Bedtime struggles in the form of getting kids to bed on time and to sleep is a huge source of stress for many parents. They struggle with getting their kids to bed on time. They struggle with kids that once they’re in bed, continually get out of bed. They struggle with having kids who won’t fall asleep unless they are lying with their child. They just struggle with the entire thing. As I was putting this blog post together, I came upon a fantastic and informative video on my Facebook feed. Surprise surprise, it was by a sleep expert, who despite not mentioning her name, was talking about the subject of kids and sleep. The information was great but given I was writing a blog on bedtime struggles, I was more intrigued by the comments in the comment boxes… all 139 of them! This video certainly stirred up a great conversation and made it abundantly clear that there are way too many parents out there struggling with bedtime. The interesting thing was that the parents who did not struggle with bedtime, and who were offering kind tips to those who did, got a hard time for seeming to have …Read more →
Category Archives: Frazzled & Over-Whelmed
How To Stop Your Kids Interrupting You
To change anything you need to first need to see your life AS IT IS to identify the parts of it that actually need changing. In other words, to stop your kids interrupting you, you have to see your child’s patterns of interrupting as it is, big picture. Very often, many of our struggles and challenges, come from us being over-whelmed and having just too much on our plates. As such, we have to learn to prioritize what’s most important, find ways to reduce the chaos and stress to allow ourselves to show up as we know we can and “should”, to allow us to meet our child’s needs. I wrote about just this in a post called: How To Upgrade Your Parenting. If you are interested in more on this and finding a way to upgrade your parenting, this blog HERE is just for you. It’s called THE ULTIMATE PARENTING UPGRADE. It is easy to see that when we are operating from a place of general over-whelm, dealing with the routine things that kids do, like interrupting, being disrespectful, not listening, leaving their sh*t all over the house, can cause us to snap. It becomes the straw that breaks the camel’s …Read more →
Busy, Over-Whelmed and Exhausted?
Aren’t you tired of being busy, over-whelmed and exhausted? There are times when I feel this way, but when I do, I now know exactly what I can do to shift me out of it and I want to share it with you. It’s so simple… Speaking to my friends, it would seem that many of us are in the same boat. I think that there used to be a time in my life where I was nicely busy, just busy enough! At certain times of the year, particularly the end of the school year or the run up to Christmas I knew I would get really busy, it was a given and I just accepted it as being the way it was. I don’t know about you, but for me it now seems that every day feels more like that time of the year. It’s a bit like the VISA bills. There used to be a time where the big ones were anticipated at certain times of the year but now every month is a big one! It seems like it’s almost become to norm to be busy, over-whelmed and exhausted. Moms wear the “busy badge” like it’s a …Read more →
How To Get Your Child To Listen
Do you remember hearing the older generation referring to children as being seen but not heard? I do! I remember it well. I also remember my parents saying things like: “Do as I say, not as I do” and “One day when you are older, I’ll tell you”. I could never understand it. It never sat well with me. But I didn’t question it. None of us did. I listened. And for the most part, I did what I was told! I was not alone. I was no different to any of my friends. We were all in the same boat. We obeyed and complied for fear of the punishment that might follow if we didn’t. We all beat to the same drum. The same “fear” drum my parents beat to when they were young and the one their parents beat to as well. The same script. The same prescription. Dr Shefali Tsabary describes it as the Kool-Aid. They all drank the Kool-Aid and didn’t question it. It was the way of it. It was just how things were. Wind the clock forward and fortunately, for the main part, this generation of parents at least recognizes the utter ridiculousness of …Read more →
How To Be A Better Parent
As a mum of three teenagers (and a Parent Coach) I’ve read more parenting books than you could imagine, I devour them. However, one book stopped me in my tracks. It was different. It resonated with me on a deep, deep level. Whilst reading this book I woke up to my biggest parenting mistakes. What was the book, I hear you ask: The Conscious Parent by Dr Shefali Tsabary – have you read it? It totally changed my life. And, it totally transformed my life as a parent. You see, up until that point, I had been parenting from the outside in. I saw my children as the ones who needed to get in line and get their acts together. I will admit that I was trying to “fix” them. And, add to this, I was resisting the reality that was my life as a parent. There seemed to be nothing but challenges and conflict. NOTHING. EVER. CHANGED. Dr Shefali Tsabary is not only hypnotizingly beautiful, inside and out, but was also mesmerizingly eloquent and clear with her message to me: My children are my greatest teachers – if I allow them My children will guide and teach me to …Read more →
The Pace Of Life Is Just Too Fast
When my kids were younger, I was definitely parenting from the fast lane but doing my best. I was no different from any of the other mums I hung out with. Looking back, if I’m honest, I was “just” coping, my head was just above the water. I was always on the run, very reactive to life and certainly not very conscious or mindful. I was on auto-pilot and my mind was FULL! Luckily for me, through yoga, I stumbled upon meditation and was drawn to it. I was intrigued. I discussed this in the first blog of this series – Your Most Powerful Parenting Tool. My yoga teacher seemed so Zen, yet so real. She also had young kids but I particularly loved the way in which she responded to and interacted with life. She just had a way about her. Was it down to her meditation practice? I didn’t know. Wind the clock forward 10 years and I think that a lot of it was/is down to just that. Everyone I know who meditates, seems to be able to take life better in their stride and at a pace more compatible to enjoying life, especially as a parent. …Read more →
