Welcome Mama and Papa Bears
foreverMamabear
Hello village! Nétasha Ivy here, founder of Ivy House, a multifaceted company devoted to family advocacy, fostering a love for reading in children, and supporting our communities. Many refer to me affectionately as Ivy. I’m an insanely busy mom and happily married wife of 20 plus years. I have a blended family of four children from toddler to adult.
For more than 20 years I have served as a women's and youth ministry leader and caretaker supporting dozens of families. As a parenting coach, I have had a very unique experience counseling on parenting, childcare, marriage, extended families, blended families, fostering, adoption, and mental wellness.
With this podcast and my publishing imprint Ivy House, I am pursuing my passion of encouraging families as they navigate the insanity of parenting and family.
I’m a newcomer to the world of social media, a self-proclaimed Flintstone that someone was crazy enough to give a smartphone. Yikes!!! Lol! Yes, my children hate that I wrote that. It’s authentically me, so it stays. Over the years the desire I’ve had to make the type of care and guidance I've provided accessible to all families has only grown, and an online platform seemed to be the key to fulfilling that dream, despite my love-hate relationship with technology.
A community thrives not only when it uses its strengths but acknowledges its vulnerability and works together to fortify the whole village. Families are the foundation of our communities. Each one is different and has a different approach to living life. There’s no one-size-fits all solution.
Within each family each individual has different opinions and ways they communicate and receive information. It can be overwhelming to take the time to get to really know and understand the people under your own roof let alone in our communities. But if we take a little time out to communicate. What treasures we are bound to find with better understanding of one another and gaining real friendships in our communities.
Flight attendants always instruct us to put on our oxygen mask first before helping others. We can all relate that life doesn’t always offer us that luxury, especially when you welcome a human, be it a new born or an elder into your family. Welcome to the wild side of life: parenting and family relationships. You never really know what awaits you around the next milestone in your child’s life, or life in general. Being able to receive helpful knowledge and advice as questions and concerns present themselves and offering patience and forgiveness towards yourself and others is the true saving grace and sanity of parenting and family.
This is my big leap! Hoping to connect, communicate, advise, learn, and encourage all of the mama and papa bears reading and listening. It’s okay, village. We got this!
Sending vibes of love and sanity,
-foreverMamabear