Your Calm Parenting Path

43. How Your Home Can Support Your Child’s Wellbeing, with Etienny Trindade

• Nina Visic • Episode 43

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Can the way your home looks and feels actually affect your child’s behaviour, mood, and ability to stay calm?

In this episode, Nina is joined by designer and Happy Healthy Homes founder Etienny Trindade to explore how your home environment can affect your child’s mood, behaviour, and ability to stay calm

You’ll learn simple, practical ways to create a home that supports your child’s wellbeing without expensive renovations. They talk about colours, clutter, sensory input, and how small changes in your space can help children feel safer, more regulated, and more independent.


You’ll Learn

  • What it really means to support your child’s wellbeing at home
  • How your environment affects your child’s nervous system
  • Why too many toys can make children feel overwhelmed
  • Montessori-inspired ideas for calm, supportive spaces
  •  Low-cost ways to support your child’s wellbeing through design


Why This Episode Matters
Many parents feel like their home is loud, messy, and overstimulating - and that makes it harder for everyone to stay calm. When your environment supports your child’s wellbeing, daily life can feel more connected, less reactive, and easier to manage.

Creating a home that supports your child’s wellbeing doesn’t mean perfection. Small, intentional changes can have a big impact.


Small Shift for Big Impact

Try rotating your child’s toys instead of having everything out at once.
Fewer choices can help children stay calmer, focus longer, and feel less overwhelmed.

 

Take the Next Step

Look around one room this week and ask:
Does this space support my child’s wellbeing, or does it feel overstimulating?

You might also like to listen to these previous episodes:


Links and Resources

Podcast: Happy Healthy Homes

Book: Creating Healing Spaces for Children

Follow Etienny on Instagram.


Let’s Connect
Want more support? Follow Nina on Instagram, or sign up for tips and updates at mindfulparentinglifestyle.com.au.

Have a question or parenting challenge you'd like addressed on the podcast? Send a DM or an email.

 

About the Host/s

Nina Visic is a mindful parenting coach and mum of three who helps overwhelmed parents find calm, connection, and confidence in everyday family life. Through her podcast and coaching, she shares practical strategies grounded in mindfulness to help parents respond with patience instead of reacting in the heat of the moment.

 In this episode, Nina speaks with designer Etienny Trindade, founder of Happy Healthy Homes. Etienny combines design, neuroscience, and Montessori principles to help families create environments that support wellbeing. Her work focuses on creating healing home for children -

 Join me on April 29th for a Siblings Workshop - www.mindfulparentinglifestyle.com.au/upcoming-events 

Episode 43 How Can Your Home Support Your Child’s Wellbeing? with Etienny Trindade

Nina: You're listening to Your Calm Parenting Path. I'm your host, Nina, a mindful parenting coach and mum, here to help you go from overwhelmed and reactive to calm, confident and connected with your kids. This show is for parents who want to raise their children with more patience, less stress and a whole lot more joy, because small shifts make a big impact and you can build the parenting life you've always wanted. If you want to see what I'm up to, follow me on Instagram mindfulparentinglifestyle and don't forget to hit, follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. Let's get started.

Nina: Welcome back, lovely listener. Today's episode of youf Calm Parenting Path feels especially close to home, quite literally because we're talking about the spaces we live in and how they shape the way we feel. My guest today is Etienne Trinade, founder of Happy Healthy Homes. She's a designer, project manager and a mum who brings together design, neuroscience and a deep understanding of what makes a house truly feel like a home. Etienne believes that our homes can do far more than look beautiful. They can nurture, comfort and connect us. And in our conversation, she shares her storey, her insights and her, uh, heart for helping families create spaces that truly support their well being. Etienne, thank you so much for joining me today on your calm parenting path.

Etienny: Thank you so much for having me here.

Nina: Now you have such a fascinating journey from design and construction to creating Happy healthy homes. I'm just wondering what first drew you into this area of designing spaces that nurture well being, especially for children and families?

