In this episode we talked about everything you need to know to help you make a decision that is right for you and your children including all of the different types of childcare, financial considerations, the hours you need covered, location, facilities and more! We also covered: Planning ahead – how far and what to consider Different types of childcare and how they operate. Dealing with sickness (including a couple of lovely anecdotes 🤢) What to look for and how to decide. Blogs:...

For the first time in a while Claire posed a question in Challenge Becks – what would she do when faced with a monumental meltdown??! How did she answer..? We also talked about: Why a tantrum might escalate. Looking at our own triggers - how it is never easy in the moment especially with so many things are going on for both of you. Some ideas for strategies to use to help regulate ourselves (which we need to do, to be able to help regulate our children). How there are days when you...

Karen has been interested in play for a long time – she finds play fascinating and has a career dedicated to teaching, researching and learning about it. She has a PhD in Play and is now a Lecturer at Bath Spa University. We covered so much with Karen including: Helping parents understand play and how it can make a real difference to home life and how it connects children and adults. The value of following children’s lead in play and the skill of playing alongside them rather than...

Wedding and party season is fast approaching which is so lovely and exciting, but can sometimes be tricky when you throw little children into the mix! In our episode this week we talk about things that might be a challenge and how you can make taking children to events a bit easier for all of you. We also covered: How the venues that parties and weddings are held in tend to be huge open spaces – perfect for running and making lots of noise!! Becks’s wedding and how she prepared her...

*Trigger warning – we talk openly about relationships and sex in this podcast* Saskia is a sex education and relationship teacher – she delivers classes in school as well as talking to parents about what foundations to put in place at home. This episode is longer than usual (and we could have gone on talking!), but we had so much to cover on such an important topic. Amongst other things we chatted with Saskia about: Parents being an invaluable source of information for children. Having...

If you are experiencing this at the moment you will know that it can cause so much upset, not only for the parent or carer that is being ‘rejected’, but also for the parent / carer who is needing to do everything with and for their child. In this episode we talked about: Why this happens and typically what age it might be. The emotions surrounding it and how it can feel for parents and carers. What you can do to help (and why it’s important not to push things with your little one –...

It was a delight to chat with Elizabeth who has worked in education for 35 years. With suicide being the 2nd highest cause of death in North America, her aim is to build and strengthen bridges between teens and their parents / carers, connecting families through courageous conversations. We talked about: · The teenage brain and how we need to develop our own approach alongside our teens’ development. · How it’s good to be a consultant not a manager to our teens and always...

Becks never used a screen for her children at mealtimes, but that was only because she didn’t have a smart phone or ipad when they were little! There is no judgement here and also no need to despair if your children are watching a screen at mealtimes, all is not lost and this podcast will help!  We talked about ...  the reasons we might start letting our children have a screen at mealtime (surely it’s a good thing if the child is eating their food, is calm and isn’t bored?!)   our own screen...

We started the podcast with Emma describing how Amala was diagnosed, which happened very quickly just after the twins were born. This is an emotional listen – Emma has faced a huge amount of challenge since Amala was born with sadly almost non-existent support; but she has learnt so much, not least that Amala is just as perfect as her other children, she just has different needs.  We also talked to Emma about:  Balancing Amala’s needs with those of her other children. The life skills that...

Without even talking about being nap trapped, the topic of naps are already a big thing for parents! Encouraging babies and children to get the right amount of sleep in the day can become an obsession – if only to get a full night’s sleep! Being nap trapped is therefore a double-edged sword – on one hand you want your little one to get good restorative sleep, but on the other you also don’t want to be stuck at home or compromise naps because of the school run etc.      In this episode we...

Jemma is a Bereavement Support Practitioner at Winston’s Wish for their online and helpline services; providing advice, support and guidance to young people, parents and caregivers as well as professionals. We had a really interesting chat with Jemma about the services that Winston’s Wish provide, but also about how to communicate with children about death and how we grow around grief.  Claire also shared her own personal story, supporting a family who are very close to her following the...

Hannah worked as a nanny before she had her own children and it was then that she realised the importance of support in the area of breastfeeding. She trained as an IBCLC practitioner and is now a qualified lactation consultant (put simply, that means that there’s not much that Hannah doesn’t know about breastfeeding!)  We talked with Hannah about:  What a lactation consultant is and what IBCLC stands for and means! Some of the issues that can be experienced by families around feeding and...

Claire has worked with children and babies for over 20 years and in that time has made up and fed to her charges, more bottles than Becks has had hot dinners (and that’s a lot!).  In this episode, Becks picks Claire’s brain about all things bottle feeding!  We covered ALOT(!) including:  The paraphernalia and the important things to make sure you have. Different types of steriliser, how to use them and the pros and cons of each. Washing your bottles. Making up a bottle.  The NHS booklet that...

