Parent Pause

<p>Our child’s growing up was never supposed to feel comfortable for us as parents.</p><p>I think one of the saddest modern parenting myths is the idea that we’re meant to guide our children through adolescence while...

<p>We celebrate babies beautifully - first scans, first teeth, first steps, first birthdays. But then something strange happens. Our children begin the enormous transition into adolescence and suddenly many of us go...

<p>We keep being told to protect our children’s mental health with apps, strategies, interventions and expert advice.</p><p>But what if some of the most powerful things are actually astonishingly ordinary?</p><p>A...

<p>What if your child doesn’t need a calmer, happier, more perfect parent… but just you, a little more present?</p><p>I think modern parents are carrying an impossible job description. We’re supposed to be emotionally...

<p>Are we raising children who can think… or children who just know how to produce an answer?</p><p>I had a conversation with a teenage girl from one of my groups recently. Bright, thoughtful, very capable. She said to...

<p>What if the child who never gets it wrong… is the one we need to worry about?</p><p>I’ve another story to tell you about a boy whose homework is always done, well and on time. No stress. No drama. His parents are...

<p>Will AI do the thinking for your child before they’ve even had a chance?</p><p>I told a story in a talk last week that’s I want to share with you. A little girl, Maya, asking her mum a simple question… and a device...

<p>Is your silence actually expensive?</p><p>I’m talking about that ten-minute conversation you’ve been avoiding for three weeks. You know the one - the one that would take less time than boiling a kettle, yet you’ve...

<p>Are you being kind, or are you just being careful? I’ve been chewing on this lately. We often wrap our silence in the soft, respectable blanket of “kindness.” We tell ourselves it isn’t the right time, or that...

<p>You know the one.</p><p>It’s the conversation you’ve rehearsed in the shower, the one you’ve dissected with your friends, and the one you’ve tucked away so many times it’s started to grow a layer of dust. We tell...

<p>There are no prizes for coping. So why are we trying to do this on our own?</p><p>I’ve been thinking about this a lot, because I think one of the biggest sources of stress in parenting isn’t just what we’re doing...

<p>What if trying to be a “good parent” is the very thing exhausting you?</p><p>In Stress Awareness month I’ve been reflecting on parent stress, and I think for many of us, the stress isn’t just parenting - it’s the...

<p>You can’t take sick leave from parenting… so what happens when you’re completely done?</p><p>Not tired in a manageable way - but that bone-deep, can’t-even-make-toast kind of tired. And still, the day rolls on...

<p>Your child’s anxiety isn’t the only thing in the room - yours is too.</p><p>And I don’t say that to blame us. I say it because it’s true. I’ve felt it myself. My child anxious, and suddenly my own body tightens, my...

<p>What if all that helping… is actually making things harder?</p><p>I see this so often. A parent saying, “I just want them to be okay,” and underneath that, a constant smoothing. Preparing, checking, guiding, stepping...