Etienny: Yeah, so I found my passion. I was really young, I was 17 years old when I started working construction. Um, and I always been very, like, sensitive. I, I went to buildings and I would sense buildings and feel like, wow, this place is so nice. And I didn't know why, even though I was working in construction, I didn't know exactly what was making me feel good about those buildings.

Nina: Interesting.

Etienny: And then I started studying architecture, uh, and started understanding few things, but was actually when I came to Australia to live in 2016 that I started working for an architecture company. And somehow I end up on, um, doing projects for education, like child care schools and even aged care facilities as well. And that's when I started understanding better about spaces and how they can shape how we feel, especially children. Because when I was designing the child care facilities, there were so many regulations and on top of the regulations, I was doing a lot of research to understand everything about toxins, colours, everything I could find. I'll Just keep researching. I'll do work at the activation company during the day and I get a home. Super excited to do a bit more research.

Nina: Excellent. You know you've got a passion when you do that, don't you?

Etienny: Yes. It was a bit too much, but fun.

Nina: So you combine design, neuroscience and Montessori principles in your work. Can you explain what healing homes means to you and why the way that we design our spaces has such a powerful effect on how children feel and behave?

Etienny: Yeah. So for me, a healing home is a space where we instant feel calm, we feel safe, and we feel at peace. Beautiful place that allow our body to exhale. What happens most time is people just design for one of our senses. That's our vision and our brain. It's processing everything. It's processing the smells, the, the sounds, the texture. Um, we listen, we touch, we smell, we see, we breathe. So it's so much going on and that's where it comes to place the healing homes, because somewhere along the way in modern houses, they become a bit cold, didn't have much texture, and just lost that natural rhythm of the design.

Nina: Cool. So

00:05:00

Nina: having a design that has incorporates all these things to make it more harmonious, is that what you mean?

Etienny: Yeah. So designing a home that will bring some of those sensory back, it's not just about how this space look, but how it feels. Uh, and then like gentle light, soft textures, fresh air, the smells, everything that helps to relax our nervous system.

Nina: Excellent. And how does that affect how children feel and behave?

Etienny: So the interesting thing is that children are more sensitive than we are for all of that. So if you get into a space and you feel overwhelmed, you probably, um, your children is feeling five times more overwhelmed than you. So do you know when we get to spaces, too much going on. Yeah. So they probably feel the same. So they, their little brain is still developing. So sound, touch, smell and light can easily overwhelm or help them. Right. And that's when the space come to place. The way we bring those senses into the space, space can help them to calm down. Yeah.

Nina: Brilliant. So for talking about the Montessori philosophy, values of independence and order, can you give some examples or suggestions on how we can set up our children's bedrooms or play areas to help encourage that calm independence and creativity?

Etienny: Yeah. So when we talk about Montessori, like a century ago, she was already touching base on these sensory spaces and how we can set up for the children. And it's actually quite simple. We just need to respect the children as much as we can. Like for example, get the furniture to their size, get to generate independence. So lower furniture, open shelves. Another thing that I always suggest is bring the wood inside. Like, instead of having everything white, focus on having some solid wood furniture on the children's side.

Nina: Okay.

Etienny: So this, this way you're bringing that texture of nature in as well. Another thing on the Montessori is the toys. Invest on toys that are more wood based, that bring that sensory texture for the children when they play. M. Soft colours. And when you, um. Bringing materials, always give preference for natural materials as well. That's one of the things she touched a lot on, her philosophy that children try when they. In natural spaces, in nature. Yeah. And into Montessori, um, she gives always preference for wood toys, wood furniture, soft tones. Things that really help the children to focus on the activity they're doing. So the space is not, uh, the hero is what they need to do at the moment. Oh, yeah.

