Making Friends with Children's Feelings Course
Do you want your child to feel deeply connected with her true self and her feelings?
Do you want to know how you can respond to all of her feelings and behaviours empathically and effectively (in ways that also enhance her long term emotional wellbeing)?
Do you want to understand why your child won't cooperate or sleep, or why he hits or bites or sucks his thumb or wants to eat all the time?
And not only to understand the cause, but what you can do to reduce those behaviours and respond to them at the root emotional cause?
Do you ever feel frustrated, fed up, powerless or enraged when your child has a big tantrum over nothing or won't brush their teeth?
Do you want to know what you can do for yourself so that, in the heat of the moment, you're more able to choose the most empathic and effective response?
Do you want to understand exactly HOW you can offer LOVING LIMITS, so that you're actually HELPING your child when they're hitting or biting or pushing or taking or throwing?
Do you want to be able to respond compassionately rather than giving up in powerlessness or getting harsh and punitive?
Do you ever feel frustrated, worried or confused if your child cries?
Do you want to know why crying can be healing at times, as long as you are right there with your child, listening compassionately?
Do you want to know HOW to empathically respond to crying?
Do you want help to be more comfortable with your child's feelings and your own?
Would you like to know how to stay truly present with the full range of your child's feelings?
Do you want to deeply understand what being present as a parent looks like and feels, and how to cultivate more of it?
Do you want to understand WHY children cry and HOW you can help them when they do?
Do you want to help your child sleep without distracting them or leaving them, but through listening to her feelings?
Do you want to understand WHY children act in ways we find challenging?
Do you want to know HOW to respond to challenging behaviour without resorting to distraction, giving up your needs, punishments or harshness?
Have you been searching for a parenting paradigm that you really resonate with?
Have you done your own personal development work, and want to apply what you've learnt to your parenting?
Would you like to BE your own parenting expert - only doing something if it resonates with you and you can see that it is helping your child in tangible ways?
Do you want your child to grow up feeling comfortable with all of her feelings?
Do you want him to come and share his feelings with you when he's a teenager?
Do you want to parent in a way that means your child is much less likely to turn to alcohol or drugs as a teenager?
Do you want to stay connected with your child, EVEN during the tough times?
Are you already familiar with Aware Parenting, but want to dive in deeper and understand how to practice it in all different situations?
Do you love Aware Parenting and want specific knowledge about what you can do to help yourself in each scenario so that you can respond most empathically and effectively?
Do you want to know how you can respond empathically in a way that is not only effective in the short term, but profoundly benefits your child's emotional wellbeing in the long term?
Do you want clear and concise information about how you can respond to tantrums, hitting, not cooperating, crying, and more?
I created the Making Friends with Children's Feelings Course to help you with all of these!
As mothers, we want our children to be happy.
And yet, if we always try to stop our child's uncomfortable feelings, it often doesn't have the outcome we expected.
If we stop our child expressing her sadness, fear, confusion, overwhelm, frustration and rage to us, then she needs to hold all those feelings inside.
Those feelings build up inside her over time and actually lead to the things we find most challenging as parents ~ agitation, 'whining', lack of cooperation and concentration, difficulties going to sleep and staying to sleep, and hitting, biting and throwing things.
Paradoxically, repressing uncomfortable feelings leads to feelings of discomfort, rather than feelings of happiness.
But how do you know when your child is upset because she needs something, and when she's upset when she has feelings to express to you?
And how do you respond to the feelings that come up in you when you see your child is upset?
If your child isn't sleeping, or isn't cooperating, or is really agitated, how can you help her sleep, cooperate, and be calm and gentle through listening to her feelings?
And what about if he's hitting other kids or throwing his toys around? How do you stop him doing that without being harsh? How do you help him stop in ways that actually HELP HIM express the feelings that are causing those behaviours in the first place?
And most of all, how can you HELP YOURSELF choose to respond compassionately in the moment?
My name is Marion Rose, Ph.D., and I've created the Making Friends with Children's Feelings Course because I'm passionate about helping parents understand their children's feelings.
