About
Simply - Pretendly is our kids making art that they want you to have! This is their business they can call their own…
Pretendly is a Family-Run Neurodiverse Kid Art Shop born from our family choosing YES. Like so many, we all face the “No Paths” and the “Yes Paths”, each with a different trajectory. When our family hits setbacks like any other, we aim to choose the “Yes Paths”. Pretendly is our re-routing through life’s challenges but through a fun and creative outlet where our kids can thrive.
All too often, folks go through life misunderstood. Some even pretend in order to be understood. We want to expose the world to different minds starting from within our very own family and share the joy that comes from learning from those unique minds. No one KNOWS until they KNOW. Get to know Pretendly! We want to invite you to experience art and future creative endeavors brought to you by the kid creators of Pretendly.
LISTEN TO OUR STORY HERE!
Mission
“If it doesn’t exist, you make it exist.”
- Pretendly
Inviting the world into a Pretendly world. Pretendly isn’t a real word, right? Wrong! Nothing exists until it does. We tell our own kids, “if it doesn’t exist, you make it exist”. When our youngest started turning every word into an adverb simply adding -ly to the end of everything, we didn’t immediately ‘correct’ it. Mostly because it was adorable. She always wanted to play “pretendly” with us. She unknowingly created the name for her and her big sister’s company.
It didn’t exist, but they wanted to make it exist. They have always had a flair for the creative and generous hearts that give. They give to that point where our family no longer grows too attached to the items in our home because they usually get revamped and handed out to friends, neighbors, or people out and about on errand runs. Rather than squash their giving spree, we want to help them reach out and shine brightly.
We hope you enjoy their creations and will share with others. That’s an extension of what they want to do. They just want to play Pretendly with everyone!
Vision
We encourage you to “Spread the Friendly with Pretendly” by sharing how a wondrously inclusive world of knowing and growing doesn’t have to be pretend…it’s just more fun when it’s Pretendly! Where “NO-ing” ends and “KNOWING” begins. In a world where we are often hearing no, remember there is so much more to know.
Not every mind is the same, but we’ll never know if we don’t embrace what all individuals are offering up. Please enjoy what our littles want to share with you.
Get to KNOW us!
Backstory
Hi, we’re Pretendly!
We’re a family originally from the Midwest that worked and lived near Times Square in Manhattan for over a decade. Our family of four (husband/wife team and our kiddos) lived in our “cozy” NYC apartment until a sudden health event occurred with our oldest child on a family vacation back at our original hometown region. While our daughter was admitted in the hospital after several days of receiving the highest quality care and the speedy assemblance of a medical dream team, we knew we were embarking on a new journey that would reveal itself. Initial diagnoses were finally being brought to light in a way that was crucial for her initial recovery but also a stepping stone to ensure she received the beginnings of potentially lifelong resources that could ensure her successes in navigating her newly discovered support needs.
In the suddenness of it all, up could dizzyingly feel like down, but we needed to move ahead. In that hospital room, we said out loud that we need to make a bold step forward. To be near our newly assembled team and supportive family. What began as a vacation soon turned into a home-seeking mission. We didn’t have to search far, as our family with whom we were staying during the holidays looked out their home window and shared that the house next door was in fact available. Within two weeks, we had returned to NYC to get some follow up physician visits, pack our entire life into boxes and out of our apartment, and move into the home next door to our family back in the Heartland.
We went from 1,000 miles away to sharing a driveway with cousins/built-in friends all within a hug’s reach. There were months for initial rehabilitation, then further tests, and diagnoses all while Daddy was traveling back and forth to and from NYC for work and sleeping on a cot in our bare soon-to-be former apartment. Not every aspect of our story may be like your story, but one thing resonates. When it’s for the ones you love, you’d move mountains for them.
In the midst of years of mountain moving, our family has stretched and grown. One of the diagnoses to arise was Autism, and it’s just another part of who our oldest is. Her diagnoses will not present her with unrelenting NOs because now we KNOW more.
In the face of devastating rejections the kids have felt, Pretendly was born in an effort to channel our children’s creative, playful, and imaginative creations…and in a way that could reach beyond our home. This has been a family bonding and building effort to overcome adversity and to put true inclusivity into motion. In a world where it’s easy to be misunderstood, one thing is easy to understand. NOs can lead to KNOWING if led with kindness. With any hurt our children have felt, we have told them to be friendly anyway. Help us share that message and “Spread the Friendly with Pretendly!”
Questions/Concerns
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us! We’d much rather KNOW than not KNOW. We’re about spreading joy and want to make sure you’re getting the joy-filled Pretendly experience our lil’ dreamers hope for!
Want a LOT of Pretendly? Please send us inquiries directly if you’d like a larger quantity. We’re small but mighty and may require your much appreciated patience, as we coordinate greater amounts of items. More fun sometimes just takes a tad bit more work. Contact us and we’re willing to chat and find a way.
Let’s get collaborative! Contact us if you’re interested in joining forces for creative good and/or for the betterment and advancement of neurodiverse communities and beyond. We love to collaborate and as our family says, we are always eager to “collect and connect”. If we’re not the right fit, we’re up for connecting to someone who may be. If we are the right team, we love to grow inclusive communities and create something memorable!
Who’s the boss?
Pretendly is our kids making art that they want you to have! This is a business they can call their own… For now Mommy and Daddy are running the grown up stuff investing it back into Pretendly so the sisters can focus on the art stuff. As they grow, so will their sisterly partnership and eventual handling of the grown up stuff. It can be what THEY make it and grow with them as they grow up. We’re an entrepreneurial family of Co-Founders while Mommy and Daddy are Chief Executive Parents and the kiddos are Chief Executive Sisters!