Nina: Oh, I love that. See, when I had my first boy, I was all about, let's bring in the bright colours. I want bright pops of yellow and blue and this and that and that, because that's what I like. And now you're saying that soft tones, like more like pastels or beige, light brown, you know, soft yellows, that kind of thing would be a much better choice because it kind of lowers their regulatory system. It calms them down a little bit. They're not so, like in your face, like, oh, loud voices, loud noises, loud colours, you know?

Etienny: Yeah. For so many years, uh, even architects make that mistake.

Nina: Oh, really? Oh, that's good.

Etienny: Yeah. Not all the architects has this knowledge into how they. Space affects the children. So sometimes you go to school and there's a bright red colour there and things are changing slowly. But that's what we think with children on the beginning, because they're so bright and happy and energetic. We think like, oh, let's just put all the colours and we don't understand that that can be overstimulating. Don't be afraid of colours, please. I love colours as well. Yeah, just tone them down a little bit. Like, instead of putting a, um, bright blue, just do a pastel blue. Blues are really calming. Pastel greens are very calming. Pastel, um, pinks. Colours that are in nature, like terracotta, beautiful. And I always say to my clients, let's dish that. The. What about

00:10:00

Etienny: let the toys shine. Because most toys have prime colours.

Nina: I was going to say that accents of colours rather than big blocks of colours like cushions and. And small rugs and stuff. And then the Toys too.

Etienny: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's exactly like, don't need to take everything back. It's just really let the toys shine. Cause their toys is usually very colourful or something colourful on the bed. They usually have some preferences, they cartoons and things they love. So just let them be the hero. Yeah, yeah.

Nina: Oh, I love that idea. You talk about biophilic design. Is that the right term M bringing nature indoors?

Etienny: Yeah.

Nina: And we've talked about, you know, having those natural textures. So the wooden textures, um, the colours from outdoors, people that live in smaller or urban spaces, um, what are some simple ways to invite more calm and connection with nature inside the house?

Etienny: So I did a workshop a few days ago. It's called bring nature into your home. And everyone thought I was going to talk about indoor plants.

Nina: Well, that's what I immediately thought, indoor plants.

Etienny: And I was like, no, I'm not actually going to talk about plants. I love plants. But they are not the only way. So what I always, uh, suggest is bring natural materials as much as you can. For example, you can bring texture. Texture is one of the most important thing we found in nature. If we think about nature, everything has texture. So how we can incorporate texture into our children's spaces. Cushions a good way. Uh, handmade items like linen curtains, linen bedding. Right. A lot of textures for, uh, cushions. Another way is like wood panels on the wall. One thing I love is some textured wallpapers with some nature or something like that. Well, for example, if you. I think people just need to do what they like as well. People are too afraid to do what, uh, they enjoy on their homes. Nowadays, everyone, like, wanna. Our homes shouldn't be a magazine. They should be what we love, what we feel. So if your children did that beautiful work at school, frame it, put on their space. Yeah. You know, if you guys had a beautiful trip, I don't know, Thailand, Bali, and you have that beautiful peace picture on the beach, frame it.

Nina: Beautiful.

Etienny: Put it there as well. That's the way of bringing nature into this space. It's not just about plants. Yeah, of course plants are beautiful and I love it, but there are so many other ways. Yeah.

Nina: I have a friend who, um, they redid their house and the girls in all chose different coloured doors, depending on what was their favourite colour. And then they got to choose the colour of their walls. And one of the girls actually chose a massive, big wallpaper which was a woodland scene. So I had like trees and deers and butterflies and it was. The whole wall was just covered in this beautiful woodland Scene. And I was. I thought, whoa, that's a bit full on, you know. But actually, it's really nice when you go into a room because the rest of the rooms are, uh, those same colours, those nice greens and the dark browns and stuff, and you get that beautiful sense of calm when you walk in because it's just a beautiful woodland scene. It was gorgeous. Yeah.

