As you know, we are a multilingual family. We raise the children bilingual, English and Italian, but my plans haven't always been that way. When Oliver was born, I had a beautiful project that, however, collided with reality. I wanted to follow the OPOL method (one person, one language) with a twist: I would speak to the children in Italian and my husband Alex in Finnish; all together we would speak English, which is our family language; and by living in Spain, the kids would absorb Spanish. ...

The new school year is approaching. For some it's a new year; for others, it's the first year.You know that my kids don't go to school, but they did go for two years and I remember how difficult the beginning was. I also remember having a hard time deciding whether to send them to school sooner or later: some say that you should send your child to kindergarten as soon as possible if you don't want them to struggle; others say after they turn one; others say definitely not between 12 and 18 mo...

When you see us on social media and from the outside, Alex and I are a perfect couple. Many parents write to me asking about our relationship, how we found a balance as a couple after children, and how we compromise when it comes to raising our kids. Although we are on the same page on many aspects of parenting and education — and life (!), not everyone is “crazy” enough to sell everything and travel the world full time — Alex and I are certainly not immune to the daily difficulties of parent...

By now you know that in 2019 we sold everything we owned in Marbella and left with our work (two computers), two suitcases and two backpacks for an adventure around the world. On my blog, you'll find a collection called  traveling with kids with many travel articles from recent years (including mini-guides for different cities).Today we're talking about traveling! In this email, you'll find 3 foundation premises, 6 cobwebs of thoughts about traveling with children and 6 practical tips that ha...

Today I would like to explain my point of view on why labels are harmful, what I mean by "labels" and I'll give you 4 ideas to avoid them and 1 exercise to do this week.Imagine a child who always hears their parents describe them as shy every time he hides between his mother's legs when they meet new people. What does that child think? I am a shy child. What is that child doing? They create that image of themselves in their mind and unconsciously satisfy the expectation that people have of th...

Today I would like to tell you what I mean with the word "limits" and why limits are very important in Montessori education; I'll also give you 3 ideas to set limits in a healthy and constructive way.When I say limits, I mean the rules that we have at home or in our society and that we must respect. Many parents interpret the Montessori concept of "following the child" as giving the child absolute freedom. But freedom doesn't mean that children can do whatever they want, because there is no f...

Sit down and grab a tea, because this newsletter is longer than usual: I felt it was necessary, so thank you for your time. I actively seek peace since, on a warm winter day in Marbella, with tiny Oliver sleeping on me, I read these words by Maria Montessori:Everyone talks about peace but no one educates for peace. In this world, we educate towards competition, and competition is the beginning of every war. When we educate to cooperate and be in solidarity with one another, that day we will b...

Many parents write me every day asking how to teach children to play alone and so I thought I'd tell you my experience and give you some ideas.First of all, there is no magic wand to teach it overnight, it takes patience: independent playing must be cultivated every day in small doses, it's trial and error, it's progress and regression.When I talk about "regressions" I mean phases. Sometimes children play independently for weeks and then stop for different reasons: separation anxiety typical ...

If you ever wonder if my kids argue with each other, the answer is YES, OF COURSE! On Instagram you often see that hey are patient, kind, generous and that they play very well together independently for hours. It's all true! But they're normal children and they also fight: today I would like to tell you about our experience on how we handle conflicts between siblings and I'll leave you 4 ideas to solve conflicts in a healthy way.Sometimes conflicts arise out of jealousy, but in our family we ...

I am writing to you in a fraction of a second—the time I have between finishing work/reloading the van and leaving tonight on a ferry headed to Italy. We'll arrive in Civitavecchia on Tuesday and for a week we'll be driving down to Sicily, where the grandparents are waiting for us.But now I'm writing to tell you something else:I just published another guide for parents!After sex education, this time we'll talk about gender identity and sexual orientation and of course we'll also talk about it...

[if:firstname]Hello [firstname],[else]Hello,[endif]Here I am! I'm alive. 🙂Ugh, I am not very consistent with this newsletter, I need to admit and accept my personal limits, and hopefully you'll keep welcoming me as I am. You know me, I write when I feel like it. And today I'd like to tell you about our plans, which I have not yet felt like sharing on social media.The truth is, it's been intense since we decided to return to Europe, both professionally and emotionally. I say "decided", yes, be...

