I’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. 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 Hand in Hand 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. 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!
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.
~ Christine Ashe-Elizondo, Los Angeles, CA
From the Hand in Hand Toolbox:
- We have a complete range of booklets that explain Hand in Hand approaches ready to download. Our Founder, Patty Wipfler’s book Listen: Five Simple Tools To Meet Your Everyday parenting Challenges is a complete parenting resource and guide to gentle parenting.
- For monthly updates, parenting tips and advice, sign up to receive our free newsletter.
- For daily support, Join the Hand in Hand Community, FREE, where parents, caregivers, educators & professionals, show up for each other in real time.
