ABOUT
About me
Neli Prota, PhD
Hi, I'm Neli, pleased to meet you! Thank you for checking me out!
Although I started out as a molecular biologist and plant scientist, since I became a mother in 2010, I've understood that all issues regarding parenting and child-rearing are where my true passion and calling resides. Faced with scepticism over mainstream
advice and parenting practices common in the Netherlands, I sought to find out for myself whether my intuition and motherly instincts were normal or not. By researching the vast body of scientific evidence (professional deformation!), I came to conclude that my intuition was right after all. A number of practices under the collective name of "attachment parenting" appeared to be both intuitive AND beneficial to child development. So I read further and found many other evidence-based
approaches that work by keeping everyone's dignity intact. Since that time, I've brought two more boys into this world and I consider myself a truly blessed mother. I live in Wageningen with my three children and my partner and I thoroughly enjoy this vibrant, progressive, international city. I hope to meet you soon, even if just for an informal chat or a quick phone consult.
"I wish children could grow according to their natural pace: sleep when sleepy, wake up when rested, eat when hungry, cry when upset, play and explore without being unnecessarily interrupted; in other words, be allowed to grow and blossom as each was meant to."
Magda Gerber
"Nothing that grieves us can be called little. By the eternal law of proportions a child’s loss of a doll and a king’s loss of his crown are events of the same size."
Mark Twain
The point of parenting isn’t to have all the answers before we start out but instead to figure it out on the go as our children grow, because as they do, so will we.
Bridgett Miller
Behind every young child who believes in himself is a parent who believed first.
Matthew L. Jacobson
MY MISSION
Educate. Encourage. Empower.
Natural, child-centred approaches to parenting, where the parents promptly respond to the cues of their infant and, later, the verbal and non-verbal messages of their older child, are the approaches that science has shown to best influence child emotional, social and even cognitive development. Some years ago I decided that I would do every child a favour if I could spread the word about these non-mainstream parenting views... And I would help every parent feel secure, confident and empowered, knowing that they already possess what it takes to raise well-adjusted children. It took a long time to find out how to give shape to this dream, until in late spring of 2018 it dawned on me: I can become a
postpartum doula,
to provide a much needed support to newborn parents, on an emotional, practical and informational level. Joining families in their most vulnerable moments, when insecurity, loneliness, worry and lack-of-control are at their highest, could mean being a beacon of hope, a light, a signpost to guide parents towards confidence, emancipation and empowerment.
Teaching courses
for parents and professionals, organizing meet-ups
for parents and babies, as well as writing
blogs
and
articles
would then expand my reach beyond the dozen of families I can support in any given year. My motto is to "Educate, Encourage, Empower" and I am excited to have you as my client to make your parenting journey more enjoyable and relaxed.
MY VISION
I believe it is through parenting that we ultimately shape the world of tomorrow, and that is a huge responsibility. Bringing peace, kindness, compassion, equanimity and love in a world that seems to be so obsessed with violence, neglect, discrimination and abuse of all sorts, is what I want to contribute to, one baby at the time!
However we treat the child, the child will treat the world.
- Pam Leo