Etienny: Another thing I'm suggesting a lot for, for people is when, uh, I did my baby's room, I couldn't put a wallpaper on. I didn't know how to put a wallpaper. And our budget was really tight. So there are decals. Yeah. And decals are really good because if you're renting, they don't damage the wall. Uh, and I did a fairy, fairy decal and it's very soft tones and comes with like, all these natural, uh, elements like frogs, butterflies and things like that. And it really gives that. That natural nature feeling and brings a bit of texture as well, you know? So, yeah, if you can put wallpaper, it's great. But if you can't afford wallpaper and you still want to make the room a bit more fun, just put some decals on the walls.

Nina: Do you have any other, um, storeys from when you were decorating your daughter's room of how you created this happy, healthy, healing space for her? What, uh, what else did you do for her?

Etienny: So one of the things I started with was the base of the room, bringing some colours. The first thing was the painting. And then I did the very light, soft green colour.

00:15:00

Etienny: That's really calming. I used that colour a lot on some of the school projects. Yeah.

Nina: Okay.

Etienny: And it's one of those colours I really like. Another thing is, when we renovated the house few years ago, we took all the carpets out and we already had a wood, uh, floor underneath was lucky. And so I left the wood floor and the furniture. Instead of having everything white, I chose a furniture that mixed a little bit of wood with white and has texture on the furniture itself. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

Nina: Oh, I love that.

Etienny: And then I soften up with things like the curtains are linen curtains. Her chair has a linen fabric, and then her bookshelf is wood elements. And as I said, I was on a tight budget when I did her room, so I just found these elements on Amazon. M. Yeah. And what I suggest, people as well, decorate the room with their. The baby things or the kids things. Yeah. Because make it so nice and fun.

Nina: It makes it personal too, doesn't it? It's their space. And they can have pride being in that space, knowing they contributed to it, too.

Etienny: Yes. Yes. And when you, uh, waiting for baby, it's so special, you know, you get so many beautiful presents, like knitted, uh, cardigans. You get some, um, little teddy bears and shoes. So I just hang it then on the wall as well as part of the decoration. Beautiful.

Nina: Oh, very nice. So we've talked about different sensory elements. So we've talked about, um, texture. What about smell? How does smell influence the calmness of the house? Can you give some suggestions or just talk to how smell influences the house, the home?

Etienny: Yes. Before I answer your question, I have a question for you. Please do tell me about your childhood. What smells come straight away?

Nina: Oh, gosh, I don't know. Um, like dinner.

Etienny: Yeah, that's a good one.

Nina: Roast meals and, like, curries and stuff.

Etienny: Yeah. Because when I was a child, my grandma used to bake cakes, and that's the big smell that I carry with me.

Nina: That's the smell. Interesting.

Etienny: So this is such a good question, because the smells are so important. This is the first sensory we, um, have that connects straight to our brain.

Nina: Oh, cool.

Etienny: So there's a lot of studies on smells that calm not just children, but us as adults as well. So when I used to design child cats, we used to do a sensory garden for the children. So that would be, like, herbs, lavender, uh, rosemary to help them with that kind of smell. So I just tell people, just bring smells into the house. Natural smells. One of the things I always suggest is, like, first thing, open the windows.

Nina: Yeah.

Etienny: Unfortunately, with air conditioning, we just rely on the machine all the time. You. And then the house gets a bit stuffed and doesn't have the air circulation. Yep.

Nina: Especially in summer.

Etienny: Yeah. And then, like, um, bring some herbs inside, some flower, make something fun with the kids. I don't know, like, collect, um, cones now that Christmas is arriving. Could do some decorations, make some oranges, all these things. It's really beneficial for them to feel calm, to feel present. There is a lot of studies around lavonda, and that's when biophilia come in as well. Um, studies how Lavona can help us calm down and relax.

Nina: So definitely focus on more natural products coming in, rather than getting candles or, you know, the oil diffuses, that type of thing.