Hi [firstname,fallback=there]!How are you? First of all, a huge welcome to those of you who have recently signed up for my newsletter (thank you so much, there's so many of you! 😍).We are in Hoi An, Vietnam, and we are really enjoying living some normal life. Hoi An is the Vietnamese biking city, so for a while we are back to our beloved biking lifestyle, which we love so much. On top of that, we will also celebrate Emily's birthday here, on December 31st: if you have ideas on what we could d...

How are you? In the last weeks, so many of you signed up to my newsletter, and I just want to say THANK YOU! I'm so happy that you want to read about us and what I have to say, it humbles me and makes me feel so honoured.We're currently in Singapore and soon moving to Thailand… juggling work and kids and life (and missing my people) around the world is not easy,  but I wouldn't change it for the world.  Today I left the kids at nursery and I had a long todo list to tackle: instead, I stared a...

I love how many of you have signed up to my newsletter in the last few weeks, thank you so much and welcome to my community of moms and dads! Just reminding you that I’m not sending out a weekly newsletter because I have to finish my course and launch it before leaving Spain on our world travel :-)But today I published a post that’s been sitting there for months and honestly took all my courage to publish, because it shows my mommy body in a way that makes me feel vulnerable. Which is also wh...

As I told you, in the next few weeks I’ll have to work hard on my new online course so I might not get around to sending you a newsletter, but last week so many new Moms and dadas joined my newsletter that I couldn’t possibily not say hi. Welcome! I’ll keep publishing posts on the blog, of course, and on Instagram and Facebook. This week I had planned a different post, but this came out of the keyboard unexpectedly this morning: Why I want my kids to DISagree with me and prove me wrongHave a ...

First of all, to all of you who just subscribed last week, welcome! 👋🏻Yesterday I did my last dance show and I loved it… so much that I can’t believe that for a good while I won’t step on a stage! But then who knows, right? A month in a city is a long enough time to prepare a show and perform, right? RIGHT? ;-)Why a month? Because we decided we’ll stay one month in every city around the world, and we’ve got a more detailed itinerary now: it changed from last week 🙈 but this is final because i...

How are you? Alex and I have spent a few nights on planning our world tour, and we finally booked the first three months in Europe: July in Budapest (to go around Eastern Europe), August in Paris (to go around Western Europe, and because it’s Paris), and September in the Greek islands before flying out from Athens to Asia in October. Exciting (and frigging scary!)!I’m not being able to post a lot on the blog, because I’m focusing on writing my second Montessori online course for parents, but ...

How are you? I’m chasing time, as always ;-) On Friday we celebrated Oliver’s fourth (already four????) birthday and I wrote him a little letter: Happy fourth birthday, my little man!Today I also finally posted an article I wrote about a moth ago… but then between translating and editing, well, it took longer than expected (it shouldn’t surprise me by now!). It’s a delicate subject that has become very important to me, and my sister even made a little graph to go with it. I’d love for you to ...

We made it! We moved into a temporary AirBnb with only a few things (or so it should have been, see link below) and completed the first step on our todo list to travel the world!The only problem is that we really didn’t think it through and decided to move just in a week's vacation from school (oops!). Let's just say it was an interesting week! ;-)This is why there are no new posts this week, but you can see us here in the moment just before leaving our old apartment:Just us and all our belon...

How was your week? I wasn’t as productive as I wanted, which annoys me because next week the kids will be on holiday, and we’ll move into another apartment, so I’ll have zero time! Oh well, keep calm and wait for the first week of March ;-)By now, you probably know that languages and Montessori are two of my biggest passions, and this week I combined them into an article reflecting on how multilingualism can be seen as yet another tool to educate towards peace, which was Maria Montessori’s ma...

I’m just back from my dance rehearsals (did I tell you that I’m doing another dance show before leaving? I can’t say NO to a stage!), and I just wanted to wish you a good weekend: take it easy, live slowly, and clean your planet :-)This week’s post: Clean up your planet, please! (With tips on how to organize a public clean-up which can be an educational activity for a weekend).And I answered another one of your questions (which I found strange at the beginning) about our world travel: How wil...

