Courses and workshops

The full list of workshops we offer

We run a variety of workshops

• FREE TALK: Never Ask Twice. Introduction to our Positive Parenting courses

  Come to a free talk, learn some invaluable parenting skills and have your questions answered about our positive parenting courses.

  
  View more Book now
• FREE TALK: Never Ask Twice. Introduction to our Positive Parenting courses

  Come to a free talk, learn some invaluable parenting skills and have your questions answered about our positive parenting courses.

  
  View more Book now
• How to be an Even Better Dad

  NEW!: 90 minute format
  Today men are finding a voice in parenting which is often different from that expressed by their own fathers and they are redefining their role as Dads. Being a father presents men with many challenges to their patience, time, understanding, financial and emotional resources. This workshop celebrates the vital role fathers play in raising their children and shows you how to make the most of the time you have with your children and be both positive and firm with your children. It also looks at how to be an effective team with the children’s mother.
  
  This talk is for fathers only and will be presented by a male presenter with much experience and great understanding of the male approach to parenting.
  
  The talk covers: 

  • The positive male attributes that men bring to parenting
  • Choosing the style of parenting you want
  • The special relationships that men can have with their sons and the role they have with their daughters
  • Ways of encouraging cooperation and building self esteem in your children
  • How to foster good behaviour and good communication skills in your children
  • Positive and effective methods of discipline that engender respect and teach good values
  
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• Anxiety: spotting it, understanding it, teaching your child to deal with it

  Duration: 2.5 hrs

  Anxieties are very much on the rise in children and young people. 2.2% (about 96,000) children aged 5-10 and 4.4% of 11-16 year olds in the UK have an anxiety disorder. The prevalence is higher in girls. Recent research from Anxiety UK suggests that as many as 1 in 6 young people will experience an anxiety condition at some point in their lives.

  Children can be fearful of many things, some of them imaginary and many of them irrational. It can be hard for an adult to understand their fears.

  Anxiety can be beneficial as it protects us from danger, pushes us to take action and to perform at a higher level. Our nerves keep us alert and ready to respond, but we also need to recognise when we are not at risk.

  Many worries are a routine part of growing up but some are frequent and persistent and get in the way of normal life. Parents need to know when a worry is too big and how to help their child. 

  This talk covers:  

  what makes children anxious

  what are the signs of anxiety 

  what parents can do to help children deal with their worries

    -How to prevent anxiety

    -How to respond to anxiety        

  Goals

  Participants will learn to:

  • Understand what anxiety is
  • Understand what anxieties are normal at different ages
  • Distinguish normal worries from problematic anxiousness
  • Identify signs of anxiety
  • Understand where anxiety comes from
  • Use 8 tools to combat anxiety
  
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• Never Have to Ask Twice

  90 minute format
  

  Does it drive you mad when your children don’t listen to, ignore or defy you? Do you find yourself repeating things over and over again only to wind up shouting at and threatening your children?  Do you sometimes feel as if you are talking to a brick wall?  Do you wonder what happened to respect (and when did you turn into your mother/father)?

  Children learn to tune us out when we nag, remind, lecture and criticise. This seminar will cover why children don’t listen and what parents can do to encourage children to listen and to follow instructions. Don’t miss the three stage approach for maximising cooperation.

  
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• Maximising Your Child's Potential at School 1,2 & 3. All Three Sessions

  This Workshop comprises Three Sessions and can be booked individually or as a set.

  The sessions are:

  1. Tues 2nd Oct 'The Great Motivator'

  2. Tues 9th Oct. 'The Emotional Intelligence Edge'

  3. Tues 16th Oct. 'Setting up for Success'

  All sessions are in Clapham from 10am-12:30pm

  Please use the booking form below if you want to come to all three sessions at the discounted price of £150 for a single or £250 for a couple.

