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As parents, it's only natural to want to protect and guide our children at every turn.

“Watch out… be careful… that’s dangerous" we tell them.

However, fostering a sense of independence in kids, even at a young age, is a crucial aspect of their development.

Here are five...

I don't need to tell you that every parent has had the experience of being ambushed by a nagging child who wants something.

We feel backed into a corner, worn down and are often so distracted that we say "Yes" when we mean a resounding "NO!" 

One moment we're at the cashier buying groceries...

My client Jenny did a session with me recently and shared how worried she was about her daughter making friends.  She found the video above very helpful demonstrating a role-play you can do with your child.

Worrying about whether your child will make friends at school is every parents...

We all make mistakes. Yes, even me

In fact, I have a story to share with you about a time when I completely missed the mark in handling my toddler's behaviour.

It's a reminder that our kids don't come with a manual, and sometimes we find ourselves at a loss, despite our best efforts.

I felt so...

My eldest son is 25 now.

I know this sounds so predictable, but it really does seem like a couple of years ago when aged 2, he screamed at me:

“You can’t turn off the TV because I’M THE BOSS!” 

It wasn’t long after that that my husband and I reached out for help...

Screens can be so useful, can't they? We wonder what we could have done without them. We often fear that kids will be bored and won’t know what else to do.

We need to think of the screen as a drug – watching screens is very addictive and it’s hard to get kids to stop.

We need to...

Parents are so often completely confused about this. School reports that they’ve had a great day, they’ve been happy and have played well, then we arrive to pick them up and within a minute or two – bam! The tantrum kicks off.

They can scream, kick, hit, shout, go on and on...

Why Won't They Share?

As a parent you will have probably noticed that forcing a child to share, doesn’t get you very far.

They will often kick up a huge fuss and hold onto the toy so hard that you have to yank it out of their hand if you really want to take it away, which leaves you...

I was talking to my husband the other day about my emails – he’s a loyal supporter of my work and is on my mailing list.

He said "That one you wrote about whether you should discipline your child was great" 

"Do you mean the one with the title:

‘Should you ever punish a...

Have you ever had the experience of being around other kids when you realise that your own are just so badly behaved in comparison?

I was once at the playground with a friend who was visiting from America with her two kids.

It felt like hers were so much better behaved than mine.

She said...

I walked into my teenage daughter’s room yesterday and I was stunned to see how tidy it was.

Now believe me, it hasn’t always been that way and it got me thinking about the parenting long game.

What creates good habits in our kids?

• Is it nagging at them to tidy up?
• Threatening to...

Way back in 1999 when I first got help for parenting with Nico, my unruly toddler, the coach asked:  

“Does he know who’s in charge?”

My husband and I laughed

“Er, no, he runs rings around us”.

When I said it was time to switch off the TV, he used to shout...