Where in the world do you live?
I live in Napier, on the sunny east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. After a major (7.8) earthquake in 1931 the centre of Napier was rebuilt in the styles of Art Deco and Art Nouveau and has become something of a tourist destination. http://www.artdeconapier.com/
There are plenty of wineries around too. 🙂 http://www.hawkesbaynz.com/Visit/Wine–Food/
(Come in February – the kids are back in school and the weather is warm and settled.)
And, are you from there?
I grew up in a country area called Tutira, 50km north of the city, on a sheep farm that my Dad managed. There were 75 kids in the school and 9 in my year group. I had to go to weekly boarding school, here in Napier, for my high-school years from the age of 12. I lived away from here for 17 years and then returned when I was pregnant with our eldest son.
What language(s) do you speak?
I speak only English. New Zealand is still pretty monolingual despite Maori also being an official language now.
When did you first become a mother?
I became a mother when our eldest son was born on the 6th January 2002. We now have three boys aged nine, six and 21 months.
Are you a stay-at-home mom or do you work?
I am at home. I tried working (I’m a teacher) when I was pregnant with our second child, but found it horrendously stressful and unpleasant. (Kudos to those who manage both at the same time with small kids.) I’m currently trying to figure out how I can work from home and still be the Mum I want to be.
Why do you blog/write?
I’ve always enjoyed writing, and use my blog to share some of the reading I’ve been doing over the past six years and some tricks I’ve learned.
How would you say that you are different from other mothers?
I think I’m a lot more systematic in my approach to mothering than many other mothers. We had some behaviour issues with our eldest son when he was younger, despite following traditional parenting advice, and I wanted to know why. I am now a lot more aware of how I parent and the consequences of my actions. We’ve turned our eldest’s behaviour around and parented a highly-sensitive baby into a self-assured six year-old. Something is working!
What do you view as the challenges of raising a child in today’s world?
I think protecting our children’s childhood is the biggest challenge. Playing is hugely under-rated in many circles, as is the importance of being able to spend a long time in ones own imaginative world. I think reclaiming these will be the next big thing in parenting.
How did you find World Moms Blog?
I think I found World Moms Blog by trolling through the WordPress search engine. I am so pleased I did.
What do you like best about writing for World Moms Blog?
I love connecting with other mothers from around the world and I’ve found this group to be really supportive. It’s great to compare and contrast our experiences and it’s also great to share our triumphs and challenges.
You can find me at my blog http://kloppenmum.wordpress.com or follow me on Twitter @kloppenmum, and I’ve recently joined Facebook too: Karyn at Kloppenmum.
Do you have any questions that you’d like to ask Karyn?
Photo credit to Karyn’s friend Sonny.
Karyn,
I love the success story about your son, and I learned something new about you — Tutira, eh? Wow! Very cool!
Jen
Thanks Jen,
Yeah – I was just talking to his teacher this morning and she is pretty pleased with him t00 – so gratifying to know that we *can* make such a difference in our children’s loves. Yep, Tutira – challenge of the day – pronounce it! 🙂
I am so with you on playing being underrated! They are rolling out full-day Kindergarten in Ontario right now, and I am SO glad that James has missed that bandwagon. I really don’t see the necessity of sending four-year-olds to school for a full day. Kids aren’t allowed to just be kids anymore.
Great getting to know you!
Kirsten
Oh yikes Kirsten: a whole day of school for four year-olds – not for us, that’s for sure. I agree that kids need to be kids – it’s such a short time in their lives when all said and done. Great to have your support here. 🙂
Hi Karyn, you are right that Kids need to spend a Long time on their own imaginative world. Always like you writing, Karyn
Thanks Yulia, and lovely to ‘see’ you here. 🙂
Great post Karyn! I love that you grew up on a farm in the country. I have been to NZ but not Napier and have heard your town is quite lovely. On your approach to playing, I agree 100% with you! I have my children ages 4.5 and 6.5 yrs old and now it is summertime here and school is out. Almost everyone I know have their children loaded up in summer camps and the sidewalks are empty. It is such a pity. I remember doing nothing but playing as a child. I’m trying to do that with my children this summer. Despite the fact that all my son’s friends are in camps all day, we go to one of the many parks, to the beach, ride our bike around the chain of lakes, and enjoy just hanging out and playing. I know it is a special time since my son will soon not want to play with me and his younger sister as he gets older. It is an important goal for me to never fall into the trap and do what everyone else is doing in regards to too many sports and activites. Life is too short. Summer is too short. But most of all, childhood is a very precious time, that is way too short. I want my kids to enjoy just being kids for awhile. They have plenty of time to grow up! 🙂
Lovely to know there are other people who feel the same as I do about childhood, Nicole: childhood *is* precious and important. Pleased you enjoyed NZ – lots of people miss Napier because it’s a bit off the beaten track; yet Hawkes Bay recnetly made it into the top 15 wine regions according to a wine critic in the UK, ahead of the Barossa Vallley in South Australia!
I really enjoy your posts, so it is a treat to learn more of your backstory. Looking forward to hearing more about your life experiences!
Thanks Tara! I think we have such a great sense of community and support here at World Moms – so lucky. 🙂
I love New Zealand! We took a 2-week holiday there last winter (July/ August) to the North Island. People are so friendly and the FOOD!
Great to know more about you Karyn. Your parenting techniques (if I may call them that ) sounds interesting.
Pleased you enjoyed your visit here, Alison. And good to hear that you got to eat some great food, travelling can be a bit hit and miss in that area – don’t you find? Our parenting techniques are pretty simple really: work with our kids’ biology!
It was great ‘knowing’ you 🙂
I totally agree with children needing to spend more time in their imaginative world and playing in the outdoors.
Thanks for adding your support too! Allowing time for our kids to explore their magination and the great outdoors is certainly a priority for us in our parenting. 🙂
I just have to agree with all the other mums that I love NZ too! Been there twice, but never made it to Napier, will have to do that next time as we have been to other parts of north island, and I have only been winetasting on the south island, so a very important reason to go back 🙂
Lovely to read more about you and get to “know you” a bit better 🙂 I love reading your blog and I gets lots of good and practical ideas for parenting. I like the way you never say that something is wrong, but that there are always several different ways of doing things – it always makes me feel like “I can do this”! 🙂
Oh wow Asta, what a lovely comment. Thanks so much for your thumbs-up for the blog – it is so hard to know if I am communicating what I think I’m communicating some days!! Do come to Napier – perhaps we need to have a World Moms get together here…and visit some wineries. 😉
Count me as another who thinks it’s great you found a great way to parent your son. Mine is challenging and sometimes I wonder if we could do something different. We’ve started a few different approaches and it seems better.
On another note, I love New Zealand. So beautiful – it was one of my favourite trips. I think I even went to Napier!
Yay that you came to Napier – I hope the weather was good for you, and the locals friendly!
Changing our approach to parenting has made a significant difference in our children’s lives – now I need to work on managing my frustration when things don’t go well. Sigh.
Loved your interview….so interesting! I agree with you completely that the value of playing is often underrated. I could go on and on about this topic, but that may be a whole different post for another day! 🙂
Hi Maggie,
Playing is another one of my soap-boax topics too! I’m pleased you found the interview interesting – for me it’s all very ordinary, of course. 🙂