Samantha Dholakia (Sam) from SPD Tuition and Coaching has worked with children all her life and is particularly interested in the link between academic success and wellbeing. In her work she looks at how connecting with children (of all ages) helps them to understand about themselves and achieve what they want to. Sam’s other qualification in this topic is that she is mum to a toddler!  We chatted with Sam about:  How the toddler development stage impacts on us as parents and how we develop...

Christmas is a time when there are huge expectations and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves, so for this episode we decided to chat about what the issues can be and what we can do to make it all a bit easier. We talked about:  ·         Our own Christmases and who we share them with (spoiler alert...Claire’s includes a nap!)  ·         Making things ‘perfect’ and why we feel we have to make it that way.  ·         Seeing everyone at Christmas and feeling we have to cram it all into one...

Vicky is a professional organiser (@youneedavicky on Instagram) and author of Amazon Bestseller Start with Your Sock Drawer, but Vicky came onto the podcast to talk about adopting her beautiful daughter ‘Tippy’. We talked about: What led Vicky to want to have children in the first place and why she chose adoption as her path. What the adoption process involves. Whether being a solo parent meant that she was treated differently in the adoption process.  How Vicky first met Tippy and the...

Getting rid of your child’s dummy can be a daunting prospect, but never fear because this podcast covers all you need to know about why, when and how to ditch the dummy – this is what we cover:  ‘Long term’ dummy use and what issues it might cause over time? The age you should look at ditching the dummy. When the best time is to do it (and when shouldn’t you give it a go?) Judgement (that old chestnut!) by other parents, family, friends and why you should ignore it. The first steps in...

We were delighted to be joined for this podcast by Andrew Howard who is Curriculum Leader of PSHE at Bristol's largest secondary school, covering sex and relationship education and issues of equality, diversity and inclusion among other topics. The school Andrew works at supports many pupils with their gender identity, and has won accolades for its responsiveness to incidents of transphobia, homophobia, sexism and racism through curriculum.   We had lots of questions (many of which we had...

Someone asked us a question about this a while ago and it’s a topic we have been looking forward to discussing on the podcast. We weren’t sure where it would go, but actually it turned into a very interesting chat! Amongst other things, we discussed:  Whether being spoilt is actually a negative thing. If you can spoil a child with too much attention Why we can ‘be spoilt’ but children can’t! Whether treating is different to spoiling? How to deal with the situation when children get upset...

We were delighted to welcome Saskio Boujo on to the podcast to talk about periods and period poverty.  Saskia is a relationship and sex educator who has been teaching young people for over 20 years. Her work involves delivering workshops to young people, training teachers and organising parent events. Saskia self-published her book, This Period In My Life, in July 2020 – it is a period guidebook dedicated to the many young people she teaches.  This was such a fascinating and insightful chat...

Everyone’s circumstances are different, but keeping your child / children as your priority is key to ensuring they don’t get caught up in it all. In this episode we talk about:   What co-parenting is. How to communicate with children that you are separating and what is going to happen. How to keep the child as your priority and the importance of compartmentalising that side of your life. Why being honest is really important. Your child’s relationship with the other parent – how will it change...

Emma works with families and children to support them with fussy eating and allergies.  She spoke to us about her own experiences including:        The challenges of having a child with allergies. How Emma supports families and children and how fussy eating and allergies can often go together. Coping with allergies at events like birthday parties.  Some of the different reasons that children can be fussy eaters. The ‘neophobic stage’ (fear of new foods). Some ideas of how to make mealtimes...

Did you know that 1 in every 65 pregnancies results in a multiple birth?  In this episode of Newborn to Teen and Everything in Between we spoke to Shauna Leven, CEO of Twins Trust about:   Her role at Twins Trust and what the charity does for parents of multiples. The pram chat (it had to be done!). This is certainly a topic which we know so many parents and carers of multiples agonise over! Parental judgement and how being a parent of twins actually made this easier for Shauna to...

Around 10,800 people in the UK have Cystic Fibrosis, which is 1 in every 2,500 babies born. Cystic Fibrosis affects around 100,000 people in the world.  Jess is a Norland Nanny who nannied for 12 years before setting off as a blogger on a travelling adventure - little did she know at the time what she would face once her precious baby was born and they received the results of the newborn heel prick test. Jess talks to us about how it felt to receive the news that her baby Ottilie had Cystic...

Claire and Becks have different experiences of sibling rivalry, but whatever your experience, there is no doubt that there is an element of it in every family where there is more than one child!  In this episode we chat through the different aspects of this, including:  How sibling rivalry is a completely natural part of child development that can start at different ages and stages. Why it’s important to remember to look at the situation from all of the children’s perspectives and how to...