My Journey to Parenting by Connection

ChristineAsheElizondoI’m the mom of a young son, who has been my greatest teacher in life and has guided me to my deepest passion, parenting! My work in Theater from the time I was a little girl up until now pairs beautifully with my work today. I'm passionate about helping parents connect with their children and children connect with their parents at the deepest level.

I moved from Chicago to Los Angeles and found out very quickly why they call it the City of Angels, my spiritual journey began and I became sober in the process. Along the way, I knew I wanted to be as conscious as possible when I had children. I wanted to parent differently than the way in which I was raised, break the cycle, the old paradigm of parenting, and find an approach where you could still be loving and respectful but have clear limits. One in which I could walk away from a problem my son was having, feeling good about the way I handled it.

My son was 3 yrs old when I started to have a challenging time, that’s when I came to Hand in Hand Parenting. He was experiencing a lot of hurt around separation (his dad travels about 75% of the year, so I feel like a single Mom most of the time), we had just moved, and my son started preschool. This was a perfect storm for all of his stored up emotions to come out in all directions.

Parenting quickly became overwhelming; my son was having meltdowns where he would arch his back; hit me, cry, kick and scream. This was very triggering for me and my joy of parenting was being overshadowed by these difficult times. Nothing was working. Parenting was turning out to be something different than I had imagined.

Then I started the Parenting by Connection approach and life changed dramatically for my son and me. Finally, I wasn’t alone anymore, I felt supported with real tools, that helped me instantly change the direction of my son's upsets and our relationship. Life got back in balance, my son became so much more flexible, his hitting actually faded away and he was able to transition into preschool successfully with ease. I was able to be more relaxed, and I had so much more patience and understanding for my son. I felt confident and capable as a mother again and was able to let go of the fear and guilt of recreating old patterns from childhood. Life was good again!

I never experienced the kind of support you receive from Hand in Hand Parenting. Not only did my son return to his happy, sweet and easy self but it moved mountains for me as well. The support that I received opened the door for me to show up for my son and not be stuck in my past. This is priceless!

Wanting more of this goodness in my relationship with my son, I became a Hand in Hand Instructor.

I quickly realized how parenting is emotional work, and if I took my experience from  Theater and integrated it all together, it would be a powerful tool with the Playful side of parenting. Currently I’m studying with Larry Cohen the author of “Playful Parenting,” I want to deepen my knowledge on an ongoing basis, and bring it to my teaching.

It’s so important for me to connect with my son through laughter; these are some of the sweetest times for us together. I’ll ask my son at the end of the night what his highlight was today, and it usually involves the times we were laughing together.

Sharing this gem, this unique style of parenting, is my passion. Teaching parents how to set limits with compassion and kindness that children can follow allows parents to live their fullest lives together with their children. Which is really what we all want as parents and children alike, to feel deeply connected with the ones we love.

My specialization is hitting/aggression, separation issues, and setting limits with young children, all while balancing with the playful side.

~ Christine Ashe-Elizondo

Read about my experiences using these tools with my son and how they worked successfully.

From the Hand in Hand Toolbox:

Listen by Patty Wpfler

 

 

 

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