Hello! My name is Ting and I am the founder of MAREA.

 

I am a mom of an inquisitive and lively 2-year old daughter who was a pandemic baby. Raising a baby during a global lockdown definitely had many challenges. Though the fear of our baby catching Covid resulted in strict isolation only until recent months, there was a silver lining. The more constrained we were, the more creative we became and appreciated what we already had. When we avoided public places, we had to make sure our home environment was set up to be stimulating (at the right amount). When we didn’t have other caregivers to come help in person or the option to send our daughter to daycare, we were free to implement the kind of parenting style we believed to be most suitable for our little family of three (and a cat).  

 

Before our daughter was born, we stumbled upon Montessori methods. We were intrigued but with skepticism. As our daughter grew day by day, we were amazed at how much she was absorbing from the physical and human environments around her. She went through various sensitive periods, applying maximum efforts on seemingly random activities, noticing tiny details in picture books, getting mad at things that have gone out of ordinary order. Had we not learned about Montessori, we would have regarded our daughter’s behaviors as “quirks” that were sometimes amusing, but mostly annoying (e.g. we must wait till she sits down before opening her bedroom curtain after a nap). We would not have appreciated that these “quirks” served their purposes in order for our child to achieve her full potential. 

As a first-time mom, I dived deep into all available resources to understand my newborn who is now a full-fledged toddler. I read books written by Dr. Montessori and about her life's work. I benchmarked all baby milestones I could find online, and watched countless hours of educational videos on how to do __ (fill in the blank) for my baby. I put in a conscious effort to raise a bilingual child (Mandarin and English). 

 

But man!!! Isn’t being a parent the most exhausting job in the world?! The mental load, the harsh reality of sleep deprivation and depleting patience, the feeling of losing your pre-kid self, and many more. Oftentimes we just want to scream “Being a parent is SO HARD!”

 

I am no stranger to hard work or “hard” subjects since I got a PhD degree in Nuclear Engineering. It may sound intimidating, but let me assure you that it had more to do with working diligently and having perseverance than the level of difficulty of Nuclear Engineering itself. When I became a mother, I approached my new role with a lot of curiosity and frankly a scientific mindset given my academic training. 

 

Yes, parenting is hard work!!! But I don’t think it is inherently hard. 

 

Thanks to the sheer amount of information, research findings, resources we have now available compared to our parents' or grandparents’ generations, parenting is actually the easiest it has ever been. Want to learn about weaning and starting solids? How to raise bilingual children? Is gentle parenting the same as positive parenting? How to adjust your relationship with your partner to raise a kid together? There are a myriad of YouTube channels, Instagram accounts, organizations and tech gadgets, all trying to make parenting easier! 

 

So why do I want to create the MAREA App and what problems is it trying to solve exactly? 

 

First, there is so much inefficiency in how relevant information is delivered. When my newborn was napping a lot, I was not catching up on sleep. Instead I was scrolling through the internet looking for parenting and newborn resources. The internet has a lot of “free” resources but it is unfortunately a huge time drain because the internet is designed to keep you browsing online for as long as possible. Even though the “content” is free (e.g. think of those social media accounts we follow), I was actually “paying” with my limited “free” time, which I would never get back. Ultimately the best use of time is to hire a professional parenting coach which could be costly. It might be the last resort when parents actually become desperate enough due to some serious behavioral issues. This relates to the second problem MAREA App aims to solve. 

 

Many parents are perplexed by our children’s “undesired” behaviors which often lead to misunderstanding and counterproductive reactions. For example, toddlers have a lot of “bad rap”, such as the classic “terrible twos” and picky eater labeling. As Dr. Montessori said “we commit serious error simply out of incomprehension and assess capricious much of the child’s behavior that is not capricious at all”. When we do not understand the driving forces of our children’s behavior, we tend to get triggered and get into a fight or flight mode automatically. Under the fight mode, we could unfortunately regard our children as defiant or manipulative; therefore we must shut down our children’s “bad behavior” while ignoring their underlying emotional needs. Under the flight mode, we throw the towel in the ring, giving into our children’s demands, as opposed to stepping up as the sturdy leader for our children by setting loving and firm boundaries. In the short term, these approaches could cease the undesired behaviors, but they will cause more harm developmentally in the long term. The desperate parents will have to seek reversal of those undesired behaviors. Moreover it will take longer to instill positive changes. Remember, prevention is always better than remediation.

 

That is why the idea of the MAREA App was conceived. I believe there are smarter and more effective ways to make parenting easier and more joyful. When parents are already navigating in so many unfamiliar territories since the arrival of their delicate newborn, parenting can often feel like survival if there is little support. But to say parenting is hard, implies it is unchangeable. We need to reframe: parenting is hard work, which means it is up to us to put in impactful efforts and work smartly. The MAREA App is not only a tool to learn about parenting holistically, but it is also a training ground for parents to put their learning to practice so that they continue to evolve confidently with challenges beyond the first year of new parenthood.

 

These days, I am fascinated by my daughter’s insatiable curiosity of her world and the unstoppable determination to upskill herself. She inspired me so much to continue learning about early child development and to share my learning with fellow parents by creating the MAREA App.

 

I can’t wait for you to join me in the first-of-its-kind parenting approach with MAREA that is guided through mindfulness, backed by science and through the lens of Montessori.

 

Find out more on our home page!