Amber I Am

I’m so excited to introduce a new monthly feature – Train Up a Child Tuesday! Every month, Anna Bachelder from Train Up a Child will share an article related to motherhood, raising a child, or a related topic. I’ve known Anna for a few years (we used to attend the same church), but I’ve only recently gotten to know her better through her Facebook group and her business. We worked together earlier this month to sleep train Charlotte, which was a roller coaster experience that I will write about next month! I wanted to have Anna post here each month to give people a new perspective on parenting and to give everyone a monthly break from hearing me talk. 😉 Take it away, Anna!

After my daughter was born like any parent, my entire life was turned upside down. My heart was softened, my emotions were all over the place, and my hormones I don’t think will ever be the same. I could not believe how amazing this little baby was to me, and how different I was after having her. See I have worked with kids, mostly ages 6 weeks to 5 years old since I was old enough to baby sit. Every job I have had since I was 16 has been working with children, except a 2 year sales job where I was pretty much miserable. I worked as a nanny for several different families, worked in day cares, after school programs, I have a degree in elementary education and I taught kindergarten for a few years; anything you can imagine with kids, I’ve done. So I was as prepared as I could be for this mom thing, but being a mom was so different. Now I was the one setting the stage, setting the schedule, buying the clothes, and the one responsible for this sweet little life that I wanted to be perfect in every way. Of course I knew that wasn’t possible, but as close as I could get is what I wanted.

I went back to work after 3 months and after about 2 months I decided that I had to stay home with my daughter. Our families financial situation was changing to allow that to happen and I just couldn’t bear the thought of missing that much of her day every day. It was just not in me to spend all that time with other people’s children, while my own was getting taken care of by someone else. When I started to stay home I of course started hanging out with other stay at home moms and knew that God was stirring up something in me, I felt he had something for me, but I just wasn’t sure what it was yet. I decided to start a mom’s group on Facebook called “Mama’s Village” (which anyone is welcome to join) where mamas can give and get advice without judgement and where I would give little tips and advice of my own about once a week.

This started to unfold into a ministry for me and I was able to use all of my education and experience to help moms and children that needed and wanted my help. I started getting some serious testimonies and results, so I thought I should go ahead and dive into what I felt God had just unfolded before me and start “Train Up a Child”. “Train Up a Child” is such a ministry to me and so much fun and so rewarding for me. I get to help people with one of the most precious gifts and treasures God has given them and watch their children and parents blossom into all they can be! What a privilege and honor!

Train up a Child has unfolded into a full program of materials from prenatal to 5 years old. We start with day one of baby being born and take you all the way to kindergarten. This information is not just made up, but it is researched and if the program is followed, has always been successful. We give you coaching and material to get you through the newborn stage of schedules and routines and understanding what a newborn needs and then take you to the baby stage and the developmental changes that occur, and transitioning to solid foods, then to the dreaded toddler stage and how and when to deal with discipline, then go into ages 3-5 and the developmental hurdles that occur, along with academic prep and making sure they are ready for kindergarten. We also help get baby to sleep through the night at any stage they are in from about 4 months to 2 years old. God has just designed this from beginning to end and I stand amazed at what he has done and how he has allowed me to use my gifts and experience to help families with their most prized possession, their children.

If you are interested in the program or want more information, feel free to email me at annabachelder@trainupachild.care or check out my website – trainupachild.care – where you can check out testimonials and learn more about what I do.

Thanks, Anna! If anyone has parenting questions or topics they would like to see Anna write about, leave a comment or contact me!