Etienny: Yeah. So I love essential oils. I use them. You just need to be mindful that some essential oils you can't use around babies or young children.

Nina: Oh, okay.

Etienny: It's not my expertise, but I just feel like we just need to be Very careful. Just not go to normal supermarket and buy those candles that made from petrol and they quite toxic.

Nina: Yeah.

Etienny: There are a lot of people nowadays that make nice handmade natural candles and you could use. But I'm always trying to bring as simple as possible solution for people in a way that if they say, oh, right now I cannot buy candles, but if your neighbour has

00:20:00

Etienny: some Rosemary's you can just go and collect.

Nina: I love that actually, when you're talking about that. I remember we had some fruit trees in our backyard growing up. So there was mandarins and plums and nectarines and things like that. So that's probably one of the smells that I'm drawn to now, now that I think about it, which I've never done before because that reminds me of playing cricket in the backyard and having all those smells around me too. So that's really cool.

Etienny: Yeah, that's right. And fruit balls is great with orange and mandarins. Just having that around the house, bring that freshness into the home as well.

Nina: Natural smell.

Etienny: Yeah.

Nina: Brilliant. Okay. So parents often worry that creating a nurturing home means expensive makeovers. We've talked about swapping wallpaper for decals. What are some other low cost, high impact changes that can really make a difference?

Etienny: I think like bed covers could be a big one. Yep. Instead of having something very plain, you could get some handmade ones or natural fabrics like we talked about cushions as well. Bringing some texture. Yep. Some knitted, uh, things just to add some texture. If your grandma makes some beautiful knitted, uh, wool, uh, blanket or some things like that, you know, like very different. And get her to teach the kids

Nina: and they can make their own. Hey.

Etienny: Yes, I would love to learn that. Unfortunately I didn't have that in my family. But if you have someone, that would be a great activity as well and they will remember forever. Oh, I made my own bed cover.

Nina: Exactly.

Etienny: That's a simple one. Changing the curtains, adding some m more texture and sometimes just I love secondhand. Um, really big fan. Just you just need to be very intentional. Um, I don't think you need a lot of money to make your house feel good and be a healing home. You just need intention. So I usually suggest people to start with a mood board.

Nina: Nice.

Etienny: Um, when I say a mood board is not like a Pinterest, Just save everything on Pinterest. Just get an A3 paper, write what you want, cut some pictures, put there and m have that somewhere that you can plan for what you want and then put the colours, go to Bunnings, get the Colours you want and start putting that together. So you organise your ideas there and then you start a process as a whole process of doing things or another way is like getting inspiration from a trip, something you've done that was fun and make sure you keep them involved on the process. So I'm completely against not getting the children involved because after so many years working with children, they are very smart and genuine beings. So they know exactly what they want. Yeah. You know, when they're babies it's hard, but as soon as you start seeing their personality, just start observing and seeing what they like. And even when they want to bring something from outside to their bedroom. Yeah. Sometimes it's good to let them and make that part of the decoration somehow. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

Nina: It's giving them that input and that kind of buy in into their own space. I love that. Giving them that power of autonomy. But also that feeling of having a home, of having a space that's not just mum and dad, it's actually ours or mine. And I get to choose what goes in here. Yeah. Very cool.

Etienny: Yeah. Another thing, I, uh, think it's very simple, but it adds a lot of colour and texture. It just paint their artwork and you can do like many different ways of showing their artwork and that already take out one blank wall of the room and make something more interesting. Do you know what I mean?

Nina: Yeah, definitely. Do you have any kind of go to ways to display artwork?

Etienny: So the other day on our workshop I showed a little, just a little hanging line with wood pegs and uh, their artwork hanging. And look. It's very nice.

Nina: That's cool. I used to do that with Christmas cards. You hang the Christmas cards over the line.

Etienny: Yeah.

Nina: And you could do that with artwork too.

Etienny: Yeah. And then every week you and the kids hold, rotate together what you want. It's played, you know. Ah. Uh, very cool.

