I didn’t set out to become a “bilingual parenting coach.”
When I started blogging, I was a 40-year-old first-time mum, completely overwhelmed, far from my family, and quietly navigating postpartum depression in a place where most of my friends had long since moved on from the toddler stage. Writing became a way to process what I was experiencing – and to reach others who might be feeling the same silent chaos.I started WhatMummyDidntKnow.blog
As my daughter grew, and the fog began to lift, I noticed how fascinated I was by her language development. Watching her switch between languages, stumble, invent, and grow into her multilingual identity – it brought together all the things I’ve always loved: language, learning, connection.
People began asking questions – lots of them. And I realised: the things that felt natural to me weren’t obvious to everyone. My training in linguistics and psychology, my work teaching English and training future language teachers, and my own life in a bilingual, multicultural family – it all came together here. In this very specific, tender, and messy space: raising multilingual kids while living abroad.
So I went deeper. I certified as a coach, created a new blog, and began helping other expat families find their way – not by giving them a list of dos and don’ts, but by offering insight, clarity, and support grounded in both science and real-life parenting.
If you’re like me (and like many of the families I work with), you want your child to feel proud of every part of who they are – every language, every culture. You want practical ideas, not pressure. You want to feel seen, not judged. You want to get it “right” – but without burning yourself out trying to become a language teacher on top of being a parent.
That’s why I do this work. That’s what I want to make a difference in.
The difference I want to make as a multilingual mum
At the end of the day, I want what most parents want:
For my daughter – my Little Bean – to grow up confident, happy, and emotionally grounded. I want her to know she’s loved, always. That she belongs. That she matters.
What makes our story a little different is the mix of languages, cultures, and countries that flow through our family. I live in Germany. My brother is in the UK with his Hungarian fiancée. My aunt and uncle are in the USA. My cousin has never lived in Europe. And my daughter – who looks like her dad and chats like a mini version of me! – is growing up bilingually at the intersection of all of that.
It’s not just about bilingualism for the sake of language. There are so many more benefits of it. It’s about giving her a sense of home in more than one place, and the tools to understand people who live, think, and feel differently. I want her to be not only bilingual, but interculturally sensitive and emotionally intelligent. To feel comfortable in different spaces, to stay curious, and to be open to the unfamiliar.
No, I won’t be able to show her every corner of the world. But I can give her the passion for exploring it – and the sensitivity to let those experiences shape her. I can raise her with the ability to connect, to notice, to ask questions. And I can make sure she never feels like she has to choose between parts of who she is.
That’s why multilingual parenting matters so deeply to me. It’s not about raising a “mini polyglot.” It’s about raising a whole human, with open eyes and an open heart.
The difference I want to make as a language lecturer
I wouldn’t be where I am today without my high school German teacher, Ms Gutmann. She didn’t just teach us German. She made it come alive. I still remember her grinning and waving jazz hands to teach us the word “Überraschung” (surprise!). It was ridiculous, but it stuck. And I guess what I want, deep down, is to make that kind of difference, too: I hope that maybe one day, someone will say something like that about me.
I want my students to feel (and share) my passion for language. For exploring it, picking it apart to see how it works, how we use it, and how we can use it in different ways to achieve different things. I want them to think about how we explain language, how we compare English to German and other languages, and how we can use those comparisons to better understand our own communication. I hope you get my point and feel my passion!
And then there are the cultures that are attached to, expressed through, and reflected in the different languages we speak. How our words reflect our values, our humour, and the way we see the world.
I want my students to want to come to my class. To feel seen and understood, and to feel like they’re being picked up where they are and supported to move forward in their English accuracy, fluency, and in their general multilingual communicative competence. And yes, in their intercultural competence, too.
And in the end, especially for those training to become teachers, I want them to carry what they’ve learned with my guidance into their own classrooms, and to pass it on to future generations.
(And I’ll be honest. I want them to speak good English so they don’t try to teach my bilingual daughter any nonsense. 😉)
The difference I want to make as a coach for multilingual families
I want other people to feel confident and comfortable, like I do, speaking to their babies, toddlers, and children in whatever languages they feel most at home in. I want to give them practical, fun, emotionally connected ways to share their languages and cultures with their children.
And I’m doing this myself. I’m living the expat parent life. My daughter is learning to speak, learning both English and German. I’m the only regular source of English in her everyday environment. So I know what it’s like to carry that responsibility. I understand what it can be like. I’ve had some of the same worries and questions other parents have. And I know that my background in language and language development helps me stay calm and confident. That’s the feeling I want to share with the families I work with.
I’m here to help. Whether that’s helping someone understand how languages work in the brain, or just helping them tackle a tricky situation they’re facing right now. My role is to digest the theory and psycholinguistics into practical, workable, useable information. Real advice that makes sense in their everyday life, with activities, ideas, and resources that support them.
I want to help people build confidence in their decisions, without adding to the mental load that is already often more than enough in international families!
What I hope stays with you
Whether I’m teaching in the classroom, writing on the blog, or chatting with a fellow parent over coffee, what I care about most is connection. Helping people feel less alone, more confident, and more at ease with the beautiful, complex business of language and life. If something in this post made you nod, smile, or breathe out a little more calmly – then that’s already the beginning of the difference I want to make!
Let’s keep the conversation going. I send out monthly thoughts, tips, and resources on parenting multilingual kids: always real, usually practical, and very often rather humorous!
The Maaster Plan 
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