  If you would like to come to one or two sessions only please book these modules individually by going to these links:

  Session 1

  Session 2

  Session 3

  About the Series

  It is widely accepted amongst researchers and educators today that a person’s emotional and social skills are at least as important in his success as his cognitive abilities, and in fact will impact on his cognitive abilities.

  If children are to do their best at school and in whatever path they choose thereafter, they will need:
  • to be confident and self-motivated and believe they are capable
  • to try things and take risks
  • to work hard and persevere
  • to have courage and drive and self-control and be willing to follow their own dreams and try a different path than that taken by the majority
  • to be curious and think creatively and solve problems for themselves
  • to think of themselves as learners and problem-solvers
  • to pick themselves up after failures, not be defeated by them but embrace them as opportunities for learning
  • to have good communication skills and emotional intelligence (identified by the Harvard Business Review as “one of the essential ingredients for leadership success and excellent performance.”
  And if they’re to be happy children will need to develop contentment and gratitude.

  This series of workshops explores how parents can help children develop these characteristics essential for maximising their potential at school.

  In workshop one –The Great Motivator – we explore what does and doesn’t motivate children. We look at:
  • how to build strong self-esteem with a realistic sense of the child’s abilities and capacities, to encourage risk taking and persistence, to build resilience, to encourage thinking for themselves and willingness to challenge ideas by what we pay attention to and how we speak to our children
  • giving children opportunities to develop creative and independent thinking by avoiding overscheduling so that they can have time just to be, to explore and to reflect as well as family time; we examine the types of toys and activities we provide, the need to limit time in front of a screen, and to not jump in to solve problems for them
  • building awareness of what values we are communicating, especially around success and results in academia, sports and extra-curricular activities and expecting other non-performance related qualities like kindness. (We’ll see that empathy actually has an impact on achievement too.)

  In workshop two –The Emotional Intelligence Edge - drawing on research about EI from around the world, we explore what emotional intelligence is; the ability to recognise, to regulate and to express emotions. It is a prerequisite for resilience - the ability to recover from setbacks, to embrace failures as learning opportunities and to try again. It also includes empathy, which is recognising and caring about what others feel, crucial for perspective-taking and real communication.
  Study after study has found that children with good emotional intelligence are not just better adjusted emotionally, more popular and more sensitive but they are also physically healthier and perform better academically than less emotionally intelligent children. Emotionally intelligent kids deal better with stress and have better mental health.
  Emotional intelligence is not an innate talent; it is a skill that can be learnt. In this workshop we will look at how to raise children with good emotional capacities, empathy and resilience. We look at how to encourage self-awareness, self-management and excellent communication skills.
  We look at teaching children how to respond well to failures and mistakes, by parental modelling and by how we speak about failures and by teaching children how their brains work.

  In workshop three –Setting up for Success – we explore a number of micro-skills which together allow parents to support their children to get things right.

  Effective parenting is not just about reacting to behaviour we like or don’t like but about proactively teaching our children our values and training them in good habits to last a lifetime. It’s about setting it up so kids can get things right. In this session we are going to look at some really effective practical training tools.

  While there is definitely a role for experiencing failure children also need to be successful so that they feel happy and confident, are more cooperative, more willing to take on new challenges and more resilient. A child who thinks there is no chance of success is not motivated to try.

  ‘Helicopter parents’, hover over their children all the time to make sure they are ok, saying “Be careful. Don’t climb too high. That’s risky/dangerous/ unsafe.” Or shielding them from mistakes and failures and doing too much for them.
  ‘Tiger parents’ direct their children’s activities and schedules and push and push their kids to achieve, in the belief that they are nurturing talent and ensuring great futures for them.
  Both helicoptering and tiger parenting are forms of overparenting that need to be avoided whilst still supporting children to do the best that they are capable of. In this workshop we explore ways of helping kids to get things right without stepping in and taking over and without pressurising them.

  
  View more Register interest
• Maximising Your Child's Potential at School. Session 1. 'The Great Motivator'

  This workshop is one of a set of three and can either be done as a stand alone session or part of the series.

