Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. Childcare is usually at the top of any parent’s mind whether they just need someone to have the children for them to go to an appointment or if it is more permanent for them to go back to work. This is often where grandparents come in. They might offer to help or you might find yourself in the position where you ask them - either way there are a few things to consider when thinking about using grandparents (or indeed friends / other relatives) for childcare.
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You can also check out all of our practical videos on our YouTube Channel here - these include nappy changing, making up a bottle, topping and tailing and so much more!
Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. Resilience is the skill of ‘bouncing back’ when you come up against tricky times, challenges, or stress. It is not something that you do or don’t have, it is something which is learnt, practiced, and strengthened over time. Our children have to learn resilience starting from a very young age and this is often developed (and experienced) through their play.
Read MoreWritten by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. Sharing is often something that we want our children to be able to do from a young age. It is of course much more socially acceptable for a child to share things with other children than to snatch or refuse to let them near their possessions. Getting a child to understand that they need to share can sometimes feel like a long and difficult process. It can cause frustration for a child, who has these expectations on them when they might not fully understand, and also for the adults who want so much for their child to share!
Read MoreWritten by Dr Karen McInnes. Play is such a simple activity and is often taken for granted as, after all, all children do it! There are many reasons why children play, one of which is the beneficial impact of play. During these strange and surreal times, it can be quite confusing for children and the importance of play for children’s mental health and wellbeing cannot be overstated. This blog sets out how play benefits children in this way and how we, as parents, can support our children’s play.
Read MoreReply from Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. This is a very common situation for many people who have family members providing childcare for them. When we have to raise any issues with those who care for our children it can be tricky, but when it is a family member this adds an additional layer of difficulty. It is understandable that you do not want to upset your parents ultimately you want to maintain a close and special relationship. However, if you don’t raise the issues that you have, this will lead to you becoming more frustrated and only end up causing a more awkward and difficult situation between you all. It is really important that you avoid getting to this stage!
Read MoreWritten by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. In these strange and surreal times, we have been and still are facing things that we have never faced before in our lifetimes. Many families have experienced an extremely difficult time in relation to living and working space, finances and family circumstances etc and this is likely to continue as we start to go into some kind of ‘recovery phase’.
We just wanted to take a moment to look at all of the things we are hearing from families about their experiences through the Coronavirus outbreak and what these changes might mean for us and, more importantly, our children, as we come out of it and into our ‘new normal’ - will this experience change our children forever?
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