Who is Lisa Kathleen?

Lisa Kathleen’s passion and commitment shine through in everything she does. She is a workshop facilitator who inspires and empowers, a parenting coach who transforms family dynamics, and a human being living life with a greater vision.

By the time Lisa Kathleen was 15 years old, she was a seasoned babysitter, and had read more than 30 books about children, teaching, and parenting. Before she even had her own children, parents in the schools she worked at asked her for advice, and were thrilled with the results. After 30 years of working with children and parents, you are still most likely to find Lisa under the table making balloon animals with the little ones at a party.

Lisa Kathleen is experienced as a results-focused parenting coach, a Montessori teacher, a dedicated parent, and a school administrator. She has lived, worked, and studied all over the world, worked extensively with both gifted children and children with special needs, and wonders "Isn’t every child gifted, with special needs?" Lisa Kathleen has parented a teenager with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder through the teen years, and is Joyful Mama to her first baby, a five-year-old girl who loves piggybacks, making homemade ice cream, and the raspberries growing in the garden.

Lisa Kathleen believes that sustainable relationships are the key to a sustainable world, and that committed parents, one family at a time, are changing the world by sharing respectful problem-solving skills with their children.

"Parenting," Lisa Kathleen says, "is the best personal development course out there. It brings life in a full circle, and gives us the opportunity and the motivation to heal ourselves, our children, and our Earth." If you are looking for powerful support, compassionate wisdom, and a light at the end of the tunnel, Full Circle Parenting is for you - call Lisa Kathleen and get yourself on the road to total parenting peace of mind today.

"Your deep concern and commitment for and to the children are always evident. They are most fortunate (to be affected by) your generous spirit and enormous heart." N.L.

Click here to read what others have to say about Lisa Kathleen.

Where did "Full Circle Parenting" come from?

Research and Intuition

Over the past hundred years, we have come a long way towards understanding human beings, how they grow, and why they do what they do.  Many of our common cultural beliefs about parenting and our expectations of children are counter-intuitive and based on outdated ideas. 

Lisa Kathleen strongly believes that we can heal our own pasts by consciously choosing parenting practices that are strongly backed up by both research and intuition.  When we combine these two powerful tools, parenting starts to make sense, and feel really good!

"I love your vision and your enthusiasm for bringing out the best in people - parents, children, youths.  As always you have this way about looking at life that simply brings me such joy. Thanks for articulating the normal 3-4 year old behaviour in such a great way!" C.H. 

Montessori Philosophy and Methodology 

To answer some commonly-asked questions about Montessori and how I came from being a Montessori guide(teacher) to parenting coaching – yes, Montessori is an education system, but it is also a philosophy that approaches learning and development from birth through adulthood. It is much more than just a kind of school. Throughout the many years that I have worked with both parents and children in Montessori schools, I have constantly been asked for more information about the philosophy behind the method.

Parents are able to understand their children better, enjoy them more, and feel more capable of meeting constantly changing needs when they use Montessori-based concepts and understandings in their own interactions with their children. 

When I stopped working in the classroom, with the intention of starting a family, I still received calls, e-mails and questions about Montessori's approach and how it could help children and parents move from surviving to thriving.

As I parented a 17-year-old boy with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, and then, later, as my own baby grew in my belly, I recognized how profoundly Montessori philosophy had affected my understanding of the human being, enhanced my sense of connection and confidence with my own children, and prepared me for being a mother.

As each of us passes our own deepest beliefs and ideals on to our children, consciously or unconsciously, we bring life in a full circle. Understanding Montessori’s ideas helps me daily, practically, and in a loving way, to do that consciously.

As I learned more about the wide range of research in a variety of areas that have important ramifications for parenting and child development, and compared that research to common and recommended parenting practices in our culture, I realized more and more that I wanted to share information about research, and help parents tap into their own innate intuition, in a consistent way. And so, Full Circle Parenting was born.

If I am a Waldorf parent, Reggio parent, homeschooler, or other type of alternative or traditional public or private school parent, will your coaching or classes be relevant for me?