Nina: Oh, I love that. Okay.

Etienny: Another way to do is like, uh, there are some frames you can buy online that you can swap the artwork as well.

Nina: I've seen those. Yeah, they look great. Good for those 3D artworks.

Etienny: Yeah, that's right. And you know what? On Montessori

00:25:00

Etienny: they suggest the artwork to be on the children's height as well. So they can be. They can admire and see as much as the adults as well.

Nina: Yes. Yeah, that's great advice. Love that. And uh, that's good for me because my boys are all different heights. So I can have three rows.

Etienny: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that's right. And do they share a room or they have their separate room.

Nina: Yeah, we've got two in a room together and one by oneself. So there's not a lot of space in the actual bedroom. So I, to me, I'm thinking that we would put that in our family area where they play. They've got a big play area and stuff like that. So we'd kind of put that there because there's not actually any wall space in the other room. Because they've got beds that have bookshelves on the side.

Etienny: Yeah, yeah.

Nina: Something to think about.

Etienny: Yeah. But the play area is always a great place to. To do that as well.

Nina: Exactly.

Etienny: Yeah. Put some shelves and things on their hide. But they can get a bit more independent and get what they want. Yeah.

Nina: Excellent. Oh, uh, this has given me so many good ideas about what I'm going to do. So my final question about this kind of this healing home is all about screens and like digital noise. Do you have any suggestions on how families can design spaces that support this rest and focus, especially for children who struggle to switch off at bedtime? Any suggestions around that one?

Etienny: Yeah. So one of the things I did write on my book, um, is a quiet nook.

Nina: Yep.

Etienny: And that's another thing you can do anyway you can do on a corner. And a play space is a great space to do. So a good way of doing it. Like some, some kids has a little tent that m. Could be there. Um, in schools they do design those nooks is usually inside like a furniture. It's a little space they can go and they can relax and unwind.

Nina: Less cushions and books and stuff.

Etienny: Yeah, yeah, that's it. So in a corner you just put some like a nice, um, texture rug, like a wool blanket, and then some, um, cushions with texture. Always think about texture. Linen, um, knitted, um, because the texture calm the children down a lot.

Nina: Yeah.

Etienny: And then a warm light, something that's not over stimulating because nowadays we have a lot of bright LED light throughout the home and books and then maybe create like a, uh, ritual with them to come and read a book with them two hours before bedtime just to help them to unwind a little bit and try to do in a space that doesn't have screens. Because this way they know that time to just reset, relax, read a book and could be on their bedroom as well. M, um, doesn't need to be on the play space. And some places, some houses has those window nooks, do you know? Yes.

Nina: Like a window seat.

Etienny: Yeah. That's already part of the house design. And they're great to create this kind of things like yeah, for them to read, relax and then you can put some things there that's sensory for them. Oh, how wonderful to just hug I don't know that teddy bear.

Nina: And it's almost like a sacred space, isn't it? Like a special sacred space for them.

Etienny: Yeah. For us would be like a meditation corner, something we did to relax. And for the children it's just a non line space that they can just sit, relax, read. And then of course you have to have a rule like no electronic devices here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

Nina: Now you mentioned your book. Tell us more about your book, Etienne.

Etienny: So yeah, I wrote a book called Creating Healing spaces for children and where I give step by step guide to help parents to create lots of spaces. And as I said, it can be anyone. It's not about a uh, massive renovation. It's about spaces and ideas and how to choose colours and everything like that. And the reason why I really want uh, to write this book is because I see that in commercial projects we spend a lot of money to provide spaces like this for the children. And I felt that people wasn't um, focusing on their homes, environment. Sometimes children go to this amazing school that provide all of that. They have this beautiful play areas, nature play. Um, the school is all designed around biophilia

00:30:00

Etienny: and these concepts but then they come home and there is no connection with that. So just to help the parents to create a bit more connection with what's already starting to happen happen on most schools, even public schools have amazing spaces. So yeah.

