Credits:
Photo: Jonathan Tainã (@iamjapat)
Designer cover: @mathlopes
General direction: @directorhooks
Sammy is originally from São Bernardo do Campo and currently lives in the capital of São Paulo. She is a parenting educator, mentor, speaker, and influencer who shares daily teachings and experiences with her 3-year-old son, Jake. Currently, she has over 4.6 million followers on TikTok and 4.3 million on Instagram!
Sammy values respectful parenting, and we all know the importance of it, but how does it actually impact a child's development?
Parenting education is an important process in the formation of children and adolescents. It refers to the role played by parents in transmitting values, skills, and knowledge to their children. Although the role of parents in educating their children has historically been associated with the maternal figure, fatherhood also plays a fundamental role in the upbringing of children. Parenting education also includes the transmission of ethical and moral values. Parents have the responsibility to teach their children respect for others, honesty, responsibility, empathy, and solidarity. These values are essential for the formation of conscientious and engaged citizens.
In addition, parenting education also involves encouraging formal education. Parents should stimulate their children's interest in knowledge, encouraging them to attend school and seek learning opportunities. They can also play an important role in their children's career choice by offering guidance and support regarding their professional choices.
In summary, parenting education is a fundamental process in the formation of children, helping them to become responsible, ethical, supportive, and conscientious individuals. Parents play a crucial role in this process by offering support, guidance, and love to their children throughout their life journey.
Sammy provides mentoring services annually for very discreet high society families, opening only 5 spots per year, which are only accessible by referral, as she closely monitors the parents and the child's education and actively participates in the adult/child relationship.
"It's a very personalized and dynamic work," she says.
It's no wonder that her son Jake is a prodigy and, at only 3 years old, speaks 3 languages, does math calculations, knows names and characteristics of planets in the solar system, and recently started reading small words.
Jake is communicative and shows leadership, helping children with their tasks, staying calm, and being persistent in not giving up on their goals and activities, thus showing the differential of her work in the development and growth through her son!
We had the opportunity to interview this incredible woman who has so much to contribute to the future of our children! Come with us!
1- You are a parenting educator, mentor, speaker, and influencer, including doing annual mentorship with very discreet high society families, opening very few spots per month, and only by referral. What was your motivation for working in this field?
• I have always been passionate about studying and understanding human behavior, their mind, and how everything we experience during our life influences our decisions and the way we deal with everything, but I have always had a special passion for children. By delving deeper into education and how to do things differently from previous generations, I became very good at helping adults identify and reframe, consciously and unconsciously, everything they went through and acquired, sometimes without even realizing it, during their childhood. And especially training them to do things differently with their children. Some may call it life, I call it God, He put me in the right places, with the right people, and my advice turned into a job, where acquaintances asked for my guidance and mentorship.
2- Jake is undoubtedly a child prodigy! At just 3 years old, he speaks 3 languages, does math, knows the names and characteristics of planets in the solar system, and recently started reading small words. You practice exemplary respectful education with him! How do you manage to always be attentive to this way of learning? Do you ever lose your temper and act in a way that you would consider "incorrect"?
We need to know our strengths and weaknesses. When I understood that, to respect my child, I needed to respect myself, everything became easier. I'm always studying about the subject. First, I identified my weak points, so I could work on them, then I maximized my strong points. All of this is a constant work, a mix of emotions, tears, insights, self-control, but mainly, willpower. The simple "wanting" is PERFECT! I just need that. Within this lifestyle, there are mistakes, there are tears, there are highs and there are lows, and that's okay because you want it and are determined to go through it. Respectful Education is incredible precisely because it never ends, I'm always learning, falling, getting up... Think about it: we adults, after years of walking every day, sometimes trip over our own feet (laughs). The thing is, just like walking, we don't need to achieve perfection to have enjoyed the journey in the best way we could have.
3- How do you deal with the pressures of being a mother and a professional? And what was the biggest challenge you faced as Jake's mother? What did you do to stay strong and overcome it?
I cry (laughs), it's funny, but it's true. We were taught that we need to be strong enough not to cry, not to feel, to endure. But we don't have to! If you break your arm, why pretend it's not hurting? You can and should express yourself. This shows your mind that you're not ignoring yourself. It helps you start over. Jake went through a phase we call the "terrible twos." Being a public figure and having my child throwing himself on the floor at the grocery store taught me a lot of things. First: not to reproduce what my mother would do, second: not to care about what people think, and third: it's not always time to teach, sometimes we just need to embrace a sudden and unregulated cortisol explosion that your child has no idea how to stop.
4- What advice would you give to future first-time moms and dads about respectful parenting?
What would you have liked your mother to do in this situation?
5- How would you describe your experience of raising Jake so far?
Challenging, loving, and true. Challenging because a child is not a blank canvas for you to paint on (I thought that before having a child) but rather a canvas with all the colors and shades that exist, dancing with each other in an organized catastrophe. Loving because I gave my all. And true because I have listened to what God has for us and accept nothing less than that.
6- What are the main lessons you teach Jake? And how do you deal with not putting your personal expectations on his upbringing? After all, every child has a unique personality! How do you act to not influence this matter?
Self-control: our emotions do not define who we are, but rather what we do with them.
Honesty: knowing when you're right and when you're wrong.
Communication: expressing your feelings and setting boundaries.
Perseverance and well-defined goals: knowing exactly what you're going to do and going all the way.
In fact, we influence without even realizing it, they learn from what they see. Be a good person, and you will create a successful adult. I am 24 years old, young and playful spirit, which helps me understand that we are unique and need to play to stimulate creativity and develop personality.
7- And last but not least: what is your voice? What would you like to shout to the world if you had the opportunity?
God is raising an army, and we are going to reach the new generations. Mental health, self-esteem, and emotional wisdom will, for the first time in history, be a priority for all parents and their children. So that they can thrive and be successful. Creating an Extraordinary Future!
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