How was your week? I worked so much, but I feel like I have left everything half way. Does it ever happen to you?This week I published a post inspired by a coffee date I was supposed to have with a friend of mine, and that I canceled because… I asked her to meet on a day when we could be just adults, NO KIDS. I am happy she not only understood, but agreed with me 100%! We can (and should) always be honest between moms :-) https://www.lateladicarlotta.com/en/i-want-my-free-time-to-be-kid-free/...

How are you? Happy February! Here I am for our weekly appointment.Last week I went to the “parent school” (yes, a school for parents) that my kids’ Montessori school organizes, and I remembered that for a long time I have been wanting to write about the NOs we say to our kids. Because, let’s be honest, parents do say NO a lot! So I wondered:Are all the NOs we say to our kids necessary? (Clue: the answer is a word that’s contained in the question hihi) And as promised, I also answered another ...

How are you? This weekend we did another beach clean-up and it went very well: I want to organize more and more, they’re so educational for both kids and parents! In my latest Instagram post you can read a few ideas to organize one yourself, and I’ll soon write a blog post about it 🌏 🌱 🐬 This week I wrote a post I had been thinking about for a while: I’ve been dishonest with you. It got different reactions and I’d love to know what you think about it in the comments. Here it is:https://www.la...

I know, I know, I haven’t been very consistent with my newsletters, but everything is about to change: I’m writing more now and I really want to get my articles to you (especially if you don’t follow Facebook or Instagram!), so I’ll start sending a weekly newsletter again!So, here’s my latest articles, I think you’ll like them!But first, some news you might not know yet: we’re selling everything we own to travel the world for a few years! If you’re curious, you can find out a bit more in this...

How are you? If you don’t follow me on Instagram and Facebook you might not know that I recently spent 20 days in the hospital because of a complication of an appendectomy. I’m now home and recovering, and feeling better and better every day (although I’m realizing it’ll take longer than expected to be 100% better).As I had lots of time to think, here’s a post about life, death, motherhood, friendship, relationships… (and also an account of what happened to me):https://www.lateladicarlotta.co...

How are you? Last time I sent out a newsletter we were still in Canada, oops! My rest-of-the-year resolution is to get better and most consistent at this. Just out of curiosity, would you prefer it to be weekly or monthly? Remember that you can also follow me on Instagram and Facebook, if you want 🙂.As for news, Emily's still not back in nursery, because we had a rough start and then she surprised us all by potty training herself (it's been a week and she's doing amazingly!)… so I decided: on...

How are you? We're still in Canada, precisely on a gorgeous farm in Foymount where we're recharging our batteries. You can follow us on Instagram and Facebook, if you want 🙂.I've just published a post with a crazy thought that I wanted to share with you to hear what you think about it: Would you leave everything to see the entire world while living a nomad life?Hugs,Carlotta 🌸PS. If you're thinking about visiting Canda with kids, Montreal is a great starting point: here's my article about wha...

Hi there!How are you? We're good, I can't believe we've been in Montreal for only two and a half weeks, it feels like I've lived here all my life. Are you following our adventures on Instagram? I also wanted to remind you that I'm posting lots of pics and videos in my IG Stories 🙂.This week I published a post by Montessori guide Simone Davis about a subject that I find very interesting: Why do we keep asking "What color is this?" and other questions to test our kids?Let me know in the comment...

Hi there!If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that we're in Canada until September, but in July we're leaving normal life in Montreal and so I'll continue to write and publish. Right now Oliver and Emily are with a babysitter (French, obviously 😉) and I'm at Starbucks getting some work done — I've got interesting posts coming up!This week I published a very personal post that had been sitting in my drafts for months: The hardest year of my life (aka what sleep deprivation did to me)Why ...

Hi there!As always, welcome to all the mums and dads who have just joined our community of La Tela — I love that you keep coming from all over the world, Italy, Spain, Japan, Poland, Belgium, Argentina, Ireland, Australia, Hungary, United States… ! <3How are you? We're recovering after a long weekend at home, as Emily got the nasty stomach bug that's going around in Marbella :-( Hopefully tomorrow she'll be like new.A few readers who don't follow Facebook or Instagram asked me if I could s...