Relationship-based

Individual Support for Parents

A new way to see and feel the world

Choose connection and parent with confidence, ease and joy!

Want strong, deeply-connected relationships with your kids, family life is demanding and parenting is hard?!

Overwhelmed trying to be the perfect parent?

Triggered by your child’s behaviour and don’t understand why they’re acting the way they do – or why you react the way you do?

Individual support is your chance to step back, breathe and have someone listen to and support YOU in your personal family situation. I’ll be at your side to help you find your path from where you are to where you want to be. There are different ways we can work together depending on your needs. Have a look at ways to work with me individually below and see what could work for you.

So, so fabulous! I’ve found the paradigm shifts that we discussed really informing my mindset during some challenging behaviors/emotional states that have come up around the end of the school year!  So fantastic!

Chrissy, a daughter (6 yrs)

Ready for more ease, calm and joy in family life?

You can be the parent you want to be and live the family life you’ve always wanted.

If you’re ready for change, start today.

It’s never too late to choose connection and build strong relationships with your kids.

Does this sound familiar?

Longing for peace and calm

There are days that seem like one endless battle of wills. You’re trying to be mindful of your child’s needs but your ideas for peaceful resolutions – and your patience – are at an end. Your child won’t listen, you get frustrated and start to lose it. You want a better way to communicate with your child. Without the power struggles.

Want things to change – and don’t know how

You want loving and joyful relationships with your kids. Everyday family life isn’t easy! Your kids press your buttons and you don’t always stay calm. You want to spend less time and energy feeling angry, guilt and shame. And more time and energy connecting with your kids.

Frustrated by sibling rivalry

You wonder if your kids will ever stop fighting. Who sat down for breakfast first. Who was the last one to stroke the cat. Who dared to look at her brother while he was eating. Who even dared to breathe… You want to help them get along so you can enjoy your time together as a family.

Struggling with juggling everyone’s needs

You’re trying to be everything – and do everything  – for everybody. You’re burned-out. You want to find that balance between giving your kids everything they need – and caring for yourself.

Want to sleep at night knowing you’ve got this

You’ve tried all the well-meaning advice and different parenting strategies – nothing really helps. You need someone you can turn to and not feel judged or overwhelmed. To know that your kids are ok and you’re doing a good job as a parent. So that you don’t lie awake at night worrying.

Wondering what happened to the old you – and not sure who the new you is

You have the life you always dreamed of. But you’re not feeling it. You’re exhausted and wondering what happened to the joyful and carefree you you loved. It’s time to reconnect with yourself. So that you can create and enjoy the (family) life you always wanted.

You don’t have to do it alone.

I can help you get a fresh perspective and find a new path that works for you and your family.

We were stuck in a cycle with our son, constantly reacting to his behaviour and feeling a little hopeless as parents not knowing what to do for the best.

We now have a better understanding of our son’s behaviour, how our own stress and childhood experiences manifest in our treatment of our children, what our children are ‘telling’ us in their actions, and a set of tools to manage.

Amazing! Don’t know how we would have moved forward without you.

Matt, two children (9 & 5 yrs)

What if you could be the parent you want to be, with ease and joy…

  • Deeply connected to your child with a strong, loving and joyful relationship.
  • Enjoying parenting and a family life rooted in connection, respect and trust.

  • Confident in the relationship you have with your child and that it’s strong enough to weather the days when everyday family life is hard.
  • Handling conflicts and difficult situations in ways that help nourish – and not burden – your relationship.

  • Knowing that you’re not alone and have a trusted professional and ally to turn to when you feel overwhelmed or frustrated.

  • Saying goodbye to power struggles and laughing together more instead.
  • Communicating with your child in peaceful ways that bring you closer.
  • Resourceful in responding to your child’s big feelings and challenging behaviour.
  • Taking care of your needs without feeling guilty.

  • Feeling less guilt and anxiety, knowing that your child is ok, just as they are, growing up healthy and capable.

  • Experiencing the ripple effect in your life and relationships outside of the family as you change the way you’re able to see and feel the world.

Thank you for the support and helpful tips for a more connected and respectful family life!

It’s been a great learning curve and probably will be for a good while… but the positive outcome is the best motivation!

Stephanie, a daughter (3 yrs)

I can support you with…

  • Understanding your child’s behaviour and needs

  • Peaceful and respectful ways to handle conflicts and difficult situations

  • Questions about child, tween and teen development

  • When your child, tween or teen is “acting out”

  • Sibling relationships, rivalry, twins and multiples, life as a patchwork family

  • Losing and finding yourself in parenthood, self-care and balance

  • Parenting as a loving couple and maintaining a constructive co-parenting relationship

  • School worries, learning and education

  • Self-directed learning and self-directed schools

  • Family life with more than one language and culture, bilingual kids

My four core principles to transform your family life

Choose
Connection

Children are wired for connection and cooperation. The more connected children feel to their parents and caregivers, the easier and more joyful family life is for everyone. In connection, there is trust, empathy and safety. Explore ideas and practices for everyday family life that put the relationship first and foster connection.

