About Melanie

Melanie’s Story

The African Proverb, “It takes a Village to Raise a Child” was one I always thought referred to the village we needed for the child.  What I have experienced and learned in my motherhood journey is the village has been necessary for me.  My motherhood journey began even before I became a mother when I worked in Juvenile court as a Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles County.  Witnessing the rupture of relationships between parents and teens, when parents literally told me I needed to take over as they had “lost control”, I negatively judged those parents.  When my twins came into my life in 2002, I went to work collecting multiple certifications, reading dozens of parenting books and taking countless classes as I was convinced I could control the outcome for my childrens’ lives.  By the time my third child entered our family in 2006, I believed I was equipped to guarantee what I projected as positive outcomes for their lives.

My motherhood journey has taken many twists and turns.  In my over two decades of raising my three children and helping  hundreds of parents, what I have learned is that parenting is never a straight path.  Some of the journey has been joyful and some of it has been painful.  Despite all of my expertise and the B.S. (belief system) programming,  the reality of raising children had not always matched the fantasy what I beleived it would be as life throws us curve balls and we need to pivot and truly learn to parent the children we have and not the ones we might have wished they would have been.

Have you ever felt isolated, lonely, like a failure, or guilty as a mom? 

I have.  As parents, especially moms, we have been programmed to take the blame and feel like if anything goes wrong it is our fault.  What I have learned is that we can only do the best we can with whatever information we have at any point in time.  I have learned we can only do better when we know better.  I have learned traveling this parenting journey alone is not good for us or for our children and that getting support is a source of strength.  I have learned that our children are not our report cards.   My own journey involved parenting neurodiverse children through a difficult divorce and raising teens in a technological world during covid lockdown.  We all have circumstances in our parenting journey that brings us to our knees!  I have learned to get up after I have been knocked down and I have learned that my own life, not just as a mother, but as a woman matters too.  My journey to getting my certifications as a Certified Lisa Nichols Transformational Trainer, a neuro-transformational coach and learning about 12 step recovery have assisted me in re-finding my own passion and purpose as well as connecting with other parents and partners and co-parenting with a power higher than me.  This has provided me with additional  the tools I have needed that have supplemented the trainings I took earlier on in my parenting journey. I have been certificatied and/or trained  in Redirecting Children’s Behavior (RCB), Positive Discipline, Supporting the Emotional Needs of the Gifted (SENG, for more information please click on Gifted and Twice-Exceptional Learners ) and Reflective Parenting.   With this plethora of knowledge, education and experience I am committed to providing support and community that we all need and to pass along the tools to parents at home, teachers in the classroom and to all others who are responsible for being a part of the village necessary to raise enlightened children. In addition, the education I have received regarding child and brain development in children has enabled me to understand, as well as teach, why all behavior, including “mis”-behavior, is merely our children trying to communicate “something” to us – whether it is in the home, a classroom, a camp, etc.

As the founder and director of Raising Enlightened Children I am dedicated to seeing, and helping others see the spark of potential that exists in every child, and in each of us.   Meditation and mindfulness practices are incorporated into the lessons taught since our minds (brains), hearts (emotions and feelings) and souls (states of unconditional love) must all engage to enjoy mind-full, heart-full, spirit-full and joy-full relationships and lives!