As we gear up for Mother’s Day, I want to shine the light on someone incredibly important to me: my dear friend, mentor, parent coach and fellow mama, Jaime Kalman Chipko, owner of Jaime Magic. I’ve worked with Jaime for well over a decade. She’s a certified empowerment specialist, hypnotherapist, and EFT practitioner well-versed in many therapeutic techniques for releasing deeply stuck emotional-psychological barriers that compete with inner growth and peace. She’s coached me through many bold, terrifying life changes like launching my editing and coaching business in my early 20s, and moving from my pretty cozy life in Austin, Texas to the enigmatic world-stage of Los Angeles, California. For years, she’s equipped me with tools to explore and overcome patterns of self-victimization and self-doubt. And now, she’s guiding me through one of the biggest chapters in my life: motherhood.

Before working one-on-one with Jaime, I participated in her bi-monthly “Mom Group,” a one-hour zoom call with Jaime and a few other mamas, where we did everything from tap out extreme emotions like overwhelm together, to learning strategies for handling whatever we were facing that week with our children. These short meetings were life-saving. I’d show up, often with a baby at the boob and my then two-year-old wailing for my attention, struggling to even express a single clear thought. They offered a breath during a time that felt like living underwater. 

But, I still struggled with the day-to-day. Why did motherhood feel so hard to me? I thought I’d be a “natural” – a fun, creative, patient, caring, joyful, laughing mom. I didn’t realize how triggered I’d be by the smallest calamities: crying, whining, little hands pulling my hair or yanking off my glasses, food on the floor, an endlessly messy house. Maybe I just needed better systems. More structure? 

Like many people, my parenting strategies came in bite-sized Instagram reels from well-meaning parent experts, pediatric psychologists, and seasoned parents. I’d watch them, think: brilliant, and then instantly forget. I purchased a toddler course with longer videos. And still, I could not seem to find the information in my brain, or apply it in a way that worked with my children. So, I bought five parenting books all at once, thinking that might help educate me. It took many weeks just to get past the first few chapters because reading and rearing toddler/infants is like trying to thread a needle during an earthquake. Even for a book lover. Even for a book editor. This, of course, left me feeling like a failure.  

I mentioned my reading dilemma to Jaime, and she said, I have an idea! She offered me a parenting coaching program that would be custom to MY needs, struggles, children, and parenting goals. I took notes after our first session to see how I was feeling before vs. after, since I knew I couldn’t trust my brain to remember for me. 

Before our first session, I felt: inferior, incapable, inept, floundering, unable to think. 

After: immediately clearer, excited to tackle challenges, aware of my own behaviors, reactions and conceptions, less stressed. 

Jaime taught me techniques to deal with my own nervous system first before reacting to my children, and how to radically accept complex emotions like rage and resentment before I try to investigate or change them. She’s taught me practical strategies that are specific to my sensitive, passionate and creative 3-year-old daughter—like how to entice her downstairs after Kid’s Church so she doesn’t run into the children’s museum that it’s connected to, or how to keep her from running off when we’re in public. She’s worked with me on understanding and reframing my own emotional framework, responses and fears, using techniques like EFT to help move them out of my body. She’s even helped me navigate spousal dynamics and how to find a respectful, authentic way to approach different parenting styles/points of view.  

Since working with Jaime, I feel more confident as a woman and mom. I feel like I’m finding my voice again. Things that I dreaded, like preparing busy bins for the kids or going outside of my house solo with them, are not as daunting. I still lose my cool. I’m not a perfect mom, wife, or person. I still loathe sudden messes. But, I’m able to access joy and excitement amid the everyday madness.

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If you’d like to work with Jaime in any capacity, please find her at JaimeMagic.com or Facebook. Or reach out to me and I’ll happily make an introduction. 🙂 She offers custom coaching programs to adults and children.