What Parents Say
Rebecah specializes in "spirited" kids
I have two children 8 & 6 — both with their own mix of wonderful & horrible! My 8-yr-old is smart & defiant and also used to take issue with imposed rules, often challenging and questioning them or turning them back on me… until Nanny McFreeling came to save us all! I spent years pouring over, studying and implementing every parenting book I could get my hands on and was never able to find something that really worked, resonated with my values and beliefs and had a lasting, positive impact on our home.
Rebecah specializes in working with spirited children. Her background is extensive and both professional and personal (she also ran a Montessori school!). She is deep, kind, intuitive, compassionate, clear and flexible. The first time she visited our home, my jaw dropped to the ground. I learned more in witnessing her with my two children for an hour than I had in reading 30 parenting books. I can’t recommend her highly enough.
–LT, San Francisco Bay Area, California
About a year ago we found our son becoming increasingly angry and on a hair trigger, particularly at bed time, and we’ve been working with Rebecah Freeling to help guide us through this challenging time. Rebecah coached us on how we could interact with our son during these difficult moments, and within the first week we saw an immediate and dramatic shift, and our son continues to improve. With Rebecah’s help we continue to develop our language and approach for guiding our son through the now-occasional challenging moment. We can’t recommend her enough!
–D and T, Berkeley, California
Emotional intensity, emotional volatility, intense anger...
Tremendous fear and anxiety...
Rebecah Freeling has helped us in so many ways. One example is that my son had tremendous fear and anxiety of visiting the doctor. He had stitches on his chin 6 months ago and every time after that he completely freaked out about going to the doctor. We also had to switch to a new doctor because our insurance changed (even more stress) and he just screamed, cried and kicked. It was really intense fear and he wouldn’t sit still for a simple examination. I was so sad for him and also felt like I just didn’t know how to support him through this. Rebecah came up with the idea of role-playing as we talked about what our next visit to the doctor would be like. We used one of his favorite animals and took turns having my son be the doctor and the patient. In the end, he was reassuring his teddy bear that he didn’t have to be scared and it didn’t have to hurt. A few weeks later, we went for his second trip to the dentist and they could not believe the transformation!! My son took the same teddy bear with us that we had been role-playing with and he was calm and relaxed and sat in the chair with his mouth open wide like a champ!! I was speechless. Rebecah is like the toddler whisperer!!! Every time I leave our discussions, I feel inspired by her ideas. She has a sign on her car that reads, ”bringing joy back to parenting.” She has truly done that for us!
–E Meschery, Oakland, California
When I first met Rebecah I was an overwhelmed mother of a 13-year-old, 3-year-old twins, and a 1-year-old. The first thing she did was immediately put me at ease that she was in no way going to judge my out-of-control house. Then, I soon found myself explaining how crazy my life had become. My twins were very “high-need” and very emotionally volatile. They were functionally non-verbal and communicated in grunts, gestures, and with tantrums. With Rebecah’s help and guidance they blossomed into well-behaved and well-adjusted children. I look back on that time in my life and know that if Rebecah had not shown up for us, my children may have been lost. I did not know what they needed or how to give it to them. Rebecah taught me not only how to create a rhythm for them to help them feel secure but also how to interpret what they were telling me with their actions. She helped me hold a steady line when they needed it and helped me give to and help them when they needed it, and most importantly, she taught me how to know the difference.
–Kerry Brooks, Columbus, Ohio
From highly dysfunctional to well-adjusted 🙂
Not like other therapists...
Rebecah Freeling is AMAZING and she’s been a great help to our family. We have tried so many therapists and doctors for our angry and hard-to-handle daughter. When we came across her name and what she does, I was a bit skeptical after having tried so many things, but I was willing to give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised at how well her methods have been really working, better than anything else. The best part is she helps you with real, everyday life, which is totally different from therapy. When we tried other therapists, they all usually focused heavily on the child, but I truly think that the parents and their methods need to be focused on too. That is the whole picture. Call her and see. I promise you won’t regret it.
–MG, Berkeley, California
Rebecah is a pro and I love that her approach does not represent only one parenting approach or method. I felt heard and now am feeling empowered to try some new things. I definitely got my questions answered and then some.
–Lana, Oakland, California
We had worked with many therapists for my daughter, who has many emotional issues; but the best person we found was Rebecah Freeling, who is not a therapist but a parent coach. She really helped us parents navigate the many issues with our daughter and helped us all tremendously as a family. She will come to your house, too, which makes it really convenient!
–SM, San Francisco Bay Area, California
An awesome family coach!
Rebecah Freeling is a really great coach! She has a great combination of patience, humor and insight, in addition to helpful strategies. I really like how she works to understand your family value system and not try to change that but rather to work within it. She is sensitive to the different cultures of each family and works within that framework and also makes it clear what you will need to do to get results. In our case she came up with a discipline plan that was simple enough for us to follow but has yielded results. Our son doesn’t like it, of course, but his behavior has definitely changed. She also comes to your home, so that makes it really easy and takes away the stress of getting to yet another appointment. I highly recommend Rebecah, and the references she provided me also gave her glowing recommendations!
–KH and RH, El Cerrito, California
Rebecah has helped us establish clear boundaries, align on family expectations, and improve our communication with our children. She also has a warm presence that immediately put us all at ease! The work we’ve done with Rebecah has helped us gain insight into the varying developmental stages of both our children and it’s helped our household become more harmonious.
–CK, San Francisco Bay Area, California
Rebecah Freeling is a wonderful parenting coach who helped us to address and find solutions for ongoing challenges we had with our 5-year-old son. She came to our home and worked with us, so she could really see what was going on, and then lent her wisdom and support to help us find responses and create structures for our son and our family that led to greater peace in our household. She is phenomenal at what she does, and having her help made me so grateful!!
–JS, Berkeley, California
I highly recommend Rebecah Freeling, a family coach who is also a Waldorf-trained educator. I worked with her when she was our preschool teacher, and she helped us to set a routine for morning time and getting out of the house with my then-4-year-old twin daughters. Waldorf is all about rhythm and Rebecah really understands children! She cares deeply about helping parents both to connect with their children and meet their own needs as grown-ups, and she’s very good at helping you understand what your children are facing and what they need, all while helping you to set structure, boundaries, and get your family back in sync with each other. She’s also smart, down to earth, and funny!
–Sarah Hill, Berkeley, California
“Rebecah understands children." This three-word sentence speaks volumes. She is fluent in the language of childhood so it is clear to her that what might look like aggression, defiance, social awkwardness, etc. is, at the root, something else entirely. By always seeing that highest potential in any child or family, she is able to bring clarity to a parent’s understanding of what the child really needs and then she’s able to help the child understand themselves. Once a child becomes self-aware, Rebecah nurtures the cultivation of simple skills that allow that child, and hence the family, to experience life joyfully.
In my own life, there have been few teachers as powerful as Rebecah. Because she understands the art of being human, she makes that potential visible to others. Working with her is a path of extraordinary personal growth and delightful self-discovery.
–Marcelle Gilkerson, Columbus, Ohio
