new parents - The Elephant Mum

I am always on the lookout for new relaxing bedtime stories for my children. Over the years we have read hundreds of books together. I am listing ...

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child development, mindfulness, parenting, self-care

Emotional Intelligence in Children: How to Cultivate It at Home

November 7, 2020

Cultivating emotional intelligence in children is a fundamental responsibility of parents. Wikipedia defines emotional intelligence as the ...

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expats, finland, multicultural families, parenting, self-care

The Positive Birth Movement Lands in Finland

October 12, 2020

When I gave birth to my first child, I found myself lonely and scared. I had moved to Finland less than 2 years before, almost none of my friends ...

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child development, health, life, parenting, self-care

Bored Child, Sane Parent

January 18, 2020

This entry is inspired by a recent article by Rebecca Onion titled Playtime Is Over!, posted in a Facebook group of local moms. The article ...

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child development, health, parenting

Why I Believe Spanking Kids Is Wrong

February 15, 2019

Oh I will regret going into the wasps’ nest that this topic is. However, I think it could be interesting to comment on this, as I come from ...

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adoption, breastfeeding, health, life, parenting, self-care

My Body Does Not Belong To Me: Struggling With Overstimulation As A Mom

February 8, 2019

I was recently watching this video by mother of seven Ashley and she mentioned overstimulation as her biggest challenge in motherhood. It struck ...

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expats, finland, multicultural families, multilingualism

How to Introduce Your Child to Finnish language – a crash guide for expat parents in Finland

January 17, 2019

Many expat parents in Finland face the struggle of introducing their children to Finnish language. While the Finnish school system is the easiest ...

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blog series, daddy's got this, parenting

Daddy’s Got This #8 | What I’ve learned in a year as a stay-at-home dad

January 11, 2019

My husband’s active role in raising our kids is crucial in our family. During both parental leaves, I urged to go back to work and he took the ...

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finland

Getting ready for the special needs list

October 22, 2018

During the counselling phase, we were asked to fill a special needs list (“Adoptiolapsen tausta – ja terveystietolomake” in Finnish), ...

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Paola

I was born and raised in Italy, now I live in the winter wonderland that is Finland. I worked as a mathematics researcher, an IT project manager and consultant, and now I work as product owner. I love nature, reading books, playing boardgames, cooking and eating good food. I enjoy learning languages: I speak Italian, English, Finnish, Hindi, and I understand some Spanish. I am grateful to have three wonderful kids who call me "mamma". One came from my belly, the other two from fateful encounters.