Communication, Kids and Culture
I have heard this statement a lot recently in media articles about parents, usually in reference to something a parent feels they have to allow their child to do, or offered as an explanation of their solution to a problem: … Read More
I’ve seen a lot of advice articles for parents popping up over the past week, all with titles like ‘How to talk to your child about the Paris attacks’ and I’ve see similar articles every time there has been a … Read More
When kids say hurtful things to us, all our common-sense can fly out of the window as we’re overwhelmed with shock, hurt, guilt and self-questioning. Either that, or rage. We may forget that even adults, when upset, will say cruel … Read More
It’s a fact that our own triggers are..well, triggered, when we see the same in our own children. Or perhaps it’s more accurate to say when we think we see the same in our own children, because that’s the nature … Read More
There’s an idea these days that kids know themselves best. It’s a modern thing, parents never used to think that. Parents used to act like they knew you better than you knew yourself – the absolute cheek of it! – … Read More
Children’s feelings weren’t taken very seriously back when I was a child; in those days a child expressing negative feelings was known variously as ‘ungrateful,’ ‘spoilt’ or just ‘naughty.’ Remember these favourite parenting phrases from childhood: ‘I’ll give you something … Read More
You know the scene, when your kids are little: whenever you go round to your friend’s for a nice coffee and chat the kids fight, one gets hurt and it happens again and again. Gradually resentments build up on both … Read More
Separation and divorce can lead to a lot of guilt for parents, it’s not what anyone wants, nobody plans for it. And it’s traumatic, it’s the loss of the future you’d imagined and you don’t yet know what the replacement … Read More
It took me a while to realise that a lot (all) of the problems I used to worry about with my children were not problems at all, they were just..um…life. Is it because our kids these days have all their … Read More
Why is it that dealing with hurt feelings (my own) is still the most challenging thing with my children after all these years? I’ve learned to deal with my angry, irritated and impatient feelings quite well over the years, but … Read More