With background of more than 3 decades in developmental psychology, psychotherapy and Aware Parenting, I've learnt a lot about feelings over the years, and in particular, how our responses to the feelings of our babies and children shapes their lives.
As of 2024, I've worked with parents as an Aware Parenting instructor for the past 19 years, and that combined with my own experience as a mother of now 22 and 18 year olds, I've discovered what many parents need to help them to become the empathic, compassionate and effective parent they want to be.
I am a Level 2 Aware Parenting instructor and the Regional Coordinator for Australia, New Zealand, and Indonesia, which means that I teach people to become Aware Parenting instructors and I mentor Aware Parenting instructors.
What I love about the approach that I share in the Making Friends with Children's Feelings Course, which comes from Aware Parenting by Aletha Solter, Ph.D., is that it has such a loving way of looking at human beings.
For the last several hundred years, the Western belief about human beings has been that we are born bad, uncooperative and wild, and we need to be taught how to be caring, compassionate, cooperative human beings through punishments and rewards.
That way didn't go so well. The results were guilt, shame, pain, and the same passed on to the next generation.
With the Making Friends with Children's Feelings approach, that belief is turned on its head.
Human beings are born compassionate, connected, cooperative and contributing. We don't need to be taught to be like that.
You're probably asking, "Well, if that's the case, why does my son hit his brother, and why won't he cooperate with brushing his teeth?"
Well, remember what I said above about uncomfortable feelings accumulating?
When feelings accumulate enough, then our children get disconnected from their true selves. They feel the accumulated feelings as agitation in their bodies, which means that they find it hard to go to sleep; they find it hard to cooperate; they throw things and hit or bite or do things that we ask them not to do.
That isn't because they're bad and wild creatures who need us to teach them to sleep or cooperate or be gentle.
It's SIMPLY because they need help letting out the feelings that they're holding in.
These two photos above show my daughter on a walk with her dad and I. In the first, she is expressing some big feelings. In the second, she is feeling deeply relaxed after letting all the feelings out.
I remember when my children were young; such as 2 and 6 ~ and we'd go to restaurants.
They would calmly and happily sit at the table.
And often the waiter or waitress would say, "Aren't they so well-behaved?"
They were probably thinking that we were giving punishments and rewards; helping teach our children to "behave."
I would often chuckle to myself, remembering all the crying that we had listened to, so that they could let out big chunks of uncomfortable feelings, so that they could return to their natural calm, happy, cooperative selves.
Have you ever noticed that after your child has had a big cry or tantrum with you, that she is relaxed, happy and calm afterwards; more able to concentrate, cooperate, and sleeps more restfully too?
And what about when your child does things that you find challenging, like not sleeping, not putting their shoes on, or hitting her brother?
Do you ever get frustrated and talk in a harsh tone? Or do ever you give up on your needs and values, with the resentment building and building until it all comes out?
In our culture, we're often given two options - either use power-over, or give up.
In Making Friends with Children's Feelings, I'll show you how to offer loving limits.
Loving limits are loving, respectful ways of helping children stop challenging behaviours AND expressing the feelings that lie underneath.
Loving limits can be life-changing for parents AND children!
Imagine feeling connected with your child WHILST they do those things that you find annoying, knowing that you have a way to help them stop AND help address the root cause of their behaviour!
How does the course work?
Once you sign up, you get full access to the whole course. That means you can do it in your own time. Each of us is so different, and each of us has our own pace.
The course material is presented in videos, audios and written notes. That way you can choose whatever suits your own personal learning style.
You can access the course for as long as you want and need.
There's a Facebook group that goes with the course. Although there are no longer live rounds there and the group is quiet, you are still so welcome to connect with like-minded parents, ask questions, share your challenges and celebrations, and receive empathy and compassion when things are hard.
The group is a peer support group, so that you can share your experiences with each other.
I know how busy life is as a parent, and this course is designed so you can fit it in to your own unique lifestyle!
What will you learn in the course?
