Every child is different, yet all children have similar experiences and needs when growing up – with some variation. Adjusting your parenting skills for those variations is worthwhile because whatever your child is going through in his or her life affects you, often profoundly.

The methods of a Life Teacher offer practical suggestions to many of the situations your child puts you in. Take the suggestions that fit your particular situation, or modify them to suit your needs, as long as you do what is best for your child. Experienced mothers used to share their knowledge with new mothers and this book continues that tradition so that you know you are not alone.

Although mothers still do most of the child-rearing, fathers are participating more and they are bringing different but equally important contributions to their children’s development.

Being a parent is one of the most important experiences life offers and it is a rewarding one when you are a Life Teacher. Enjoy it while it is yours.

Sharolyn Vettese was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan when her father was working on his PhD. She was four years old when her father accepted an assignment with United Nations in Tunisia, and her family’s departure from Edmonton, Alberta in 1960 was the Edmonton Journal’s front-page news.

Sharolyn grew up in Tunisia, Italy, United States, and Cameroun, and every two years her family returned to Edmonton for home leave. En route back to Canada, her family visited all the European sights, museums, and art galleries. While living abroad, she attended public and private French and American schools. She also started playing the piano when she was four years old and enjoyed playing it for many years. Sharolyn returned to Canada while her parents were still living in Cameroun and received a BA in Psychology from McMaster University.

Sharolyn moved to Toronto, Ontario and tried selling real estate, disability insurance, and industrial strength vacuum cleaners; issuing lottery winners’ cheques; and underwriting life insurance. She eventually settled in the employee benefits consulting field where she met her future husband.

When her first child was born, Sharolyn became a household manager. As a stay-at-home mother, she was active in her community as a volunteer ratepayer president, and chair of a coalition of several ratepayer groups for fourteen years. The coalition’s files were donated to Toronto’s archival library. While expecting her third child, she and her husband designed and built their house. She became an avid native gardener and environmentalist, and her garden qualified as a Backyard Wildlife Habitat by the Canadian Wildlife Federation.

Sharolyn still enthusiastically goes to museums, and art galleries no matter how small or large. She greatly appreciates African, Native American, and Inuit art and culture. Every year she backpacks in the Canadian wilderness.

Sharolyn lives in Toronto with her husband of more than twenty years, and their three children.