If you’re feeling really over the whole pandemic thing this episode will lift your spirits. The Covid-19 pandemic has certainly changed our lives. We’ve been forced to accept changes to the way we live in order to try to control the disease, some of which have been inconvenient, to say the least. Some families have found the enforced lockdown extremely difficult and for some isolation has really affected their mental wellbeing. But it hasn’t been all bad. Carl Honoré has written extensively...

We are all aware that anxiety is a growing problem amongst our littlies, our tweens and our teens, and a recent Bristol University Longitudinal study ( ALPSAC) has identified that anxiety amongst our young people, children and teenagers has risen over the past 3 months of the pandemic from 13% to 24% during the crisis. So this podcast helps parents understand it and most importantly gives some top tips re what can be done to manage anxiety, reduce stress and how to respond to it. Our guest...

Some of you will have children who have already returned to school, albeit part time, and some of you will have children who will be returning for the first time in September, so this episode has relevance for everybody whatever transition you are going through. Some children are terribly excited about going back and some are quite apprehensive. And parents may have mixed feelings too. Our guest today is Louise Treherne who is Head of Character Education at ‘Role Models’, an organisation...

There is no doubt that in this era of the Covid-19 pandemic there has been a huge amount of uncertainty and with that some anxiety. You may be feeling some anxiety yourself and perhaps your children are too. Well, the antidote to stress is empathy and our guest today has many, many ideas about how you can build empathy in your children. Dr. Michele Borba is an educational psychologist and former classroom teacher who is recognised globally as a parenting, bullying and character expert whose...

Alex Webb is an experienced coach and facilitator, working with young people on an individual basis and in teams to become resilient leaders. Alex focuses on behaviour change, self-awareness and the understanding of self. Her belief is that if you understand yourself, you can then understand others, allowing you to adapt your behaviour to improve relationships. Her business is called Flying Start and she has been working with The Princes Trust to help young adults with leadership skills and...

You may have been provoked by the recent death of George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in Minnesota or by similar events in the UK and Australia, and elsewhere, to think really hard about racism. Were you galvanised into taking part in a protest against racism and against police brutality? Are you wondering how to bring up your children not only to not be racist themselves but to be outraged by discrimination on the basis of skin colour and to speak out against it? If you want...

Do you have a child for whom there is a disconnect between level of intelligence and academic performance? Do you have a teen who has issues with time management, who can’t get up in the morning? Maybe you’ve even got a young adult who is struggling now that the scaffolding of school has been taken away and they’re trying to manage on their own at university. Do you have a child with a diagnosis of ADD or ADHD or any other neurodiverse condition? Chances are he has executive function...

Conflict is normal in a healthy relationship, and relationships have definitely been feeling the strain in lockdown as we’re in each other’s company 24/7 and the division of responsibility in the family around childcare, supervision of schoolwork and domestic duties becomes strained. Parents are used to putting the children first but our guest today believes that the primary relationship is between the adults. The couple relationship can get lost if parents become a child-rearing unit. This...

Right now every couple relationship is being stress-tested. Being forced into close proximity with your other half 24/7 and with other possible anxieties  around work and finances and child care and education and concerns about your own and others’ health may mean that cracks are developing. If your relationship was already under strain before the arrival of this coronavirus it may have reached breaking point now. If you’re listening to this particular episode presumably you have an interest...

Those of us working in the coaching space right now know that many parents are feeling overwhelmed, stressed and depleted as our expectations of ourselves are through the roof. We’re supervising learning at home and many of us are working from home too; we’re getting the kids off electronic devices and coaxing them to take some exercise; we’re sorting out sibling squabbles and getting them to make their beds and put their clothes in the laundry basket, while also cleaning, shopping and...

If you’re a parent you will almost certainly have come across plenty of advice about feeding children, some of it from professionals and some from well-meaning family and friends. Some of that advice will probably have been conflicting and your best efforts to follow it may have left you feeling confused, frustrated and guilty. There is no more primal urge than for a parent to want to nourish their child and when that is challenging we can feel anxious and inadequate. Sometimes feelings of...

Are you over the whole Coronavirus thing? We know you will be experiencing all sorts of feelings and one of them may be guilt. Your perfectionist instincts may be riding you to aspire to unrealistic expectations of perfect at home learning conditions, enriching activities for your children and perfectly baked sourdough bread while carrying out your own job in unfamiliar surroundings with less than perfect tools and resources with a partner who’s not usually under your feet. Do you feel guilty...

