Lead With Love

A tender look back at sleep training, midnight smirks, and the sacred chaos of sharing a bed with a little one. A letter about boundaries, parenting styles, and the realisation that love and kindness are the foundation we return to, even when we disagree. A story of learning, together.

Dear Leo,

I can still remember the torture of sleep training you.
Me sitting on the floor outside your bedroom door, resisting every instinct to rush in and scoop you up… letting you wrestle with your emotions, searching for that tiny moment of calm, that quiet realisation of, “Oh… I’m okay.”

Your Uncle Carlos is going through this now with Charlie. And your Uncle Scott, had to live through this, just next door to us here at home. I think he lost out some sleep as well as us, poor guy. 

It was a long, hard week. Maybe more than a week in reality. Your development, along with every other childs, moves in waves, cyclical moments of progression and regression. Just when you think you’ve cracked it, you realise you havent at all. Then one day, it seemingly all fits together and every parent asks themselves the very same question, “how did that happen”.
Any parent reading this letter will have empathy to this time in a babies life. Hearing the little cries tugges at every heartstring, but learning to self-soothe, results in a 7–7 sleep, for everyone.