We hear loads about resolutions, goals and outcomes around New Year. We set them for our personal life - like a fitness goal or a for business, - a certain sales turnover for example. It got me wondering if feeling aligned as a family and as a parent, could be helped by having a plan? When you began thinking of life with a family, probably even before babies came along, you may have had a vision, a dream of what family life would look like. Then, when babies come along, li...

September brings so many changes and transitions for the family to get used to - and not just the little ones! For them, though, it can be quite a big adjustment from the relative freedom of summer to routine in autumn. Perhaps it's Big School for the first time, maybe a change of classroom, teacher or expectations. Perhaps there is a move to a different school and the loss of friendship groups. Even for older children or teens, this can be a challenging adjustment - huge, for th...

A very important component of communication, (Secret No. 1 of the Five Secrets to Happy Children), is listening actively. After all, communication is a two-way process and we sometimes focus on getting our message across first and foremost - and forget the other half of the process. Listening actively is SOOOOO important if we are going to have successful communications with our kiddos (and other people in general, to be honest!). In his amazing book, Seven Habits of Highly Effective Parents...

Parenting isn't easy at the best of times. There's always something to do! If you have additional responsibilities on your to-do list as well, is it any wonder sometimes things gets missed? Trouble is, what often gets missed is looking after your own needs. They get put aside while you see to the needs of every other person that you care for. And someone always needs something! So what can you do? Because if you continue neglecting your needs, you could find yourself with nothing left ...

In this episode, Kim plays around with a creative idea, comparing 'Helicopter' parenting with 'Ninja' Parenting. Maybe you've heard the expression 'Helicopter Parenting' which describes hovering around, taking a lot of interest in the children's activities, swooping in to make sure everything is managed and fixing any glitches in plans or processes to ensure that nothing upsets the day. In comparison, Kim & Mairi discuss how 'Ninja Parenting' can take a less attention-...

Many times, raising children, you will find yourself faced with things that go wrong! It might be accidents - major or minor, or a fight between siblings, homework that hasn't been done or a sports kit that hasn't been washed ready for lessons. Whatever is happening, often we parents like to spin round fast, put on our superhero cloak and swoosh in, to rescue and fix. Now, sometimes that is definitely the right thing to do, especially if there's injury and danger. But there are occasio...

Change is a constant in our lives. Whether it is going from holiday time to school time, from one school to another, moving from house to house between parents, or studying and preparing for exams, there is always some transition from one 'place' to another. For children and young people, this can be a challenge at the best of times, and during the pandemic, there has been an added layer of uncertainty to spice things up! This episode is a conversation between Kim and Mairi, looking a...

In this episode, Kim & Mairi talk about how sometimes our 'parent' buttons get pushed and we jump into protective mode, and come out all ready for a fight! Often this button is more related to something that was a sensitive spot for ourselves as children and is not necessarily in our child's best interests. If we look at the bigger picture, we can see that our job as a parent is to prepare children for being grown-up. Therefore, it might serve them better if we allow (...

This episode was originally recorded during lockdown 3 in February 2021 but didn't get used immediately. The ideas around encouragement are still useful though, as we continue to adjust to post-lockdown life and getting back to doing all the things we have to do in the everyday. Challenging times need lots of encouragement to deal with. But how do we do it? Firstly, understanding what encouragement actually is. Describing the difference between praise and encouragement and why knowing...

Often when people think about Parent Groups, they feel anxious and worried that they will be labelled as bad parents, who can't look after their children - or that their issues and worries are too trivial to take to a group. in this episode of the Growing Happy Families podcast, I talk with Mairi about how the Five Secrets to Happy Children Taster session coming up on May 25th, are an opportunity to experience what the Masterclass series will be like, and will actually give you some ti...