Nina: Oh, amazing. I'm gonna have to get my hands on this book. Uh, sounds brilliant.

Etienny: I hope it's helped.

Nina: Oh, I'm sure it will. You also have a podcast as well, talks about science and soul. And uh, tell us about your podcast and then what's one piece of research that you've. You've found while researching your book and promoting your podcast or creating your podcast that really changed the way that you think about environment and wellbeing.

Etienny: So I have a podcast called Happy Healthy Homes and I focus on a lot of things related to children's space but also adults and how to help people feel better on their spaces. Awesome. I just want everyone to feel at home. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, I want everyone to get home and just breathe and, and relax. I want to help as ah many people. So one of the things that I'm focusing a lot right now that changed my life completely was making intentional changes. After doing a lot of research and understanding how many Toxins we had and indoor air quality. That's one of the things I talk as well on um, my book and on my podcast and about sustainable certifications. So how we can be more conscious consumers and instead of having a lot buy quality things that actually help, um, is not going to damage our health and actually help us. That's why I focus so much. I talked so much about natural materials like lemon, cotton. Um, because unfortunately it's really hard nowadays to find good quality things and furniture and because now parents era in our grandparents, um, finding solid furniture and high quality materials was easy. Yes. But nowadays is a challenge. Isn't there so much crap? Yeah, yeah.

Nina: And I was, I was thinking that as you were talking earlier, um, since my, my oldest is almost nine and when he was a baby it was a lot of plastic in all the shops. All the toys were plastic. And now my, my youngest is five and I find when I go to the shops to buy, you know, birthday presents for parties, there's a lot more wooden toys around. Whether that's good, um, quality wood or you know, more natural or if it's, I don't know, pretend wood if there's such a thing, or plastic made to look like wood. But it definitely seems like it might be happening slowly. But there's, there is that pull towards more wooden, natural toys for children. Just in the last kind of uh, nine years since I had my first son. Have you noticed that change as well?

Etienny: Yeah. So I'm glad that's happening because I, so far I was able to avoid any plastic toys. Nice. Trying to keep everything really simple. She doesn't have much at all but really keeping things simple. But yeah, I, I noticed that there is so many more brands now focusing on like sustainable certificated toys. M. And I think it's parents to be honest. If you really taking the ownership and creating some brands to support all the parents. Um, last year, yeah, I think it was last year I went to the baby expo and I talked with a father that created like a Montessori gym. Wood Montessori gym.

Nina: Wow.

Etienny: And I thought this is great. Why did you decided to do this? And it's like I felt there was nothing, there was a lack on the market for my daughter. So he decided to create his own brand and it's going really well.

Nina: Isn't that wonderful?

Etienny: Yeah, I feel like we just need more people like that. They see that the market is not providing us with good things and they just start their own brands.

Nina: Good on them.

Etienny: Yeah, I think it's amazing. Yeah, yeah.

Nina: So, Etienne, it's been so great to have you on the podcast. I think you've shared some really great tips and tricks for parents and I, for one, I'm really excited to think about how I can incorporate what you've mentioned into my family home with my boys.

00:35:00

Nina: We always ask on your calm parenting path, what's one small shift for big impact that parents can do this week? What would you love our listeners to try this week to help their homes feel calmer and more connected?

Etienny: So one of the things I really would, uh, think it's a big thing is just, I know Christmases are around the corner, so just go around your children's space and try to start rotating their toys. Um, there are some studies that show that when they have too much, they don't actually play with the toys. M. And sometimes you, the parents. I heard that a lot throughout my, my life. Oh, they have so many toys but they don't play. It's because they can't actually choose one. So the way I suggest parents is to have a go to Bunnings, buy a, uh, clear box, bought some toys there, live on a cabinet and just leave on the shelves some toys for the children. Like, like when you go to a very expensive shop, do you know? Oh, yes. Yeah, that's something I learned in architecture a, uh, few years ago. Um, when you go to an extremely expensive shop, they display their, uh, products like one at a time. So you feel like, wow, I really need to get that. Do you know what I mean?

