Our Story

Kia Ora! My name is Renee White. I was born and raised in Dannevirke (Tāmaki-Nui-a-Rua), New Zealand. I am Māori and NZ European. I am married to my wonderful husband Helaman and we have a 3 year old and a 6 month old, Eli and Lyra. We currently live in Geraldine, NZ. I am currently training to be a certified Peaceful Parent Educator through the Peaceful Parent Institute. I am loving everything I am learning and can't wait to help other families find more peace in their households. 

The idea for Little People Big Emotions started back in 2020. As a 24 year old stay at home mum struggling with anxiety, self-worth and bouts of depression, I would often become swallowed up by negative thoughts and feelings. Through counselling and other avenues I was able to start healing and learning about emotional intelligence (EI). I came to realize that the majority of the pain I was carrying was a result of emotional trauma from my adolescent years. 

I started to wonder how different my mental health, self-confidence and overall happiness would be if I had acquired EI skills earlier in my life. How would I have handled the stresses and trials that we all face every day? I began researching about how I could effectively teach these skills to my toddler.

I was excited to come across a few American companies who had helpful EI resources. But, I was soon disheartened by the cost of shipping these items to New Zealand, it was expensive. I was desperate to teach my son EI so I thought, why don't I just create my own products and share them with others?

Little People Big Emotions was then brought to life. Physical resources and tools to support parents who, like myself want to teach their children EI skills. A huge shout out to Anna Wright (@frizz_biz on Instagram) who brought my ideas to life with her illustrations and incredible artistic talent.