Your big kid is struggling.
Your new baby needs everything.
And you’re trying to hold it all together.
You don’t have to do this alone.
The Joyful Parenting Project is a personalised 1:1 coaching program for families navigating the new sibling transition — before, during, and after the baby arrives. Delivered via Telegram, at your family’s pace, with Rachel in your corner every step.
“Most support focuses on the new baby. But your older child is going through something big, too. And so are you. This program holds the whole family.”
The arrival of a new sibling is one of the most significant transitions a young child — and a family — will ever experience. Research and lived experience both point to the same truth: the adjustment takes at least 12 months. That’s not a problem. That’s completely normal. But it’s a lot to carry alone.
Your older child might be acting out, regressing, or quietly withdrawing. You might be stretched between a newborn’s needs and guilt about your firstborn. Your relationship, your rhythms, your identity as a parent — all of it is shifting at once.
The Joyful Parenting Project is here to walk alongside you through all of it — with warmth, practical tools, and real support tailored to your family.
This is for you if…
You’re already in it
You already have your second (or third) and your firstborn is struggling — hitting, regressing, withdrawing, or saying things that break your heart. You love them both fiercely and you don’t know how to help.
You want to get ahead of it
You’re pregnant with your second and you want to prepare. You’ve seen how hard this transition can be and you want to protect your firstborn’s sense of belonging before the baby arrives.
Both of you are in the right place.
How it works
This isn’t an online course with modules to work through when you’re already exhausted. It’s a living, breathing, on-demand coaching journey — delivered through Telegram, every day, at your family’s pace. Think of it like having a coach in your pocket: available whenever you need them, not just at your next scheduled session.
Content, voice memos, play prompts, and check-ins land directly in a shared thread for you and your partner — so you’re both supported, together, without anyone having to relay information or rally the other person.
Direct to both of you
Your partner receives everything too. No more summarising sessions or hoping they’ll log into a portal. You’re in it together.
Go at your pace
Rough week? Newborn growth spurt? We stop and start as your family needs. The support adapts to your life, not the other way around.
Genuinely personal
We begin with a real conversation about your family and what this season is asking of you — then build everything from there.
What’s included
Over 12 weeks — with the flexibility to extend as your family needs — you’ll receive:
Opening Zoom call
A 45-minute session to understand your family, set intentions, and shape the journey ahead together.
Weekly content drops
Mindfulness practices, play ideas, breathwork, and tools — sent when they’re most useful, not on a rigid schedule.
Voice memo coaching
Personal voice messages from Rachel responding to where your family is right now — warm, honest, and practical.
Daily voice & text coaching — every day for 12 weeks
This is the heart of the JPP. Voice messages and text coaching, available every single day — a coach in your pocket, not just on your calendar. Ask questions, share wins, flag a hard moment. This is what makes JPP genuinely different from any course or group program: on-demand support that’s there whenever your family needs it.
Mid & closing calls
Two further Zoom check-ins to reflect on what’s shifting and celebrate how far your family has come.
Printable resources
Play prompts, nervous system tools, and practical guides you can stick on the fridge and actually use.
What we explore together
Every family’s journey is different, but here are some of the themes we’ll weave through your program — always tailored to where your family is right now.
Emotional contagion & co-regulation
Understanding how your nervous system shapes your child’s — and how to use that connection as a superpower, not a source of guilt.
Your nervous system
Simple, practical ways to notice when you’re dysregulated — and gentle tools to come back to yourself, even in the chaos.
Managing your own emotions
Because you can’t pour from an empty cup. We explore what’s really going on beneath the surface when parenting feels hard.
Teaching emotions to your kids
Age-appropriate ways to help your children name, feel, and move through big emotions — without shutting them down.
Yoga, breathwork & mindfulness
Fun, accessible practices for the whole family — poses, games, breathing exercises, and quiet moments designed for real life with little ones.
How to really play with your kids
Rediscovering the art of play — not performative, Pinterest-perfect play, but the kind that actually fills everyone’s cup.
Time management for parents
Realistic strategies for finding pockets of time, letting go of the mental load, and protecting what matters most.
Fun & joy in parenting
Because somewhere along the way, parenting became all about survival. Let’s bring the joy back — for you and for them.
From a family in the program right now
“Before this program, I knew something needed to change but I didn’t know where to start. Our son was struggling — big meltdowns, difficult transitions, always needing more. I felt like I was doing everything and still falling short.
What Rachel gave us in the first week alone changed everything. Learning about my son’s nervous system didn’t just help me understand him — it helped me stop taking it personally. His behaviour stopped being something to manage and started being something to listen to. That shift is hard to put into words.
The tools are real and practical. Not things that require perfect conditions or a calm day. Things that work in the chaos of actual family life.
We used them on holiday — out of our routine, in a new environment, with a tired and activated child — and they worked. That was the moment I knew this wasn’t just a program. It was becoming part of how we parent.
Drop-offs are better. Transitions are smoother. The meltdowns are smaller. Our home feels lighter. And I feel like I finally understand my child.
I’m also noticing how much my own nervous system has shifted. I started yoga alongside this program and I can feel the difference — in me, and in how he responds to me. Rachel was right. It starts with us.
If you’re in the thick of it with a young family and wondering if anything can actually help — this can.”
Investment
$4,250
AUD · Full investment
or 3 monthly instalments of $1,500 AUD
- Opening, mid-point & closing Zoom calls with Rachel
- 12 weeks of daily voice & text coaching — every day, your coach in your pocket
- Weekly content drops tailored to your specific family
- Voice memo coaching responding to where your family is right now
- Printable resources, play prompts & nervous system tools
Or DM Rachel on Instagram @shineomau with the word JOYFUL
I only work with 3 families at a time. Not a course. Not a group program. This is genuinely personal support — and keeping it small is how I make sure every family gets my full attention and care.
A word from Rachel
Rachel Whytcross
Yoga teacher, mindfulness coach & mum — Canberra
I created this program because I’ve walked the path of a growing family — and I know how much shifts when a new sibling arrives. In my years of working with families and teaching mindfulness to children, I’ve seen how the right tools, delivered at the right time, can transform a season of overwhelm into one of genuine connection and joy. I want that for your family. This is the container I wish I’d had.
Words from the Shine Om community
This transition is hard.
It doesn’t have to be lonely.
The families I work with don’t need to be fixed. They need to be supported — with tools that actually work, delivered in a way that fits their real life.
If something on this page made you feel seen, that’s not a coincidence. This program was built for exactly where you are right now.
I’d love to hear about your family. Get in touch.
Start the Conversation →Or DM @shineomau on Instagram