There are times when ignoring our children is the solution to our child’s behaviour. You know what I am talking about, ‘Ignore the bad behaviour, praise the good’.

But what do you ignore your children for? Is it for adverse behaviour – swearing, hitting or shouting? Do you use it when your child is whining? Is ignoring any child a bad thing to do? And when do you start listening again to your child and no longer ignore them?

I would love to know so please share your thoughts with me.

 So many parents come to me because they feel that their child is lacking in some of the life skills they need in life now and when they fly the nest. I wanted to be able to share a list with you of what the 10 most important life skills parents feel they want their children to possess/to be able to do. It was impossible. Hence I have had to grow the list to 20. Do you agree with my list and do you think the ones I have listed are THAT important?

1. To use their manners i.e. please and thank you
2. To consider others needs and wants
3. To listen to other people
4. To help other people
5. To be confident
6. To be able to cross the road
7. To have healthy self-esteem
8. To be able to eat nicely
9. To be able to read
   10.  To be able to write fairly legibly
   11.  To stand up for themselves
   12.  To be honest
   13.  To respect others
   14.  To take responsibility for their actions
   15.  To understand the value of money
   16.  To express themselves
   17.  To be able to problem solve
   18.  To be able to make decisions
   19.  To understand the importance of eating healthily and exercise
   20.  To not take anything or anyone for granted

 How many times a day do you think you tell your children to do something and how many times do you think you ask them? As an exercise, if you registered them all, I am sure you would be surprised that you do a lot of telling. Imagine as a child how it feels to be on the end of being told to do something and then imagine how it feels to be asked.

Which would you prefer?

Do you think it is a case of just adding a please onto a tell to make it an ask or is it your tone of voice?

 Well, it has finally become that day.  The day when my book surfaces onto the bookshelves of high street book stores and you no longer have to pre-order on Amazon.

‘The Parents Toolkit’ is now available for you to buy in paperback or for your Kindle …. HURRAY!!!!

I wrote the book for you – and hope you find it interesting, enlightening and that it gets you to think about what your children need from you in terms of friendships, communication, co-operation, feelings, sibling rivalry, parents separation, self-esteem, confidence etc.

‘The Parents Toolkit’ shares key life tools that you can use to help your children successfully navigate their childhood problems and grow up into happy, confident and resilient young adults. It is packed with real-life examples, useful hints to help you with conversations with your child and creative ideas to help them solve their own problems. You could be your own child’s life coach!

If you want to give your child the best start in life then this book can do that. It is a very easy read and very practical but then I am completely biased.

To celebrate the book launch I am giving away 5 personalised and signed copies of my book. All you have to do is:

1. Sign up to my newsletter (you will receive 100 daily top tips from me and then a monthly newsletter which includes free articles)

2. Post on the blog the daftest bit of parenting advice you have been given.

Terms and Conditions – The funniest and most interesting answers will win. The competition will end on Monday 6th February at 5pm. One entry per person only. If you have already signed up to my newsletter then just add a comment!
Good luck!