Look Beyond
the Behaviour

All behaviour is communication and meaningful.
Uncover the feelings and needs underlying your child’s behaviour to better understand why they act the way they do – and why you react the way you do.
Rooted in the latest brain science, educational psychology and child development research.

Brave the
Big Feelings

Children need help regulating their emotions and meeting their needs. Our main job – and often biggest challenge – as parents, is to co-regulate a child’s emotions and needs whilst self-regulating our own. Learn to recognise your triggers, understand your child’s big feelings and your own.

Communicate
for connection

A communication culture of active listening and respectful dialogue enables conflicts to be resolved constructively, builds connection, trust and empathy. Learn how language helps develop emotional literacy. Say goodbye to power struggles by validating feelings and working with children to problem solve.

Mindset for Connection

Open to trying something new? These four core principles are sustained by a shift in thinking around conventional parenting paradigms. We’ll focus on connecting and communicating with children as partners in our relationships, in ways that are non-coercive, collaborative, and that build trust and connection. We’ll also identify and address the unhelpful patterns and beliefs that can get in the way of you being the parent you want to be, your child becoming the person they’re meant to be, as well as the kind relationship you want to have with your child.

Karen Netzel

Hi, I’m Karen.

For over 20 years human connection, relationships, communication, learning and personal development have been the focus of my work. I’m a philologist, linguist, mum and twin mum of three teens born less than two years apart.

I advocate peaceful and respectful parenting, family relationships grounded in connection, trust, consent, empathy and collaboration, and support parents around the world on their individual paths to more deeply-connected relationships with their kids. I love seeing the difference rethinking parenting and choosing connection makes to all our lives.

I was born and grew up in the southeast of England, and now live in Germany with my husband, our three children and two cats. Our children are growing up with two languages, different countries and cultures.

I felt like I didn’t understand my daughter’s behavior, why she acted out, what was bothering her, etc. I felt helpless.

Now I feel like I understand that there is a connection between the behavior and the real issue behind it. The realization that there is something behind the behavior is huge. Now I am aware…..

There still is a lot of work to do but the first step is knowing what I have to do. I feel like I have the tools to help me.

Sarah, a daughter (7 yrs)

Ready to make a change?

See what parents are saying about working with me

The course changed our family life, my relationship with my husband and with our daughter, for the better. I’m very happy and grateful that I was able to participate in your course. I had a lot of ahas in the last few weeks. In the last few months, I felt completely lacking in peace and calm, but was able to find it again in your course. I’ve noticed I can see many situations differently and understand my daughter more, which makes me feel better, lighter and happier.

Anna, a daughter (2 yrs)

I realised I’d tended to leave the relationships with our children to my wife. I wanted to change that and understand my children better. I now believe I can react better in everyday situations. I recognised some old, ingrained patterns from my childhood that were preventing me from connecting with my kids.

Dale, three children (8, 10 & 10 yrs)

I wanted to improve how my son and I communicated. I now observe him more. When he gets angry, I’m able to keep calm. I feel more confident and more understood. I got a lot of food for thought, tips and also reassurance. It was definitely worth it. I really enjoyed it.

Ilona, a son (7 yrs)

Working with Karen really helped me!
Karen’s very likeable and had a way of making me feel very comfortable. As a coach, she not only shared her knowledge but saw me as as a person. She connected with me on a personal level, which enabled me to build trust. She was well prepared for our sessions and introduced each topic thoughtfully, which I think is really important when talking about emotional topics like children, being a mum, and relationships. She listened carefully to me and was attuned to my way of thinking. Karen has a great deal of expert knowledge and offered new ways of seeing things that all made a lot of sense to me. I left our coaching sessions with lots of new ways of thinking as well as a concrete idea of what I could do differently in our everyday family life. I always felt as though she was listening to me and that she was hearing me. That was very helpful and exactly what I want as a client.

Susanne, two children (6 & 2 yrs)

Karen is providing digestible and concise content, and makes it personal with examples from her own experience. The task sheets are so valuable because you find out lots about your own struggles and triggers. She gives you tools to work with your own anger and how to fulfil your unmet needs so you can be there to support your children as good as possible. I would recommend this course to anyone who would like to communicate without judgement and to make this world a friendlier place.

Stephanie, two daughters (3 yrs & 4 months)

I can totally recommend the Connect with Your Child course. Karen has a profound knowledge and explains everything in an easy way. I made a big step forward. I am more confident, all the info was very, very helpful. Thank you!

Heike

I felt like I didn’t understand my daughter’s behavior, why she acted out, what was bothering her, etc. I felt helpless.
Now I feel like I understand that there is a connection between the behavior and the real issue behind it. The realization that there is something behind the behavior is huge. Now I am aware….. There still is a lot of work to do but the first step is knowing what I have to do. I feel like I have the tools to help me.

