Who we are
We are two friends (and mothers) who discovered this refreshing way of seeing children and of parenting.
Divya
Divya is half-Indian — half-French and she’s lived in Lisbon since 2018 with her husband and their two boys (3 & 1).
Divya started her working life in Finance, where she stayed for 10 years before she decided to work in a field that was closer to her heart. So, she changed her career to pursue her passion: education, with a focus on her interest of what we should be teaching children in today’s world.
She taught for 4 years at an international school, and when she started working with small children, she felt overwhelmed by the challenge of knowing what boundaries to set, and how to authentically connect with children. She is forever grateful to the colleague who introduced her to the RIE ®* approach. Since then, it has been a continuous journey of learning and revelations in her work with children and her relationship with her family. And she is keen to share this with others because it has been life-changing to her.
Divya cannot get enough of learning about how to better connect with ourselves and others through empathy and true understanding.
*RIE stands for Resouces for Infant Educarers ® (see FAQ for more info)
Esme
Esme is Scottish, and has lived in the UK, in Greece, Italy, and now Portugal. She lives by the sea with her partner and two children (3 & 5), and messy dog.
Esme worked in restaurants and cafés for years, loving the contact with people, not loving the weekends and exhaustion after a while. And then she decided to move to Italy, and became a teacher. And a nanny. And an events organiser. And trained in working with children with autism. Oh, and a barista too, of course!
And then she met her partner. And after some fun and travels, they started their family. It was a rocky road to get there, and when her son was born in 2017, it was a scary, beautiful and exhausting time. She found RIE ®* through a friend and it felt right – the respect for and belief in the child, the freedom from the pressure of society, and the compassion for the child and herself. The mixture of having trust in your child, and yet having boundaries and limits, was an eye-opener for her – the idea of parenting not only being a choice between either permissive (not for her!), or authoritarian (nope), gave her relief and hope. She believes there is not a perfect or single way to be a parent, and that there is a way to allow parents to enjoy parenting more, while giving our children a childhood that sets them up for a life of confidence and inner peace.
She believes there isn’t much in the world that couldn’t be made better by connecting with our children through kindness and understanding, and she dreams of the difference this could make in the world.
*RIE stands for Resouces for Infant Educarers ® (see FAQ for more info)
Our Qualifications
Experienced teachers of Pre-school, Primary and Secondary ages
Experienced nanny for infants and toddlers
RIE ®* Parent-Infant Guidance Classes
RIE ®* Foundations course
Foundations of Non-violent Communication (NVC)
Advanced training on Collaborative and Proactive Solutions (with Dr. Ross Greene PhD)
The Technology of Talking to Children – Teacher Tom
*RIE stands for Resouces for Infant Educarers ® (see FAQ for more info)
