Do We Have To Play With Our Kids?
Why do we parents feel such an obligation to play with our kids? I just read a blog called Why I’m Afraid to Play With My Kids which reminds me of an article in the paper I read a couple of … Read More
How To Get Your Needs Met
When my daughter was three, I said to her ‘The World Cup is starting next week, I’ll need to watch every match uninterrupted.’ This is a confessional blog post, by the way, I’ve always felt I can’t possibly tell people … Read More
How Do We Get Kids To Help More?
posted in: Managing Children's Behaviour
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You know when you do that thing where you lie on the settee all day pretending to be ill? No? Only me then? I keep asking parents this question, and I have never met one who has tried this, or … Read More
Building Self-Esteem
I’ve really had it with ‘building self-esteem’ in your child as a concept. Self-esteem is not a Lego set, we can’t follow a set of complicated instructions, get all the bricks of the right colours in the right places and … Read More
Toddlers and Teenagers
posted in: Handy Guides and Lists
6
I realise that I tag a lot of the posts I publish on this blog with both toddlers and teenagers, and it occurred to me that if anyone clicks on the toddlers tag they may be a little confused about … Read More
Trusting My Kids
Trusting my kids has never come naturally to me. I have always had to work hard at it, it doesn’t seem to come automatically. The reason I know that that my default setting is mistrust is because I generally try … Read More
Ways Children Express Frustration
posted in: Things We Worry About
0
I was listening to a wonderful grandmother speaking on a radio phone-in this week, she was talking about how much she loved looking after her grandchildren. I think they let her speak for ages because she was so warm and … Read More
Explaining Things to Your Children
posted in: Managing Children's Behaviour
2
I know that explaining things to your children is supposed to be a part of good parenting but I’m not sure about it, I’ve so often seen it done in a ‘this is why I’m smacking you’ kind of way. … Read More
The Larger Family
Half-term, and a 6-hour drive up to North Wales to see Grandma, with 50% of my children. Well, strictly speaking, maybe that should be 100% given that the older two are technically adults now. My family fluctuates like that. Having … Read More