Sarah, a daughter (7 yrs)

The course was very valuable for me. After just one module, I was able to see our daily routine and the way our child was behaving in a different light. I could see why she was behaving in that way and understand what she really needed. We made a small adjustment to our daily routine, which had the big effect that now I and my kids can start our day less stressed, happier and feeling more connected to each other.

Saša, two children (4 & 1 yrs)
It‘s been really helpful and supportive for us to get some feedback and to be able to rethink our methods of parenting.
We‘ve had a really positive experience and spoke about how much we enjoyed it, felt comfortable and how open it was.
Connor, a daughter (3 yrs)

It feels like we – my son and I – have less battles following the course. I always try to keep in mind that he wants to cooperate with me and that opens up other perspectives: to stop for a moment, respond to my child, see what’s going on with him, see his feelings, just to enjoy him….

Tanja, a son (3 yrs)

So, so fabulous! I’ve found the paradigm shifts that we discussed really informing my mindset during some challenging behaviors/emotional states that have come up around the end of the school year!  So fantastic!

Chrissy, a daughter (6 yrs)

I got a lot of new ideas on how to better connect with my child. The course also explained the difference between the old way of raising children with punishment and a new way with connection. It was mind blowing!

Céline, two daughters (4 & 5 yrs)

I would definitely recommend the Connect with Your Child course. It will bring peace and understanding to your parenting. I loved the explanations Karen used while describing the behaviour interpretation. She also helped to change my mindset about parenting in a very practical way. She is able to explain the topic easily and understandably within the context of everyday situations.

Jana, two children (4 & 5 yrs)

Karen’s a great personality! I know few people who communicate so respectfully with children. She really helped me with my concerns.

Susanne, two children (6 & 2 yrs)

Totally fabulous! You are really wonderful; very approachable, easy to connect with online. I felt immediately comfortable being vulnerable with you about my parenting insecurities, and trusted your experience. It’s clear that you are a pro, you asked very insightful and clarifying questions. I felt immediately understood and supported, and left with real and actionable info.

Chrissy, a daughter (6 yrs)

The transition from primary school to high school, in parallel to quarantine, reduced working hours and having building work done, pushed me to my limits with my two children. Now I reflect more than before and can see the needs behind the behaviour. After the first sparks fly, I’m able shift into an empathic response relatively quickly. It’s worth it and the course fee is better invested than in buying new clothes.

Katja, two daughters (5 & 10 yrs)
I am so happy with your course. It makes me think so much about my relationships at home (and also outside) and it motivates me to change. I really want to thank you for guiding us through this huge positive transformation in our way to see and feel the world.
Lis, a son (5 yrs)

Karen’s very empathetic and a great coach who finds wonderful words.

Tamara, three children (7, 5 & 3 yrs)
Thank you for the support and helpful tips for a more connected and respectful family life!
It’s been a great learning curve and probably will be for a good while… but the positive outcome is the best motivation!
Stephanie, a daughter (3 yrs)

We were stuck in a cycle with our son, constantly reacting to his behaviour and feeling a little hopeless as parents not knowing what to do for the best.
We now have a better understanding of our son’s behaviour, how our own stress and childhood experiences manifest in our treatment of our children, what our children are ‘telling’ us in their actions, and a set of tools to manage.
Amazing! Don’t know how we would have moved forward without you.

Matt, two children (9 & 5 yrs)

Feeling overwhelmed with three children under the age of two, we signed up for the Understanding Toddlers & Preschoolers course. Mealtimes were difficult, bedtimes were difficult. We were unhappy with the situation, and ourselves, and wanted things to improve. Now, after the course, we understand our children more and can respond better to their needs. The situations at mealtimes and bedtimes have also changed. We’re all more relaxed… The course is worth it! Even if you think you’re already doing a good job, you’ll learn something new.

Michael, three daughters (2, 2 & 1 yrs)

Can highly recommend! Karen’s great!

Judith, a son (6 yrs)

Before we started coaching, I asked myself: will it really help? For me, the first step was to realise that help was needed. During coaching, I felt safe and had no worries. It’s clear to me that you have to be open yourself for change to happen.  You’re part of the system and can only change in small steps. Often you fall back into patterns of behaviour. Having an outside perspective helps. It’s easier as an observer ;-) In conflict situations, I now ask: What’s the need? Is it about not feeling safe? It helps me deal with it better. It’s simple. Precise terms like “need”, “feeling safe and secure”, “transition”, “connection”. That’s when it “clicked” :-) You created a friendly atmosphere, which is necessary to open up. Your input was invaluable and you responded very well to situations we described.

Michael, a son (5 yrs)

Not sure which option’s best for you?

Book a free 30 minute call with me and let’s chat!