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I want to help working mums enjoy motherhood while achieving their dreams -Temi Olajide

By Esther Ijewere
04 January 2020   |   3:46 am
Temi Olajide is a Certified Child Sleep / Potty Training Consultant and Child Psychologist. She is Nigeria’s first certified child sleep consultant, Founder and Lead Strategist at Mummyclinic Global Services, founded in December 2017

Temi Olajide

Temi Olajide is a Certified Child Sleep / Potty Training Consultant and Child Psychologist. She is Nigeria’s first certified child sleep consultant, Founder and Lead Strategist at Mummyclinic Global Services, founded in December 2017. Her organisation hosts an online platform that provides strategies and result-driven solutions to the challenges of child-rearing. The organization, which is also a sleep-training platform for children in West Africa, helps mothers to successfully combine the requirements of life and motherhood while responding correctly to the peculiarities of the digital age. She successfully worked with over 1500 mothers within the first year of establishment.
 
Beyond her certification in Child Psychology, Potty Training and Child Sleep Behaviour, she holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry, a certification in Introductory Journalism from London College of Media and Journalism and Makeup Artistry and Aesthetic Spa certification.
 
Temi is also the author of the fast-selling Amazon book- Wi-Fi Kids and Analog Parents, a comprehensive book that equips parents on how to raise well-rounded kids in the digital age. She shares her story in this interview.

Childhood Influence
I will say yes; my parents did their best to live intentionally and their lives were transparent to us and were both great role models. I wanted to be a modified version of them though not with as many kids, by the way, I’m the first and only girl with three brothers. I would also say my parents’ lives parented me. I would have loved for them to have been more approachable early on in my life because their are some experiences you would have loved to share as a young girl growing up, but typical Nigerian parents then weren’t that approachable, the fear of some many other things wouldn’t allow that, lol. But they never lived a lie, so I grew up using their lives as a guide, which I usually encourage parents to do. If you cannot do so much, just be a good example because your kids can see through you and learn just to be like you as many parents don’t practice what they preach and that’s where you start to lose your kids.

Inspiration Behind Mummyclinicc
Mummyclinicc was founded to empower mums on how to overcome day-to-day mummy challenges by providing them with quick hacks and solutions, achieve work and life success, improve their wellbeing and state of mental health while they raise well-rounded children in this digital age.

Being Nigeria’s first certified Child Sleep Consultant
We have been able to sleep-train over 700 children in our sleep school and it’s amazing how you see the lifestyle of mums transform and become productive when their child’s sleep habits and sleep is improved. We’ve witnessed improved bonding between husbands and wives as they get more time to spend with each other, as soon as the kids are in bed, and not witnessing any interruption in their beds through the night, too. We have had testimonies of children feeding better, behaving calmer, become healthier and doing better at school due to improved sleep lifestyle and so many more.
 
I’ve heard some mums say, “why hire a sleep consultant? Our parents didn’t sleep-train us,” until I explain to them that life sleep-trained us. Imagine our lives than without Internet, Youtube, 24-7 TV programmes, phones, tabs and generators. Everyone including our parents went to bed early by 10:00 pm after news and we kids after dinner, so we were able to enjoy the benefits of sleep. But imagine our lives now and the benefits of sleep and our physiological body system is still required. Our bodies are still the same and do not understand Internet age but we are depriving it of the benefits. Even as adults, inadequate sleep is leading to many illnesses now and it’s during consolidated adequate sleep that our brain cells are repaired and our children’s growth hormones are developed.
 


Leaving the banking industry to pitch my tent as a Child Sleep and Potty Training advocate
I left the banking industry after having my first child, to actually give me more time to be hands-on with him, and I didn’t have a lot of support around me at that time as my mum wasn’t in the country. I also wanted a career as a business consultant because that was my desire after graduating from school, which I am today, which I combine with Mummyclinicc. I became a Child Sleep and Potty Training consultant solely out of the passion to help other mums. I just want every other working mum out there to enjoy motherhood while achieving their dreams and raise well-rounded children; that this is doable.

