Why do we do this mahi?
Our tūpuna were gentle and respectful parents and whānau. They listened to their pēpi and tamariki, never yelled at or smacked them, acknowledging the tapu and mana they are born with in every interaction.
Our wish is for all whānau to know this truth. If we can normalise this knowledge, we can start to generate real change for whānau across the motu. That’s what our movement is all about.
Strategic direction
Our vision
Empower whānau with mātauranga to raise pēpi and tamariki that are happy, loved, and strong.
Our mission
Sharing the gentle and respectful parenting ways of tūpuna Māori with whānau across the motu.
Focus areas
Our mahi has three main focus areas to share our kaupapa with all Māori parents and whānau with young tamariki across the motu:
- Awareness: Sharing tūpuna parenting ways with whānau across the motu.
- Change: Inspiring and empowering whānau to use tūpuna parenting in their day-to-day lives.
- Mātauranga: Deepening the kaupapa through research, insights and evaluation.
Systems Change Approach
The core of our mahi is our professional development journey, Ngākau Aroha for Kaimahi, a 20-week programme that shares mātauranga in-depth and how to weave it into mahi everyday. Most cohorts of Ngākau Aroha are delivered entirely virtually with a goal to create more leaders in our movement. We have over 130 graduates across the motu who are all expected to share the kaupapa at work and at home.
These graduates work in various sectors, including social welfare, health, and education, and work at various levels, from front-line through to executives.
Each graduate is given permission to share what they've learned to meet the needs of their community using the skills they have. They are encouraged to weave their learnings into their own wānanga and even develop their own programmes. Our graduates know the whānau in their rohe, and we rely on those relationships for them to share the kaupapa in the most effective way.
We are growing awareness and creating change for whānau in a variety of ways through our graduates. All our other activities, including our rangahau, are to support them and grow their impact further.
Mauri ora.
Te whakapapa o tēnei kaupapa
Pēpi Penapena was started by Elizabeth Emere Harte and her mum, Helen Mountain Harte (1942-2019), in 2018. Helen was a lead researcher in the space of traditional Māori birthing and parenting, and wanted to share her mātauranga online, which Elizabeth helped her do. Sadly, Helen passed away in 2019, and in 2020 Elizabeth decided to carry on her mother’s mahi on her own.
Her cousin, Dr Hirini Kaa, came onboard to tautoko the mahi. Together, they founded the Tūpuna Parenting kaupapa following in the footsteps of the important intergenerational mahi of both their parents, Elizabeth’s mother Helen and Hirini’s father, Dr Hone Kaa (1943-2012). Helen and Hone were both advocates for Māori tamariki across te motu, particularly in the era after Nia Glassie died and the anti-smacking law reform referendum took place (both 2007).
The pūrākau in our mahi are from the atua, but also from our whānau, mātauranga-a-whānau.
- In particular, the pūrākau from Elizabeth’s mother, Helen,
- Her grandmother, Emere Makere Waiwaha Kaa (1901-1996), and
- From her and Hirini’s shared great grandfather, Panikena Kaa (1872-1948)
What do we do?
Share our kaupapa online
We share our mātauranga and whānau stories online to grow awareness and inspire people to join this movement.
Offer face-to-face wānanga
Delivered by our Team or by our Ngākau Aroha graduates, our foundations wānanga give whānau or kaimahi an introduction to our kaupapa.
Deliver professional development
Alongside our core programme, Ngākau Aroha for Kaimahi, we also deliver tailored solutions to organisations who have specific training needs.
Research - Our kaupapa is evidence-based
Tūpuna Parenting relies on rangahau, both mātauranga-based and more traditional academic sources, to inform our kaupapa. Below are some of our core references that were refer to.
PDFAncestral Parenting: Reclaiming Māori Childrearing Practices in the Wake of Colonial Disruption (2025)
This article investigates the colonial disruption of Māori parenting practices and its enduring effects on Indigenous identity and belonging. Published by Dr Joni Māramatanga Angeli-Gordon in Genealogy 2025, 9(2), 36; Special Issue Interrogating the Impact of Colonialism(s) on Indigenous Identity, Being, and Belonging.
LinkTraditional Māori Parenting (2011)
Written by Helen Mountain Harte M.A. and Dr Kuni Jenkins, this seminal report was the first of its kind about pre-European settlement, Māori child-rearing and parenting practices, with particular reference to socialisation and discipline.
PDFTūpuna Parenting Rangahau Strategy
Our Rangahau Strategy offers a rangahau journey that aims to explore, discover, and rediscover the wealth of knowledge preserved in oral traditions from our tūpuna on gentle parenting methods.
Related Information
Meet our people
Our kaupapa is supported by a passionate team of skilled kaimahi who work in different ways to support this kaupapa.
Introducing Tūpuna Parenting
Find out about the mātauranga and foundational values that grounds our kaupapa and the mahi we do.
Ngākau Aroha for Kaimahi
Our Ngākau Aroha for Kaimahi journey is well established and positively evaluated. Find out more about the benefits of the journey and how to sign-up.