Hello, I'M so glad you are here.

I am maru rojas and I'm a trauma-informed parenting coach and aware parenting instructor

in a nutshell

Having children changed me profoundly.

I had worked with children as an Artist and Art Educator for over 10 years. But I suddenly found a new passion for all things related to bringing up small humans. My previous creative passion for making art that challenged the status quo morphed into finding creative ways to raise children in a way that doesn’t fit within the current parenting paradigms.

I devoured parenting books and methodologies and trained in everything from Pikler to RIE to Montessori until finally discovering Aware Parenting. I don’t exaggerate when I say it saved me from a breakdown when I was in the depths of sleep deprivation desperation.

my story

It all started 6 months after my daughter was born, after 5 months of getting little to no sleep. When I was pregnant, I read The Continuum Concept, the first of many books that would completely transform the way I thought about parenting. I followed all the indigenous attachment-style practices like breastfeeding on demand and co-sleeping, yet my daughter wasn’t sleeping longer than 2 hours at a time. On top, when she did sleep she was restless and moving around so much, and so unsettled that I was barely able to sleep at all.

Having lived through months of severe sleep deprivation I found myself at breaking point. I wanted so badly for sleep to improve, but I was not willing to try any sleep training methods. It was then that I was introduced to Aware Parenting by a friend. It was eye opening and transformative, and I finally understood what was going on with me and my baby as I saw a third way with sleep.

Also, when my daughter was 10 weeks old I decided to start practising Elimination Communication (a way of natural infant toileting). She was nappy-free by 15 months and a few months later I had trained as an EC and Potty Learning Consultant through Go Diaper Free.

By the time I was pregnant with my second baby, I had also certified as an Aware Parenting Instructor, with the aim of helping other parents who like me, wanted to help their baby and themselves get some much needed sleep.

Aside from Aware Parenting, I’m also deeply interested in learning how we can decolonize parenting practices, especially as a Latinx person who grew up in an authoritarian family and culture. As a non-white cisgender person my aim is to make parenting practices more inclusive and welcoming, by supporting parenting practices that can help to eliminate all forms of oppression. I’m opposed to adultism and all institutionalized forms of oppression (including the failure to recognise and support indigenous practices in post-colonial countries).

I would also love to normalise that parenting is hard and that the lack of a village and ancestral knowledge has short-changed parents (especially mothers who are expected to subscribe to the “perfect mother” myth).

about aware parenting

One of the things that drew me the most to Aware Parenting was the idea that I didn’t have to stop my daughter from crying, I didn’t have to fix it all and I wasn’t doing anything wrong when she cried. All I had to do was listen to her. And yet, listening was so hard because I myself hadn’t been listened to as a baby or as a child.

So I realised that in order to truly enjoy spending time with her and looking after her, I had to start by meeting my needs too. And that the more aware and welcoming I was of my own feelings, the more openness I had for her feelings, which at that age were expressed through crying.

All of this is just another way of saying: I truly believe we can bring up cooperative, sensitive humans without rewards or punishments. People who are deeply in tune with their own feelings and connected to us and the world around them, and able to express their emotions.

My aim is not to bring up children to fit in within the current “disconnected domination culture” but to raise children for a new and more compassionate paradigm. And I love that Aware Parenting is a trauma-informed approach.

Find out more about Aware Parenting on Aletha Solter’s website: Aware Parenting Institute.

How does Aware Parenting look like in practice:

  • showing compassion for ourselves, so we can extend compassion for our children

  • moving away from punishments, time outs and disconnection and towards connection and listening

  • understanding that parenting respectfully is extra hard when we weren’t parented that way

  • moving towards trusting our children in all aspects of their life: from what they eat, to how they dress, to how they feel

  • knowing that tantrums and meltdowns are a way for children to heal from trauma and release stress. This is so different from other parenting paradigms that I feel like saying it again: Tantrums and meltdowns are children’s innate way of releasing stress and healing trauma.

  • knowing that laughter and play is equally powerful in helping our children heal from adverse experiences and that it’s the best tool to help us raise connected, cooperative and compassionate people. Aware Parenting has made me a much more fun and less serious parent!

Contact me

Do you really want to enjoy raising your children whilst also meeting your needs?

I love supporting parents wherever they are in their journey, whether it’s understanding how to apply Aware Parenting principles, how to support crying, how to be more playful or how to help their children with potty learning issues.

More About Me

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