“Working with Danielle has had a monumental impact on me as a parent..."
1
Trust
Create a relationship with your children based on trust, connection and collaboration
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Harmony
Experience peace, harmony and mutual understanding with your children
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Healing
Heal the wounds you experienced as a child, so your children don’t have to
No parent starts off knowing what to do...
And without conscious effort, our parenting methods can create conflict instead of connection. The authoritarian way most of us have been taught to parent often leads to frustration, power struggles and leaves us with difficult and distant relationships with our children.
When we parent our children without working through our own history, we are destined to repeat painful patterns we ourselves experienced as children, no matter how badly we wanted to be different.
It’s Never Too Late to Turn Things Around
No matter what your relationship with your child(ren) looks like right now, there is hope. Depending on where things are at, it can be hard to believe there is truly another way. But I promise you there is.
None of us start off as parents knowing what to do. We create plans, try to be the people we want to be and watch as our idealistic imaginings get run over by the reality of daily life and the immense pressures of caring for our kids.
Hello! I'm Danielle Ridgway
I always assumed I’d be an amazing parent and that having children would simply ‘complete me’. I had a fantasy of my children and I picnicing in the sunshine and playing and laughing effortlessly. The reality was quite the opposite. There was a LOT of crying – and not just from my children – me too! In one low moment, my 6-year old gave me a zero out of ten for parenting, so off I went to what he called, ‘Parent School’.
What I learned changed my life.
Not only did my relationships with both my children completely shift but I started to really enjoy and connect with them in a whole new way. I gained confidence in holding boundaries and allowing all feelings to flow (including mine!). Our household transformed from emotional chaos to a loving safe space within a few months.
Once I understood how possible it was to build a relationship with children based on mutual trust and unconditional love, I became deeply passionate about supporting other parents in this life-changing work. The results my clients have achieved are phenomenal. I believe all children deserve to be guided and loved by the best version that their parents can be. When we as parents get the support we need to thrive, our children thrive.
Danielle Ridgway is a Conscious Parenting Coach certified by the Jai Institute for Parenting. Danielle supports parents who are ready to step out of cycles of struggle and frustration with their child to build a close and collaborative relationship. Through her
3-month Parent with Confidence Program, Danielle guides parents to gain the awareness, skill and confidence required to maintain a deep bond with their child leading to more harmony and joy in the home. Danielle brings 15 years’ experience as a project team leader and mentor in global tech companies, a BA in Communications and is a committed Conscious Parent to her 6 and 9 year old boys.
"When I started working with Danielle, I was struggling to manage my 7 year old child’s behaviour and sleep. I was falling into patterns of shaming and punishing, which was the only way I knew how to deal with it. I found myself swinging between yelling and then just giving up. I was also imposing unrealistic expectations on him, and then feeling like a failure when these expectations were not met.
Danielle has helped me look beneath my child’s behaviour to interpret his experience. By doing this, I have learned to communicate with more compassion and less yelling. She has helped me understand the relationship between a child’s needs and behaviour. She listened and provided practical strategies for dealing with the daily scenarios that I was struggling with. Danielle also showed me how my own childhood has impacted how I parent, enabling me to challenge generational patterns.
It’s impossible to mention everything I’ve learnt in the last 12 weeks, but it has drastically changed how I relate to my child. Our family is more calm and connected, and I am able to travel through the daily challenges with skills and awareness that I didn’t have before."
-Claire (NZ)
"Working with Danielle has been really worthwhile, I am so happy I made the commitment to do this program.
It has completely changed the way I look at my children and their behaviour, I have learned to see them as a small person struggling to tell me what they need in a challenging moment rather than labelling them as being difficult or misbehaving.
It has been so enlightening for me to be able to pause in difficult moments and check in with myself – to ask why am I being triggered in this moment and how can I better navigate the situation.
I have also had to look at myself and my own preconceived parenting ways, based on my personality and upbringing and have made so many positive changes.
It has brought so much more calm to our household and I would recommend the program to all parents with kids of any age.
Danielle is so good at listening with no judgement. She guides me to come to a solution myself or provides me with a subtle suggestion as to how to deal with a tricky situation.
- Sophie (Mum of 3 under 11)
The traditional ‘POWER-OVER’ model of parenting isn’t working
It's so easy to get stuck and feel like you’re going to spend the rest of your life struggling with your children and that you’re somehow failing as a parent.
I believe that the real issue is that we’re not taught how to be the kind of parents most of us long to be so we end up slipping into the patterns that were ingrained in us in our own childhoods.
I understand how hard it is to ask for help as a parent. Which is why when you contact me, you will be met with understanding, a non-judgemental openness and a supportive, personalised, effective plan that I will personally guide you through every step of the way.
"Before I started the Parent with Confidence program I had started noticing a shift with my 8 year old pushing boundaries and reacting to situations differently and I felt I needed some help to navigate these changes and really, to set me up to navigate the changes in the years ahead.
Danielle guided me through each week, but more than that she helped me unravel my real life situations happening weekly and see beneath my child's behaviour and see what their real needs were. I gained an understanding of different developmental stages and how my expectation of what I think a child's behavior should be and what they are actually capable of at set ages can be quite different.
From the program I was able to really think about how I communicate with my kids and how what I say can really impact them and how they see themselves. I've learnt to also recognise when my stress levels are going up and I'm about to start yelling and I can roll out some tools to keep myself and kids from getting to breaking point.
I didn't complete the course thinking I am now a parenting guru, but what I've learnt and been able to put into practice will help guide myself and my family to becoming more connected and calm and see us through the coming years of change."
Emma (NZ)
How It Works:
When you book a call with me, we’ll sit down together and talk so I can get a sense of what’s going on for you and your family and where I can offer support.
I’ll explain my approach and the options we have for working together. You can ask any questions you have and see what type of support would be the best fit for your life and schedule.
If it feels right to you, we can book our first session and get started. If it’s not a good fit, I will do my best to offer alternative resources or suggestions for support, wherever possible. There’s no pressure of any kind, simply an opportunity to see if we are a good fit to work together.
Let's Talk!
Set up a time for us to meet, so that you can stop blaming yourself. And instead take the first step towards becoming the kind of parent you know you can be.
Ready to shift your experience of parenting to peace, harmony and connection?