Yes!  I strongly believe that YOU are the expert on your child, and that families need to do what works for their situation at any given time.  Many, many factors are taken into consideration when making schooling and life choices for a family, and my goal is to support your decision-making process, offer information and possibilities, help you clarify your own thinking, and open doors for you to feel more confident as the expert on your child. 

I have spent time in many different types of schools, and I believe that love and respect for children can come in many different forms, and that most educators are strongly committed to doing their best for children.  I deeply respect, admire, and appreciate those who have committed their lives to children and families through a career in education, and I believe that collaboration and mutual support will create the strongest cultural environment for continued improvement in a life-loving education for children.

Click here for a list of Schooling Options to Consider in Calgary.

Full Circle Parenting can...

  • help you find a school that suits your family, with special knowledge in the area of Montessori schools  
  • help you set up the physical environment in your home to meet the needs of your children and complement their formal schooling 
  • work with homeschoolers who would like to use aspects of Montessori philosophy or methodology in their process

Call 403-607-1463 to ask your questions or schedule a session by phone, or e-mail info@fullcircleparenting.com.

Lisa Kathleen believes...

Sustainable relationships are not built on rewards, including praise, or punishments, including time-outs.  There are other ways to honour your own needs AND to make sure that your children are clear about what they need to know. 

Ancient parenting practices can teach us a lot.

Modern research consistently supports ancient parenting practices.

Responsive night-time parenting leads to the best sleep for everyone.

Excellence in cooperation is a much more valuable skill than excellence in competition.  A cultural redirection towards cooperation and away from competition in games, schools, and daily life will produce a more loving, happy, respectful, and sustainable culture.

Favourite Sayings...

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye." - from The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery 

"The first duty of an education is to stir up life, but leave it free to develop." - Maria Montessori

"What makes you think you’re good enough to work with children?" - Maria Montessori (to potential teacher training candidates - yikes!)

"He who cannot draw on 3000 years is living from hand to mouth." - Goethe

"It’s only a power struggle if YOU make it a power struggle." - Lisa Kathleen

"The environment itself will teach the child, if every error he makes is manifest to him, without the intervention of a parent or teacher, who should remain a quiet observer of all that happens." - Maria Montessori

"At every quarterly examination a gold medal was given to the best writer.  When the first medal was offered, it produced rather a general contention than an emulation and diffused a spirit of envy, jealousy, and discord through the whole school; boys who were bosom friends became fierce contentious rivals, and when the prize was adjudged, became implacable enemies.  Those who were advanced decried the weaker performances; each wished his opponent's abilities less than his own, and they used all their little arts to misrepresent and abuse each other's performances." - Robert Coram, Political Inquiries (1791)

"Joy is a net by which you catch souls." - Mother Teresa 

"You are responsible, forever, for what you have tamed." - from The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupery 

"A place for everything and everything all over the place." - Lisa Kathleen

"Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war." - Maria Montessori

 

Upcoming Series'

Click for details or to register: 

Big Picture Parenting, 4-Class Series, Thursdays, Sept 23 - Oct 14, 7-9 pm, Richmond/Knob Hill Community Hall

Women's Wellness Circle, Exploring Experiences and Expressions of Motherhood, First Thursdays, Oct-June, 9-11 am, Crowchild and Banff Trail

Beyond Basics for New Parents: Don't Just Survive....Thrive!  Collaboration with Room to Grow, Babes in Arms, First Step Nutrition, Little Wonders, and Baby Busy.  Mondays, Nov 1 - Dec 13, Room to Grow (14th St and 15th Ave SW).

Follow Us on Twitter

Coaching with Lisa Kathleen

Exhausted?  Overwhelmed?  Sounding like your mother?  Click here for help!

Subscribe Here


 


 
For Email Marketing you can trust
 

You will be e-mailed a link to your copy of "Making Pre-emptive Discipline Work for You:  How to Turn Most Stressful Situations with Your Children Into Opportunities to Build a Deeper Relationship" shortly!  To find out more about Pre-emptive Discipline, click here. 

If you are already on our mailing list, and have not received your free copy of "Making Pre-emptive Discipline Work for You" please click here to request your copy!