tl;dr>>> I can be a little long winded, so if you’re short on time,
When I graduated high school and all my friends were choosing their college majors, I knew what I wanted to do: I wanted to learn how to be a really great parent.
There are plenty of majors revolving around early childhood education and family studies, but I needed to start from square one, and figure out what it really would take to be in the trenches and get it right!
I had witnessed all kinds of families over the course of my childhood, and I had a simple goal for my future: I wanted to have a happy family. I wanted to be in love with my husband, I hoped my kids would want to talk to me, and I yearned for the stability that felt just out of my reach.
There were a lot of things I didn’t know back then. I didn’t know how to get from where I was to where I wanted to be. I didn’t know how long it would take to learn the things I wanted to learn. And I didn’t know where to start.
The Good School is the result of the journey that followed. I set out traveling across the globe, observing families everywhere I went. From nanny jobs to treatment centers, coaching sports to summer camps, I immersed myself in the world of children and families, and I took notes along the way. If I didn’t know how to solve a problem with a child I was working with, I would research tirelessly until I found a book or article that could help us. As I struggled to have my own functional relationships, I spent time in therapy, took college courses, and read every book I could get my hands on to learn the art of wholehearted living.
What I learned was so much more than I bargained for. Opening my heart, being vulnerable, learning emotional regulation, and channeling all of that into healthy interpersonal interactions, all while maintaining the resilience to get back up again every time I got knocked down.
I had to learn to forgive. Learn to love. To breathe. I had to learn to walk head-on into the storms of life without shrinking, hiding, or giving up. It required the courage to talk about the hard things. And the hope that it would be a little better next time. One adventure after another, I never gave up believing it would all be worth it.
Anyway, I digress. Here’s the point:
I have spent the last 17 years searching high and low, seeking an understanding of what it really takes to raise healthy, happy children with the tools they need to be confident, independent, motivated adults.
In the process, I found that if we apply those tools at any age, it can transform us from a life of surviving to one that is truly thriving.
With The Good School, I’m sharing that head start with you and your family.
One of the things I’ve learned about sharing Good Things is that you need Good People to get it done. I’m gathering Good People to help provide some things that really would have made it easier on me. Hopefully they’ll make things easier on you, too.
-A stable, loving, healthy environment for the little ones.
-A place where we can come together and share our gifts so we don’t have to go it alone.
-People you can trust.
-An education that includes so much more than facts and figures.
-Mentors, funding, and support to help you get past survival mode.
-Space to breathe. One less thing to worry about. A spark of hope. A leap of faith. An outstretched hand.
There are a lot of resources out there, and they could take a lifetime to sift through. Goodness knows I’ve spent half of mine on that quest.
At The Good School, we’re here to show you how to put some of those pieces in place.
We may not have the whole picture, but we can promise it’s a Good Start.