  Session 2 is running on 9th Oct 2018 and Session 3 on 16th Oct 2018. All sessions are in Clapham.

  If you would like to book all three sessions and get a discount Click Here

  In workshop one –The Great Motivator – we explore what does and doesn’t motivate children. We look at:
  • how to build strong self-esteem with a realistic sense of the child’s abilities and capacities, to encourage risk taking and persistence, to build resilience, to encourage thinking for themselves and willingness to challenge ideas by what we pay attention to and how we speak to our children
  • giving children opportunities to develop creative and independent thinking by avoiding overscheduling so that they can have time just to be, to explore and to reflect as well as family time; we examine the types of toys and activities we provide, the need to limit time in front of a screen, and to not jump in to solve problems for them
  • building awareness of what values we are communicating, especially around success and results in academia, sports and extra-curricular activities and expecting other non-performance related qualities like kindness. (We’ll see that empathy actually has an impact on achievement too.)

  About the Maximising Your Child's Potential at School Series:

  It is widely accepted amongst researchers and educators today that a person’s emotional and social skills are at least as important in his success as his cognitive abilities, and in fact will impact on his cognitive abilities.

  If children are to do their best at school and in whatever path they choose thereafter, they will need:
  - to be confident and self-motivated and believe they are capable
  - to try things and take risks
  - to work hard and persevere
  - to have courage and drive and self-control and be willing to follow their own dreams and try a different path than that taken by the majority
  - to be curious and think creatively and solve problems for themselves
  - to think of themselves as learners and problem-solvers
  - to pick themselves up after failures, not be defeated by them but embrace them as opportunities for learning
  - to have good communication skills and emotional intelligence (identified by the Harvard Business Review as “one of the essential ingredients for leadership success and excellent performance.”
  And if they’re to be happy children will need to develop contentment and gratitude.

  This series of workshops explores how parents can help children develop these characteristics essential for maximising their potential at school.

  
  View more Register interest
• My Child's Different

  This workshop gives hope to all parents and carers who for a variety of reasons may be concerned about what the future holds for their children, and demonstrates how, with the use of positive parenting skills, all children’s potential can be unlocked. My Child’s Different is a celebration of all the unique qualities those who are different bring to society.

  
  Elaine's book tells the true story her son Sam, who by the age of seven had been excluded from three schools and was later labelled as having a whole host of conditions, ranging from autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) to pathological demand avoidance (PDA) to severe dyslexia. He had become ‘the alphabet kid’. His parents never gave up on him, however, taking positive parenting courses and researching all kinds of different therapies to support him. They believed he was a good and capable person, and that belief in turn gave Sam resilience, grit and an ability to persevere in the face of adversity.

  Elaine's book - My Child's Different was published on 31 Aug 2018. Order from  Amazon 

  
  View more Register interest
• Maximising Your Child's Potential at School. Session 2. The Emotional Intelligence Edge

  This workshop is one of a set of three and can either be done as a stand alone session or part of the series.

  Session 1 is running on 2nd Oct 2018 and Session 3 on 16th Oct 2018. All sessions are in Clapham.

  If you would like to book all three sessions and get a discount Click Here

  In workshop two of the series 'The Emotional Intelligence Edge'  drawing on research about EI from around the world, we explore what emotional intelligence is; the ability to recognise, to regulate and to express emotions. It is a prerequisite for resilience - the ability to recover from setbacks, to embrace failures as learning opportunities and to try again. It also includes empathy, which is recognising and caring about what others feel, crucial for perspective-taking and real communication.

  Study after study has found that children with good emotional intelligence are not just better adjusted emotionally, more popular and more sensitive but they are also physically healthier and perform better academically than less emotionally intelligent children. Emotionally intelligent kids deal better with stress and have better mental health.

  Emotional intelligence is not an innate talent; it is a skill that can be learnt. In this workshop we will look at how to raise children with good emotional capacities, empathy and resilience. We look at how to encourage self-awareness, self-management and excellent communication skills.

