Positive Parenting Blog

3 Ways to Stop a Temper Tantrum As a parent you want the best for your child. But today there has never been more expectations on how a child should behave and on the best ways to parent. Parents judge themselves too harshly, judge other parents too harshly and judge their children too harshly. A good example of this is when a child misbehaves in public. Parents are usually mortified because they are: a) worried about what other people might think of their child or their parenting skills b) worried there must be something seriously wrong with their child to act in this manner c) worried about the outcome of the tantrum. However, do you ever forget to think about why your child is acting out? What Are Temper Tantrums? Temper tantrums are a normal part of development. They are classified as emotional breakdowns or meltdowns that are typical of children aged between 2-4 years of age (the toddler phase of childhood). The types of behaviours a toddler displays when having a tantrum incl...

Are you suffering from parenting sleep deprivation? The power of sleep Parenting is always a rush with little time for good quality sleep We are all in a rush. We rush to work. We rush to get our kids to school. We rush to social outings. We are in a rush to grow up and so on. Life seems to be spent in a perpetual hurry. We have loads of things on our to-do lists daily and in order to fit it all in, the one thing we usually sacrifice is sleep.  We are all guilty of it from time to time. Sleep can feel like the easiest part of our lives to give up, in order to get through our daily checklists and feel as though we are succeeding in our pursuit of good parenting. But, of course this is at a huge cost to our mental, physical and emotional wellbeing. There is a difference emotionally between deciding to reduce your sleep and someone else (e.g. a snoring partner, a wakeful child, a noisy animal that wants to be fed at 5am every day) making that decision for you. When you are i...

Why Do I Find it So Hard to Keep My House Clean? Working Mothers Still Do Most of The Housework As much as mothers wish they didn't have to engage in so much housework, research tells us full-time working mothers are still carrying most of the load, compared to fathers. In a recent Gallup News Poll in the U.S. 49% of full-time working mothers stated they cleaned the home, compared to 38% of fathers and 52% of full-time working mothers did the laundry, compared to 32% of fathers. Source: Gullup News Poll    Prioritising the household tasks Being a busy mum can make prioritising housework a challenge at times. You may feel like you never really get on top of all the household duties and may be feeling a bit overwhelmed at this point.  But today is a new day. Make a decision that today you want to get organised and keep on top of the household chores. But where do you start? 5 easy Steps to keep your house clean Step 1: Making your household chor...

6 Questions To Ask Yourself If You Suspect You’re Suffering From Postpartum Depression How To Know If You’re Suffering With Postpartum Depression or Anxiety According to the Centre for Disease Control , approximately 11-20% of women who have given birth in the United States experience postpartum depression each year. Other countries like Australia display similar statistics. Perinatal Anxiety & Depression Australia (PANDA) notes approximately 1 in 10 women and 1 in 20 men experience antenatal depression (anxiety and depression during pregnancy). Further, approximately 1 in 7 new mums and 1 in 10 new dads experience postnatal depression each year in Australia. However, despite these statistics, only a small proportion of mothers suffering from depression and/or anxiety seek professional help. Why Do So Many Mothers Avoid Seeking Help? There are a range of reasons why mothers do not seek help for anxiety and depression, either in pregnancy or after birth. Mothers report there is the...

We All Need Parental Unconditional Love – Regardless of Our Age Every Child and Adult Craves Unconditional Love Regardless of age, every individual desires (and benefits immensely from) having consistent support and unconditional love from parents. The role of a good parent is to guide, support and nurture each child into being a confident, strong, independent and motivated adult. However, one never loses the desire to be nurtured and to feel as though there is a bond and guide there when needed. Over the years in my Marriage Counselling practice , I have heard parents say they believe their children are too old for hugs. I have also heard parents say that once a child reaches a certain age they no longer need parental support. However, this could not be further from the truth. Affection is a basic human and animal need. This need was shown experimentally in the 1960s via the Harlow psychological studies into the effects of love and deprivation on development. In these (often cruel) ex...

How to get your baby to sleep Are you suffering from sleep deprivation? As a new mum it’s highly likely that you heard about sleep deprivation but never really understood it until now. It would be great if all babies just fell asleep when they were tired but the reality is that all babies are different and most babies need some form of assistance from you as the new mum to help get to sleep and to stay asleep (download my free parenting made easier guide that details how to parent with child temperament in mind here). When it comes to your baby sleeping there are two very important motivations – 1) to give your baby a rest and 2) to give you a rest. The second point is vital for both your sanity and for your ability to parent in a calm, rational and safe manner. So bearing this in mind there a few things you need to decide on: A) am I prepared to let my child cry it out? B) will my baby even respond to crying it out (see the child temperament ebook to understand that some babies w...

How To Build Your Self confidence in Motherhood Don’t wait for others to change before you can feel happy If you are searching for changes in your life you must first make changes internally. Do you ever think if only circumstances, events or people would change, life will be better? What’s interesting about this misconception is that the way the universe works, you attract into your life experiences that match your internal moods. Psychologically you can interpret this as your life reflecting back at you your perceptions and beliefs. It seems logical to think if only the horrible boss, friend, family member, partner or acquaintance would change your life would be easier and happier. Yet even when you free yourself from these people without addressing internal beliefs and values, there will be someone just as horrible waiting for you around the corner to make life feel just as miserable. In reality there are plenty of similar thinking people in this world to attract and you will conti...