Nina: Yes, I do. That's wonderful advice. Yeah.

Etienny: So just do that with TED toys. Display some toys. Very beautiful, organised. If it's like Lego, you can always do like trays and put one LEGO at the time for them and see how it works for you. And of course, if they're older, make them part of the process, talk to them, see what price you want to display. This week we're just putting all orders away. Doesn't need to be every week. Some parents does every week, some parents does once a month, some parents does every six months. And it's just to help you, because I know that that's thing parents complain most of the time. How can I design this space to fit all the toys? And sometimes I have to be honest, we can't, we can't fit all the toys on the space. Do you know what I mean?

Nina: I do. And what I really like about that is that, uh, it's kind of got three, three benefits. So when the toys are all nicely put away, the room looks really Nice and calming. Your child isn't overwhelmed by choice. So they'll play with those toys. But then because that particular toy has a particular home for that period of time, it's so much easier for your child to put the toy back. It's not like they've got to jam it into a box somewhere in the corner because they don't know where else it goes. So I really. It's like a win, win, win, win, win situation to do that.

Etienny: So. Yeah.

Nina: Awesome. Go and get yourself a box, listeners.

Etienny: Yeah, just a box. Put away. Put on the garage or the linen cupboard on the corridor and then just play on the shelves and very nice and neat and see how it goes. And then that's my biggest study vibe.

Nina: Would you suggest the same for books as well, Etienne?

Etienny: Yes, I actually do that with my seven months already. Yeah, I just have. I have a big box on her wardrobe and then we rotate her books and works really well for us as well because sometimes you get bored of the books. Yeah.

Nina: When you read the same one over and over and over and over and over. Yes.

Etienny: So we have some shelves on the room, uh, for her on the wall and then we have some shelves on our playroom and I just rotate everything. Yeah. And it's working really well. And like you said, I can put her toys away in three minutes.

Nina: Yeah.

Etienny: Because I just have them on the shelf organised. And then that makes your life easy. And I feel that your children will pay or, um, will play much longer with the toys as well. Yeah. Especially if they are open play toys. So what's an open play toy? An open play toy is like, you know, those wooden blocks that. It's just a wooden block. Yeah.

Nina: You can do anything with.

Etienny: Yeah, yeah. So those are great toys to have on the shelf. So, yeah, they can just do anything they want. Be creative and play for a long, long time with those toys.

Nina: Excellent. Well, look, Etienne, wonderful tip. Thank you so much. I'm sure that listeners are going to get so much out of this episode. Uh, before we wrap up, please can you share where listeners can find your book, your podcast and learn more about you

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Nina: and happy, healthy homes.

Etienny: So you guys can find my podcast on Spotify and Apple podcasts as well. And my book is on Amazon, Creating Healing Spaces for Children. And on, uh, my Instagram, I put a lot of tips every week as well. And I'm inviting a lot of people on my podcast that talks a lot of different topics. So it's Hene Trinity.

Nina: Fantastic. I'll put all the links in the show. Notes. Um, but for now, thank you so much for joining us, Etienne, and lovely listener. I hope you enjoyed this episode too. We'll see you again next week.

Etienny: Thank you so much. I really enjoyed this conversation. Thank you for the invitation. Thank you everyone. Bye.

Nina: Thanks for listening to your calm parenting path. I am so glad you're here, and I hope this episode gave you something useful to take into your parenting journey. If you'd like to dive deeper, sign up to my mailing list@mindfulparentinglifestyle.com for more tips and insights. Or book a free chat to learn how we can work together. And don't forget to hit, follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. I look forward to speaking with you next time on your calm parenting path.

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