  About the Maximising Your Child's Potential at School Series:

  It is widely accepted amongst researchers and educators today that a person’s emotional and social skills are at least as important in his success as his cognitive abilities, and in fact will impact on his cognitive abilities. 

  If children are to do their best at school and in whatever path they choose thereafter, they will need:

   - to be confident and self-motivated and believe they are capable

   - to try things and take risks

   - to work hard and persevere

   - to have courage and drive  and self-control and be willing to follow their own dreams and try a different path than that taken by the majority

   - to be curious and think creatively and solve problems for themselves 

   - to think of themselves as learners and problem-solvers

   - to pick themselves up after failures, not be defeated by them but embrace them as opportunities for learning

   - to have good communication skills and emotional intelligence (identified by the Harvard Business Review as “one of the essential ingredients for leadership success and excellent performance.”
  And if they’re to be happy children will need to develop contentment and gratitude. 

  This series of workshops explores how parents can help children develop these characteristics essential for maximising their potential at school.

  
  View more Register interest
• Anxiety: spotting it, understanding it, and teaching your child to deal with it.

  Duration: 2.5 hrs

  Anxieties are very much on the rise in children and young people. 2.2% (about 96,000) children aged 5-10 and 4.4% of 11-16 year olds in the UK have an anxiety disorder. The prevalence is higher in girls. Recent research from Anxiety UK suggests that as many as 1 in 6 young people will experience an anxiety condition at some point in their lives.

  Children can be fearful of many things, some of them imaginary and many of them irrational. It can be hard for an adult to understand their fears.

  Anxiety can be beneficial as it protects us from danger, pushes us to take action and to perform at a higher level. Our nerves keep us alert and ready to respond, but we also need to recognise when we are not at risk.

  Many worries are a routine part of growing up but some are frequent and persistent and get in the way of normal life. Parents need to know when a worry is too big and how to help their child. 

  This talk covers:  

  what makes children anxious

  what are the signs of anxiety 

  what parents can do to help children deal with their worries

    -How to prevent anxiety

    -How to respond to anxiety        

  Goals

  Participants will learn to:

  • Understand what anxiety is
  • Understand what anxieties are normal at different ages
  • Distinguish normal worries from problematic anxiousness
  • Identify signs of anxiety
  • Understand where anxiety comes from
  • Use 8 tools to combat anxiety
  
  View more Register interest
• Raising Girls & Friendships

  Duration: 2.5hrs

  Relationships are very important to girls. At different stages in their lives they will have different needs from their various relationships and will manage them differently but to be successful in this key area of their lives girls need some crucial social skills.

  This workshop examines five different stages in a girl’s life and what she needs from relationships with parents and friends in each stage.

  It also examines practical strategies for parents in cultivating good friendship skills in their daughters, helping their daughters choose good friends and be good friends themselves. It looks at what to do when you don’t like your daughter’s friends and what to do when she falls out with her friends or she’s subject to bullying.

  
  View more Register interest
• Maximising Your Child's Potential at School. Session 3. Setting Up for Success

  This workshop is one of a set of three and can either be done as a stand alone session or part of the series.

  Session 1 is running on 2nd Oct 2018 and Session 2 on 9th Oct 2018. All sessions are in Clapham.

  If you would like to book all three sessions and get a discount Click Here

  Effective parenting is not just about reacting to behaviour we like or don’t like but about proactively teaching our children our values and training them in good habits to last a lifetime. It’s about setting it up so kids can get things right. In this session we are going to look at some really effective practical training tools. 

  While there is definitely a role for experiencing failure children also need to be successful so that they feel happy and confident, are more cooperative, more willing to take on new challenges and more resilient. A child who thinks there is no chance of success is not motivated to try. 

  ‘Helicopter parents’, hover over their children all the time to make sure they are ok, saying “Be careful. Don’t climb too high. That’s risky/dangerous/ unsafe.”  Or shielding them from mistakes and failures and doing too much for them.