HOW we have three options with feelings ~ expression, repression, aggression;
HOW trying to keep your child happy leads her to feeling agitated;
HOW pent-up feelings lead to the things we find challenging as parents;
HOW you can help your child express her feelings in healthy ways;
HOW to respond compassionately to tears and tantrums;
HOW to help your child sleep through play and listening to crying;
HOW to offer loving limits empathically and effectively;
HOW to trust your child's natural healing mechanisms;
HOW to help your child become naturally calm, cooperative and concentrating;
HOW to be unwilling to judge yourself and your parenting;
HOW to become more compassionate with yourself.
HOW to choose compassion in the moment, rather than frustration;
HOW to help yourself respond lovingly to your child.
What do mothers like you say about my online courses?
"I believe this is the most fundamental learning of our times. Somehow in 20 years of being in the mental health field I didn't know this vital information and unconsciously yearned for it - the anatomy of feelings. Not some wishy washy new age concept. No, the exact patterns within which our feelings arise, what happens in the body, and how to respond to them.
Quite simply, in my view, there is no other more competent training in being with and responding to feelings...the very feelings that form the basis for how we are present with and responsive to ourselves, our children and others in any given moment."
Clare-Louise Brumley, PhD, OLY
"The course has helped me reframe so many beliefs I had about their behaviour and I’m noticing feeling more connected to my boys the last month or so, especially the eldest."
Emma
"I have two daughters aged eight and five and after being recommended Aletha's books by a beautiful friend a year or so ago I soon found The Aware Parenting Podcast and one of my favourite things to do now is to find space within my week to listen to an episode!
After buying this course a few weeks ago, I have just watched the first Live Training Video on Expression, Expression and Accumulation, and gosh I just learnt so much more!!
Thank you Marion for the beautifully gentle way you deliver your wisdom and experience. Every single time I hear you speak I feel less like hitting myself with the guilt stick and more empowered to parent in the way my gorgeous girls need and deserve.
I also wanted to say that I just clicked ahead to have a sneak peek at some of the other material in the course, and am absolutely blown away by the sheer volume of this amazing offering!
Whilst I imagine it will take me some time to get through it all I feel so lucky to have such an amazing resource to help me in my parenting journey. I spent so many years feeling stuck and unsure about how to cope with my children's feelings, knowing there was a better way than the Disconnected Domination Culture but not knowing just how to respond or deal with my own triggers. Thank you for this amazing course!
I am so excited to keep moving through it and am so grateful for all that you bring to the world, Marion, as I wouldn't be on the path I am today if not for you. "
Kate
"I'm really seeing so much change since taking on this course with you. Thank you so much"
Elizabeth
"Marion, just want to say that I'm enjoying the course so far and I love how you’ve set it up.
It makes so much sense to me that we need to internalise this new paradigm, this new way of thinking about our children, before we are able to make full use of the practical tools being offered.
I always get ahead of myself, but I know what I really need now is to make more time to connect with myself so that I can be more compassionate and loving towards myself and my child. Finding this time can be a struggle and it’s so easy to take things personally, but when I can be more mindful, I am less reactive and more open to trying to understand where certain behaviour is coming from. Just having this space enables me to be more compassionate and to respond with more patience and love. It’s an ongoing practice I will need to keep working at. Thanks for helping me to remember this."
Judy
"Finished the Making Friends with Children's Feelings Course yesterday! Omg… it was truly phenomenal!! So insightful, so practical!! So many ideas that can be put into practice."
Kylie
This course saved my life, my relationship with my daughter and transformed my entire being. It was first introduction to your work when I was at a point in my life that I considered just giving it all up. I had recently separated after years of suffering, I had just given birth feeling the most powerless I had ever felt in my life, moved house and had a newborn alone, who never stopped crying and never slept.
I found you and your work through what I considered sheer 'luck' at the time, but after now knowing you for almost a decade, becoming your mentee, and now sharing your work with the world, I am also humbled to call you my friend and I now know that finding this course was a huge message from Life gently nudging me towards you and this work as part of my life's purpose.
This course has the most valuable and incredible information for ANYONE with a child or an inner child (ie EVERYONE on the planet) as it will help you to understand the meaning behind the cries, behind the 'whinges', behind the behaviour, behind it ALL!