Are you anxious about how your children are going to emerge from this period of lockdown? Do you worry about gaps in their education? Are you concerned about the loss of social interaction, especially for young children just learning social skills and teenagers who are so dependent on peer interaction? Or do you see this as a period of difficulty from which your children can emerge stronger and more resilient? Resilience is that quality which enables us to weather the difficulties that life...

Do you feel as if you’re going insane at the moment? Being in lockdown with kids has all sorts of challenges associated with it but one of the particular difficulties is managing screens when children need them for school work and want to be on them for leisure and social contact as well. Do we have to throw out the window the previous guidelines we had about moderating screen usage? Victoria Markou is a parenting coach and a mum of two teenage boys who is facing these issues day to day and...

Are you are in that group of people hit really hard by the current pandemic-enforced lockdown - a parent stuck at home with young children, trying to continue their education or keep them occupied while working yourself? If you’re doing that on your own that brings its own stresses of course but if you’re trying to do it with your partner you may be finding some stresses in the couple relationship too. Anxiety and overwhelm have a way of highlighting fault lines. If you’re currently holed up...

One of the many changes parents have had to adapt to in this era of rapid change is having kids home from school 24/7 and having to ensure that their education continues in some form. You probably didn’t sign up for home-schooling and may be breathing a sigh of relief at the thought of the Easter holidays, even if they’ll be holidays like you’ve never had before. But even when term resumes the children will still be at home so it’s as well to get our heads around this educating at home...

Did you know that on average 3-7 year old siblings argue 3 1/2 times an hour, spending about 10 minutes every hour arguing? Given that we’ve all been cooped up together for a while now it may feel even more than that! With different ages and different temperaments all vying for parental attention, not to mention time on scarce devices it might be getting a little tense at home. It may feel like a pressure cooker in your house as the kids start fighting over who’s going to be in charge of the...

Every single one of us is dealing with a really challenging situation. Even if we stay well we will be impacted. At one end of the scale we may not be able to get toilet paper and at the other end we may have to close a business and lay off loyal staff. We may have to work from home and look after children at the same time. We may have to juggle care of elderly relatives as well. We may be health workers who are exposed to a much higher degree. All of that will bring with it anxieties and...

Everyone in the world right now knows all too well that we are in the grips of an unprecedented pandemic. Covid19 has spread rapidly across the globe and hundreds of thousands have been infected, with several thousand dying. There is massive uncertainty about what this means for us, our families, our work and our communities. Change is taking place almost on an hourly basis and many of us are checking news reports on the hour. The situation may be leaving you feeling really quite anxious and...

Do you ever feel as if everyone else is getting life right but you are failing at it?  Have you had the feeling that you are not enough just as you are? Do you find yourself putting off doing things until the conditions are right or you feel more qualified or resourced? Are you afraid that someday you’ll be found out as the imposter you are? Do you suffer from parental guilt? Are you exhausted? You may be a perfectionist. This week’s episode is with Zoe Blaskey. Zoe is the founder of...

This week’s episode is with Dr Bettina Hohnen and Jane Gilmour who are both clinical psychologists working with children and young people. Bettina supports children, young people and families to thrive through strengthening relationships and understanding our brains. She regularly gives talks and runs workshops for parents and teachers on mental health and neuroscience. Jane is a Consultant Clinical Psychologist at Great Ormond Street Hospital. She has been working therapeutically with...

If you are a parent of a child who is differently wired, whether of an intense temperament and more emotional than other kids, or is neurologically atypical, you will want to listen to this episode. If your child is in an environment where he or she gets into trouble a lot and feels as if they are a bad person or if you feel that you are failing as a parent the wisdom contained in this conversation between Elaine and Debbie Reber is just what you need. When Elaine’s book My Child’s Different...

This week’s episode is with John O’Sullivan, coach and trainer of coaches. John is the author of Changing the Game a book for parents to help them raise happy children who enjoy sports. He has also written Every Moment Matters –a book for sports coaches He is an internationally renowned speaker for coaches, parents and youth sports organizations, and has spoken for TEDx the link for which is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXw0XGOVQvw If you are a parent who has watched your child...

Paul is an ex teacher and behavioural specialist. He’s a speaker, an author and a ‘teacher wrangler’ and trouble-shooter. He has had 25 years’ experience dealing with challenging behaviour in the classroom in schools dealing with lots of different sort of problems. Paul is the founder of Pivotal Education and author of When the Adults Change Everything Changes. Paul struggled in education himself and draws on his own experience as a student and teacher to help teachers understand the child’s...