  ‘Tiger parents’ direct  their children’s activities and schedules and push and push their kids to achieve, in the belief that they are nurturing talent and ensuring great futures for them.

  Both helicoptering and tiger parenting are forms of overparenting that need to be avoided whilst still supporting children to do the best that they are capable of. In this workshop we explore ways of helping kids to get things right without stepping in and taking over and without pressurising them.

  About the Maximising Your Child's Potential at School Series:

  It is widely accepted amongst researchers and educators today that a person’s emotional and social skills are at least as important in his success as his cognitive abilities, and in fact will impact on his cognitive abilities. 

  If children are to do their best at school and in whatever path they choose thereafter, they will need:

   - to be confident and self-motivated and believe they are capable
   - to try things and take risks
   - to work hard and persevere
   - to have courage and drive  and self-control and be willing to follow their own dreams and try a different path than that taken by the majority
   - to be curious and think creatively and solve problems for themselves 
   - to think of themselves as learners and problem-solvers
   - to pick themselves up after failures, not be defeated by them but embrace them as opportunities for learning
   - to have good communication skills and emotional intelligence (identified by the Harvard Business Review as “one of the essential ingredients for leadership success and excellent performance.”
  And if they’re to be happy children will need to develop contentment and gratitude. 

  This series of workshops explores how parents can help children develop these characteristics essential for maximising their potential at school.

  
  View more Register interest
• Raising Girls - Connecting with your daughter, the power of words.

  Duration: 2.5hrs

  This workshop is about words, the power of words to create and to heal relationships. Words are especially important to girls. They tend to be adept with them and they use them to build relationships more than boys who focus more on activities. Her words are attempts to engage and to be heard, to connect. But sometimes her words can hurt. And then we parents struggle with words too.

  Girls are likewise especially vulnerable to the effect of words so parents need to be careful to listen to the real message behind her words and to respond with compassion and understanding.

  In this workshop we will look at what girls are trying to communicate and constructive ways to respond which avoid verbal shut downs and conversational dead ends. We will decipher the codes so that we can understand what our daughters are longing for us to know.

  We will examine specific situations to see what happened and why, and then what words would be a better alternative.

  This workshop draws on research into what girls themselves say about communication between themselves and their parents.

  This workshop is best suited to parents of girls from age 8 but anyone with younger girls can undoubtedly benefit too.  

  
  View more Book now
• Raising Boys: Understanding boy world and helping boys thrive in it

  Duration: 2.5 hours

  This workshop addresses what it’s like to be a man today and what kind of men we want our sons to grow up to be. We look at how to encourage those qualities in our boys while they’re growing up. We look at practical ways of talking to our sons to pass on our values and to encourage good behaviour, attitudes and mindsets. We also look at the role of modelling. 

  Emotional intelligence is a greater predictor of success in life than any academic achievement. In this workshop we look at skills to grow boys’ emotional maturity. In particular we look at boys’ style of communication. We give parents tools for communicating in ways that suit boys and teach techniques for encouraging boys to talk, both to solve problems and to connect effectively. 

  We look at several scenarios where boys often have difficulties and examine ways parents can coach their sons for successful outcomes.

   

  
  View more Book now
• Raising Girls - Friendships

  Duration: 2.5hrs

  Relationships are very important to girls. At different stages in their lives they will have different needs from their various relationships and will manage them differently but to be successful in this key area of their lives girls need some crucial social skills.

  This workshop examines five different stages in a girl’s life and what she needs from relationships with parents and friends in each stage.

  It also examines practical strategies for parents in cultivating good friendship skills in their daughters, helping their daughters choose good friends and be good friends themselves. It looks at what to do when you don’t like your daughter’s friends and what to do when she falls out with her friends or she’s subject to bullying.

