Thinking parenting Blog
Helping teens cope with school stress and grade anxiety
As a parent, it is easy to make assumptions about the impacts of school stress on teens – but education has changed a lot since we were teenagers. I asked 15-year-old Lydia Bach from This...
School Stress: are you pushing too hard?
There is growing evidence that children and young people in the UK are experiencing a mental health crisis. School stress is one of the top reasons children reach out to the counselling service...
Parenting a child with ADHD
Usually, my approach to blog writing (and to supporting parents in general) is to stick rigorously to what we know from evidence and research. My personal experiences with my own children help me...
Parenting when you’re autistic
Parenting is never easy. There will always be difficult moments and conflicts. However, parenting when you’re autistic (or otherwise neurodivergent) can pose some specific challenges. For...
Promoting healthy body image in girls
Guest post by Janet Boseovski & Ashleigh Gallagher, authors of Beyond Body Positive* Girls begin to think about their bodies (how they look and how they are seen by others) early in life. Even...
How temperament impacts children’s behaviour
Most parents instinctively understand that children are born with their own innate personality that drives their behaviour. (And if we weren’t sure of that, a second or subsequent child coming...
Listen don’t fix
If I could pick just one top parenting tip for parents, it would be “Listen don’t fix.” As adults, we are often very quick to jump in and try to fix children’s problems for them,...
How to have good conversations with teens
When your teen is holed up in their bedroom most of the time (or has their eyes fixed on a screen), it’s tempting to rush at a conversation whenever we spot an opportunity. Here’s why...
How to boost your teen’s self-esteem
Telling a teen not to care what their friends think doesn’t work. If you want your teen to believe in themselves and bounce through the hurt and self-doubt of the teenage years, then criticising...
How play helps children’s mental health
Play helps children’s mental health in a huge variety of ways. Yet, it is seldom the first thing we think about when it comes to supporting children’s mental or emotional wellbeing. This...
Books to help children with anxiety (2-12yrs)
The best books to help children with anxiety are reassuring and approachable and give children ideas and practical strategies for managing their worries. Children who are worried or anxious...
How Are You Feeling Now? Interview with children’s author Molly Potter
Molly Potter is a best-selling children’s author whose books help parents and children talk about feelings and other tricky topics. I’m a huge fan of her books, so I was delighted to have...
12 Family Mindfulness Activities
Daily mindfulness moments are a simple way to reduce stress and anxiety and boost family happiness levels. For parents, mindfulness can help us stop juggling thoughts and step into the present...
What to say when children are worried
It can be really difficult for parents to know what to say when children are worried. We desperately want to make them feel better as quickly as possible – but supporting an anxious child takes...
My daughter is self-harming
“My daughter is self-harming and I don’t know how to help. I can’t understand why she’s doing it. Is this something she has copied from friends? I’m a single dad and no...
How to be a resilient family
Five features of a resilient family and the most helpful habits you can cultivate to boost family resilience during tough times. 1. Positive mindset Resilient families tend to have a can-do attitude...
How to praise to build children’s self-esteem
Praise helps build children’s self-esteem when it is specific and believable and when it helps children interpret their failures positively. Here’s an ultra-quick video guide on how to...
How naming emotions builds children’s emotional resilience
Emotional resilience is the ability to bounce back from hard moments, face challenges and cope with stressful events. Naming emotions is a really important step in building children’s emotional...
Learning to be comfortable with our children’s discomfort…
When challenges happen in children’s worlds and they are held in the grip of big feelings, the last thing they need from their parents is a whirlwind. They don’t need us to throw our big...
Helping children with friendship problems
Helping children with friendship problems is all about listening and empowering and very little about giving advice. There are some clear Do’s and Don’ts. But before we get to those,...
How positive affirmations can boost children’s confidence
This is a guest post by Chrissy Brown, founder of Young Positive Minds. In this post, she explains how positive affirmations can help build children’s confidence and self-esteem and how parents...
Using ‘mental gym’ to support children with anxiety
The principle of mental gym is quite simple. It is a way of practising different thought patterns in order to develop more flexible thinking and break out of negative responses. Mental gym is...
10 mood-boosting ideas for teenagers
It’s not unusual for teenagers to withdraw from family life, retreat into their bedrooms and experience periods of low mood. Being a teen is tough (see The reality of being a teenage girl...
How parents’ self-esteem affects children
Self-esteem naturally ebbs and flows throughout life. Many parents find that their self-esteem takes a dive when they have young children, for example. Children make huge demands on our time and that...
The reality of being a teenage girl today
As a parent, it is easy to make assumptions about today’s teenagers and their lives. However, the pressures faced by teens – and especially by teenage girls – are intense and what...
Talking to a teenager about healthy eating (without giving them a complex)
During lockdown, lots of parents raised concerns with me about how to encourage teens to follow a more healthy lifestyle. Parents reported teenagers doing very little exercise, eating a lot of junk...
How ‘moments to shine’ build children’s self-esteem
Experiencing ‘moments to shine’ is really important for building children’s self-esteem. Here’s what those moments look like and how parents can make them happen every day:...
Creating a mentally healthy family life
Mental ill health can strike anyone. At any time of life. But, just as with physical health, there are simple things we can all do to boost our mental and emotional wellbeing. There is lots of...
What children need most from their parents
Many working parents are conflicted about what children need most from us, and how to prioritise between work and family. We are a generation of parents who are working more and parenting more. We...
How to talk to children about anxiety and stress
Learning how to talk to children about anxiety and stress in a way that they understand is a really useful skill for parents to learn. This quick 3-minute video talks about using imagery that appeals...