Work-life balance of being a certified Potty Training Consultant, Child Psychologist, Wife and Mom 
I have immense support from my husband, my children and mum; they’ve being a great help. And there is something I never fail to do, asking for help, even if it will cost me. Being intentional with my life has also helped, I plan my day ahead. I guard the use of my time jealously as I know time is life. I also started to involve and integrate my kids at a very young age with house chores and my work, so that really helped as well. I refuel regularly by taking care of myself and doing what I enjoy to do, I ditched perfectionism. Nothing like a perfect mum or wife, I just work at being the best for my family.
 
Finally, I prioritise. I focus on what’s important at each time, so I’m able to give my best to whatever I choose to focus on.
Other projects and activities

Asides our sleep and potty training services, as a child psychologist, I also help mums through our classes and mummy coaching programs on building trust with their children, getting kids to listen and cooperate with them, sex education for kids, confidence and positive personality building for lifelong success and other challenges mums face.
Challenges of being a Social Entrepreneur
Poor Internet services in our country is a major for me because we work with mums across the world, and poor Internet connection makes it more frustrating in helping as many mums as we will love to help, as our platform is majorly using the online space to reach out. Collaborating with people and organisations can be a herculean task also in our country, especially pitching our services to organisations to help women employees become more productive. Lack of funds to expand is also a major challenge. We don’t want to only help mums that can afford our services or be able to access the free resources we give daily on our platform only.

 
Potty Training Nuggets
The first thing about potty training is education. We advise for mums to educate before getting started. Many times we just want to jump into potty training, get potty and tell the child to sit on it. That is why many children wouldn’t cooperate so easily with us at first try.
 
Secondly, the type of potty matters, imagine sitting on a toilet that is too low, high or the toilet bowl is too wide for your bum, you wouldn’t be comfortable and enjoy the process of using it. Likewise with children, comfort matters especially something you’re weaning them into, if not, it becomes a stressful process for you and your child.

My fast selling book Wi-Fi Kids and why it’s a must-have for every parent

It’s a must-have because it addresses the changes in the dynamics of parenting in this age compared to ours, and how to handle those changes. It provides the much-needed guide for raising children in the digital age. It is so all-encompassing and it highlights the pros and cons of the digital age, sex education for kids, understanding and communicating with children in the digital age, constructing boundaries, among other salient issues bordering on parenting in the digital age. We need to understand what our digital children really require us to allow them to thrive and navigate successfully in this age.
 
To Moms who are finding it hard to get the necessary support and resources, they need to train their child.
Honestly, not every mum will get desired support from family and friends, but thank God for the online space, support and resources now exist compared to when I was having kids. If you can’t get free help, if you can afford to pay for help and support, please do. I did and I’m still doing so. I’m not a fan of giving excuses, whining and blaming my circumstances for not having the support I desire.
 
Trying to figure things out in this digital age is becoming more costly than the cost of seeking help from people. I remembered when we were growing up, it took a village to raise us, our parents will go to their friends, neighbours, pastors, and school for help and support, but this age, everyone is keeping their problems to themselves, you don’t want people to know your challenges before they spread it around (which can be understandable because there is trust issue in this age). But it still doesn’t take away the fact that you need to seek help when needed because we can’t do this alone, and that is why if you can’t get it free, please seek professional help on time before it’s too late, everything happens so fast in this age.
 
Government and the child health sector
I believe they should have improved medical child-friendly facilities for children, as parents will be more comfortable in taking their children to the hospitals without self-medicating, which usually leads to more complications. Then if they can make access to medical facilities free for children, it will definitely reduce child mortality rates as parents will take their kids quicker for treatments rather than self- medicating or figuring it out instead of waiting till the last minute and the child’s health deteriorates.
 
Dear Mums….
Dear mum, there is nothing like this is how things are when you become a mum, you must have sleepless nights, shout, nag, be overwhelmed, give up something for something. Times have changed and help is here, solutions exist. Please reach out for help; no mum deserves to suffer in silence. At Mummyclinicc we provide quick proven solutions to all your worrisome mummy headaches while you achieve work and life success to live a healthier life, improve your wellbeing and state of mental health while you raise the best version of your child in this age and enjoy your mummy life.

 

 

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