  
  View more Book now
• Fostering Harmony between Siblings

  Do your children bicker, argue or fight? Do they come to you complaining about each other or telling tales? Parents can find it very upsetting to witness their child being cruel to his/her sibling and get tired of the endless quibbling and niggling and the noise. This workshop will give you practical skills to help your children be more tolerant and considerate of each other and resolve arguments successfully.

  We will show you how much can be done to make it easier for your children to like each other. We will look at the causes of the rivalry and teach you many practical, well-tried solutions to help reduce the fighting and create a more harmonious environment. We will also look at effective ways to intervene without appointing yourself judge and to help the children resolve their own disputes. This seminar covers conflict resolution skills that will equip them for life.

  • Why siblings fight
    How to foster harmony between siblings
    How to respond when they do fight
    How to intervene minimally and effectively to help children resolve disputes fairly
  
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• The Essential Toolkit for Raising Confident and Cooperative Children

  All parents want to see their children be successful and happy. Many say they also want their children to learn good habits for life, to develop qualities that will serve them well and make them people that we want to be around!

  Our children need to have a healthy self-esteem so that they are prepared to try new things, do their best and persevere and so that they can pick themselves up after set-backs with learning, not self-recrimination. We want them to be confident in relationships and around school and other activities. Even with a parenting approach centred on the child’s needs and feelings we also need our kids to cooperate, for the sake of family harmony and for their learning in the longer term.

  In this seminar we look at ways of motivating our children to do their best and practical ways of setting things up so that children are likely to get things right. Our language is crucial in motivating and creating connection. We look at how specific words encourage confidence and cooperation and how others can contribute to low self-esteem.

  This talk covers:    

  • Effective ways of motivating children to want to do their best
  • How to use words to focus on the positive aspects of your child’s behaviour
  • How to encourage your child to try hard and to persevere
  • Practical ways of setting things up so that children are likely to get things right
  • How to help your child see themselves in a positive light and thereby impact their future behaviour

   

  
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• Understanding Your Child

  Parents know their children best. They know what they do, what they like and dislike and how they’re likely to react in given situations. But they don’t always know what their children are thinking and feeling and they don’t always understand why they behave the way they do. Understanding children as unique individuals is essential if parents are to apply their parenting skills in effective, targeted and strategic ways. These insights will affect everything parents do with their children.

  In this seminar we look at what makes our children tick and what drives their behaviour. We look at the science of child development and neuroscience to see what behaviours are appropriate for the age and how they fit in the chain of development. We examine temperament in order to understand children more fully as individuals and how our own temperament may interact with theirs. We look at feelings to understand the emotional drivers of behaviour.

  When parents really understand their children and their needs they can accommodate these to bring out the best in them. This doesn’t mean just letting unacceptable behaviour go. We look for reasons to explain behaviour and to modify it appropriately, not to excuse it. 

  This talk covers:    

  • Understanding children’s stages of development and forming reasonable expectations based on this understanding
  • Looking at individual temperamental traits to understand a child’s default manner of interacting with the world. Understanding that although this is an innate part of the child’s personality how they react can be modified by strategic parental input. Helping the child to see the positive aspects of these traits and managing behaviours
  • Overview of special needs
  • Understanding how emotions underpin all behaviours, positive and negative. How understanding a child’s emotions makes strong connections with a parent, prevents battles and builds strong self-esteem.
  • How to get to know your child better
  
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• Nurturing Healthy Friendships and Responding to Upsets and Bullying

  Friendships can be lovely - affirming, supportive and nurturing; they can bring a child out of themselves and challenge them to try things they wouldn’t on their own; friendship groups can give a sense of belonging; friends can provide emotional support; good friendships provide an opportunity for a child to air their views and work out what they believe in. Being with friends teaches trust and intimacy; negotiating with peers teaches communication skills; learning how to break up and make up is also useful. Friends can help kids through tough times.

  Friendships can also be troublesome if they don’t go well. Children fall out with each other, some kids find it hard to make friends and some are bullied. Exclusions, name-calling and aggressive behaviours can be very upsetting for kids.

