How much whingeing is enough?
I recently overheard an exchange between a father and daughter at our local swimming pool. It began with a Dad trying to blow-dry his daughter’s hair and not getting as much cooperation as he needed. His daughter wasn’t facing him or staying still. She was around 8 years old so it wasn’t an unreasonable request […]
Helping kids with big changes – moving house, school or country
How should we prepare children for big moves – like a new school, or a new house, or living in a new country? There’s a lot of advice out there: keep children involved in the process, get them to imagine the change, have them keep a diary of all the steps along the way, talk […]
Do you shout when you get mad?
My experience working with parents has shown me that lots of us use dumping (think ranting/shouting/lecturing) as a way of managing our uncomfortable feelings. Learning how to stop dumping my own feelings (on my husband, my children, my parents, my siblings, my friends) has been one of my most uncomfortable and difficult lessons in life. […]
When other adults talk about YOUR children
Do you ever connect with adult strangers at the expense of your children? Last week in the supermarket my chatty daughter struck up a conversation with the check-out assistant about her Easter holidays. The assistant was being friendly when she said (half to my daughter and son, half to me) “I bet your Mummy will […]
How do I help my kids be resilient?
Resilience is the word psychologists use to talk about the ability to get back up after you’ve been knocked down and keep going. I think of it as a kind of psychological strength. It’s been found to be a key indicator of who will thrive rather than falter following difficult or traumatic experiences. I think […]
When your child is unhappy
Our goal in parenting is to guide our children to peaceful and contented lives. It’s a long-term goal. Our children may be desperately unhappy in the moment but that doesn’t mean we’re not still guiding them towards happiness. In fact, if we’re doing our job right and keeping our long-term goal in mind, then it’s […]
Do you allow your children be angry?
You will not be punished for your anger, you will be punished by your anger….Let a man overcome anger by love. Buddha This is a tough lesson but the truth of it is entirely inescapable. As a child I was taught in religion classes in school that I would be punished FOR my anger. And […]
Let’s tell our children the truth
When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love has always won. There have been tyrants, and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it…always Mahatma Gandhi, ideological leader of the Indian independence movement (1869 – 1948) When […]
Audio CDs and MP3s