This course is the epitome of not just understanding children's feelings BUT of really being able to hold that safe place they need to release, cry, laugh and rage where after you can see the glow and this presence that would will never forget.
This course is simply an amazing resource for anyone!
I love to imagine this course being handed out as women are birthing in hospitals before they go home. I love to imagine this course being presented in workshops in hospitals, mother groups, childcare centres and schools around the globe. IT'S THAT INCREDIBLE AND THAT IMPORTANT!!
If you have not done this course yet and you are exhausted of trying to 'guess' your child's feelings/behaviours and what they mean, if you feel lost and don't know what to do, if they are not sleeping, if they are crying all the time, if they are screaming and raging and you cannot take it anymore.... BUY. THIS. COURSE. This is the one for you!! I so highly recommend it!
And if you know someone that is having a baby, or struggling with their child in any way - this is an amazing GIFT for them! You will be giving the gift of PRESENCE, love, understanding, lifelong connection, to anyone who does this course. In short - sign up now haha! You will be blown away by the gift it gives back to you!
So much love and THANK YOU dear Marion Rose for this and all the other wonderful courses and offerings you bring to the world. YOU ARE AMAZING! xxx"
Nic Wilson of Peaceful Parenting
I just want to say thanks a lot for this course - I've learnt so much - especially that I do not focus so much on the crying anymore.
Before the course, I used to be a bit frustrated if I could see that my son needed to cry, but he didn't.. or if he cried, but it did not help so much with his frustration, etc.
Now I focus much more on connection and playing. And the cry will come when it comes.
And I found out that connecting with him with a very kind, soft voice is so helpful! Both for me and my son.
Katrin
Dear Marion, I just wanted to let you know I am loving the course and really look forward to getting to the part with practical tips.
I am so so so much thankful I have come across your work.
It's been changing my life in the last few months and resonates so deeply with me and our family.
Thank you for your work and passion to help families. Lots of love to you xxx
Veronika
Would you like a sneak peek of the course?
Here's a screenshot of the HUB page.
In the hub, each square takes you to a different section of the course - and each part is available in audio, video and PDF versions!
There are also 7 recorded live trainings.
I made the Making Friends with Children's Feelings Course because I want to help parents make friends with their children's feelings! The more we can be present with a wider range of our child's feelings - including sadness and overwhelm, the more they stay connected with themselves and with us.
We can stop working so hard repressing their painful feelings, and we're less likely to feel frustrated, because they feel calmer, more connected, and more cooperative.
When you know how to listen to tears and tantrums, when you know how to offer loving limits, and when you know how to help your child feel more relaxed to sleep through play and listening, then life as a parent becomes a whole lot more enjoyable! If you want to come and join us, and your child is 1-8 years old, I'd love to see you inside the course!
Do you have questions before you can confidently sign up for the Making Friends with Children's Feelings Course?
"Marion, it is your compassion for mothers, your wholesale acceptance of the challenges we face and your spaciousness around each person's journey that helps me let Aware Parenting in. For me, you translate something which could be rigid, into something fluid and adaptable. You bring it to life. Real life. Our raw, flawed lives. Our 3D lives with our own hurts and needs. Without that, it would just be words on the page for me. Much gratitude and love, Anne."
"This is one of my favourite and most unexpected outcomes from my Aware Parenting journey and all of Marion's courses I have done over the years. I don't know if I thought I'd become this ideal parent who gets it right all the time (present time, attachment play, etc.). Instead, I'm probably about the same, albeit with more ideas and strategies BUT I've inadvertently let go of all those expectations and have found myself with far more resources to actually do those things authentically and the kids respond so beautifully to my authentic flaws." Jaclyn
"I am really grateful for all that you offer, Marion. In both your paid and free courses. It's my perspective that you are very generous to offer such things to the world (especially the free ones that you clearly have also invested much time and energy in. I see you shining such a light into parenting and motherhood that I really believe will create so much more awareness, presence, compassion, peace, growth, understanding and love for the children of this world (and to the parents themselves!!) I so appreciate and respect that. You bring so much to my world. So much love to you, Elly."
Here's another sneek peak from the course!!