  This workshop explores what makes a good friend, how to nurture those good friend qualities in children and how to train children in essential social skills. It looks at the difference between boys’ and girls’ friendships at different stages and some of the stress points. We examine what parents can do to nurture good relationships and encourage good friendship skills.

  We also look at how to support children through upsets in friendships and bullying. While we can’t completely prevent our children from being bullied we can build their self-esteem so they are less likely to be targeted and we can teach them how to respond so it is less likely to recur. We can also teach our children to be active bystanders to make bullying unacceptable in their environments. We look at how to support your child if they have engaged in bullying behaviour.
  This workshop draws on research about anti-bullying practices from around the world.

  This talk covers:

  - What friendships look like for boys and girls at different ages
  - What qualities make for a good friend and how to nurture these
  - How to train your child in essential social skills, such as conversing, playing games, negotiating and turn-taking, compromising and kindness
  - How to help your child deal with upsets in friendships and with bullying

  
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• Keeping Children Safe Online

  GUEST PRESENTER: Sylvie Garvey

  The internet is a fabulous resource for our families but there are many areas that you want to protect them from. One of our greatest challenges as parents is how to ensure that our children remain as safe as possible online. During this hands on session you will learn about the different layers of protection, how to put changes into practice to best fit your family and actually implement some protection and control. You are encouraged to bring family iPads and iPhones to make changes there and then and, if not, you will go home with instructions for making the changes.

  About Sylvie

  Sylvie Garvey established Computer Fitness, an IT troubleshooting, support and training company in 2011. She is a self-confessed techno-geek, passionate about getting IT to help, not hinder, our lives. She spent 15 years working for a global IT consultancy and her 3 children and home-run business have provided plenty of experience of typical home and small business user challenges. Sylvie provides one-on-one support and training and runs IT workshops throughout London and the South West. sylvie@computerfitness.net

  
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• Creating Happy Learners: how to reduce stress and increase creativity

  Duration: 2.5 hrs 

  There has been much concern in the UK and abroad about the high-stakes, high-pressure culture that permeates schools and children’s lives across the developed world.  This culture creates unhealthy, stressed-out and unmotivated young people who are unprepared for the realities of working life. There are many stories of young people who have been pushed to the brink.  Educators are burned out and worried that students aren’t developing the skills they need.  Concerned parents are trying to do what’s best for their kids. 

  It is apparent that cheating has become commonplace, students are disengaged, stress-related illness and depression is rampant.  Many young people arrive at university and the workplace unprepared and uninspired. There is a growing movement of psychologists and educators across the world who believe that the systems and methods now in place to raise and educate kids are in fact devastating them. 

  Are parents stuck in a culture that we are powerless to change? Or is there something we can do in the way that we raise our children that will redefine the way our children view success and themselves? Can we help our children do well and be motivated and creative rather than just following a script and be happy? At The Parent Practice we are firm believers that there are strategies parents can adopt to help kids view success and failure differently, be motivated and creative learners, and happy and confident people. 

  This workshop covers: 

  • Notions of success in our society and how parents can present a different model of success to children
  • Helping children to rise up to rather than be weighed down by educational aspirations, to do their best and work hard but not to define themselves completely by results
  • Important research done by Professor Carol Dweck on creating a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset and a collaborative rather than a competitive approach to learning
  • How parents can encourage healthy attitudes to study, to motivation and effort in all endeavours
  • How to develop resilience and positive ways of responding to set backs
  • How to create a healthy self esteem which is not precariously linked to results
  
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• Parenting in the Digital Age

  Duration: 2.5hrs

  The opportunities provided for our children by technology; computers, TV, mobile phones and games consoles are amazing. The wealth of information, the opportunities to learn, to socialise, to communicate, to create and to be entertained are immense.  But with this comes dangers of unwelcome content or unwelcome contact, as well as the health and other implications for our children of them spending hours in front of a screen.   

