I am Nathalie, mother of 3 French-Dutch children and passionate about travel and technology. I had the idea of Marypop in 2006. Before founding Marypop, I worked for 25 years in telecommunications and digital in France and Belgium.
My idea was based on the conviction that learning several languages at a very young age is a unique asset, from childhood to adulthood. Open-mindedness, agility, ability to communicate, creativity ... are among the advantages that experts agree to see in bilingual people.
At the same time, like many parents of bilingual children, I have been confronted with the pitfalls associated with the transmission of several languages: the step taken by one of the languages, the lack of motivation of children to speak the other language when only one member of the family exercises it with them... so many obstacles that can discourage parents and, unfortunately, make them abandon their project of language transmission.
So I asked myself the question: how can I maintain, with my children, their language which is not "local" when their environment is mostly "local"? And this without too many organisational constraints for us and without adding new academic learning to my children.
I then had the idea of founding Marypop, in order to help all parents, whether or not they are part of a bilingual family, to train their child to speak a foreign language by having him or her speak regularly with someone he or she trusts: his or her babysitter.
The Marypop babysitting service also aims to meet the needs of all parents who wish to choose a bilingual baby-sitter for their children when they are on holiday abroad or during an expatriation.
Based on trust, Marypop offers a unique service that is in line with the growing trend of parents to offer their children a multicultural and multilingual education in the most natural way possible.