, now blogger for a new found passion : raising happy responsible kids, and feel happy while doing it.

Do you ever think “I hope things were better ?”

Do you sometimes (or even all the time) find yourself raising your eyebrows at your kids, snorting at your husband, trying to control your frustration when they don’t behave the way you’d wanted?

Or do you fall into bed, exhausted, thinking : “It’s going to get better when they grow up; or when they’ll sleep through the night; or when I’ll be able to work less hours”?

Just.Hang.In.There. – You’re at the right place!

I was there, too. And then I realized I didn’t want to wait any longer.

I wanted to enjoy my life every single day, starting from RIGHT NOW!

And I want the same for you, too.

What if you..

• had reasons to smile and giggle most of the time.

• knew what’s going on in your kids’ mind, and within yourself, and were able to master your reaction in a calm, assertive way.

• were able to be clear about your priorities in life and take practical steps that reflected them.

That’s my dream, my vision. That we all become happy, balanced and mindful parents who are growing happy, balanced, caring and responsible future adults who will make our planet a better place to live.

Quite a journey, here!

This blog is born after several years of questioning, researching, reading, wondering.

When I was pregnant of my first child, 6 years ago already, I bumped into the new wonderful world of MOOC. It was Coursera at the time. It was FANTASTIC. I could finally deepen all those topics that I hadn’t gotten the chance to explore yet !

Looking here and there, I discovered an online course on Infant Mental Health, “Babies in Mind”, which presented the connection between parents’ mind and developing babies’ mind. I simply loved it, so much that I also followed a more in-depth course with the Warwick University.

It was a whole-new world and so fascinating to me.

(By the way, I HIGHLY recommend to sign up at least for the first course if you have a baby or if you’re a mother-to-be. Or simply out of interest!)

I started reading more and more. One thing led to another; there were talks and conferences on neurosciences, courses and workshops on Montessori and positive discipline; work interventions about mindfulness and meditation..

And in parallel, as my children were growing, I’d find myself reacting in unexpected ways. Yelling under frustration, tired and running all the time, without even knowing why.

From inexplicable feelings to written words

That’s how Parent : Smile and Grow was born. From the firm belief that when we take a step back, observe ourselves, recognize our needs as well as those of others.. we come to appreciate life more, and we are then able to take a better care of the people we love.

With this blog, I want to take my journey with you, hand in hand.

Support you by sharing my mistakes, my doubts, my personal thoughts and discoveries.. because you can smile and grow, too!

What I say may not be the truth, I’m writing about my own experience and my own interpretation of it.

You will find here my first blog post on why I’ve decided to write.

Good adventure to you, and thank you for being here.

Want to join me on this journey ?