  This workshop looks at how we keep our children safe and healthy while making the most of the technological revolution. This is a most pressing question for parents of 21st century children and one we need to address if we are to keep them safe and pass on the values we want them to grow up with. This workshop examines the pitfalls or risks associated with the technologies that children are embracing at an ever younger age including what’s missing in their lives if they spend too much time in front of a screen.  

   This workshop covers:   

  • The need for parents to inform and educate themselves about the digital age
  • What parents can do to protect and educate their children
  • Ways of developing trust between parent and child
  • How to develop effective rules around the use of technologies and having a healthy blend of activities
  • Ways of communicating empathetically when they wish to have more technology – time or gadgets!

   

  
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• Raising Girls: Body Confidence,eating disorders and self harm

  Present by Melissa Hood of The Parent Practice and Holli Ruben.

  Body confidence, or the lack of it, is a topic with which parents of every girl, and parents of some boys, are rightly concerned. Girls are obsessed with the thin ideal. They develop anxiety at an early age in their attempts to achieve the unattainable and research tells us that his anxiety impacts on their engagement with life. In this workshop we explore the effect of the media on body image and look at other causes for appearance dissatisfaction. We look at ways that parents can teach their girls that their value has to do with so much more than just their appearance. In this workshop we teach practical and effective strategies for fostering strong self-esteem and a positive body image.

   

  Self- harm has always been a very scary topic, one which tended to not be discussed very often. Self-harming is a physical expression of emotional distress.  It is some young people’s way of coping with or expressing overwhelming emotional difficulties. There are many different ways one can hurt oneself including cutting, drinking to excess and taking drugs, and less obvious ones like overworking and over-exercising. And there are multiple reasons why people self-harm.

   

  Unfortunately, self-harming is now becoming headlined more frequently, not because it is any less scary but because it is increasingly common.  It is thought that 10% of young people may try and hurt themselves on purpose.  To support our children we parents need to be aware of  what self-harm is about, what is considered self-harming, how it happens and ultimately why we are seeing more of our teenagers partaking in it.  Mostly we need to know what we can do about it.

   

  Eating disorders are a very common form of self –harm. Eating disorders are serious medical problems and not just problems with food. They usually occur in adolescence but can persist into adulthood and tend to affect females more than males although boys are being affected more and more.  In the UK 1.6 million people have an eating disorder.

  Body image issues affect us all to a lesser or greater extent but when these are turning into eating disorders we need to know what to do and where to turn for help. 

   

  This talk covers:

  - what are the concerns around body confidence, self-harming and eating disorders?
  - the definition and the indicators of self-harming and eating disorders and distinction between eating disorders and ‘dieting’

  - how does disordered thinking around body image arise?
  - what parents can do to encourage girls to have a more positive body image and to prevent self-harming and eating disorders arising
  - how to support a young person who is suffering themselves or is part of a group who is experiencing self-harm
  - when to seek professional help

  
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• When Your Kids Push your Buttons.

  That certain look or defiant act, a roll of the eyes, an attitude and your child "pushes your buttons". You want to correct the behaviour but instead end up losing control, losing authority and saying all those things you swore you never would. It happens to the best of us. Once those buttons are pushed, no parenting skill can come to your rescue, you react automatically and make threats you later regret—the "road rage" of parenting. To be effective, perspectives need to change in order to see what your child may really be asking for. Learn how in this two part workshop. You will discover what your buttons are, where they come from, why your children push them and how to defuse them so you can regain your authority, your sanity, and your children’s cooperation and respect. 

  You will learn:

  • How to identify your buttons and why they are there (hint: your child didn’t do it)
  • Why your reactions have less to do with your child and more to do with your ideas
  • The importance of understanding agendas – both yours and your child’s
  • About the unintentional messages sent across the Gap when a button gets pushed
  • How to understand behaviour and its meaning from a new point of view 

  
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• Preparing for the Teenage Years

  Duration: 2.5hrs

  Many parents feel quite anxious about the teenage years. Adolescents experience many changes in brain development and hormones during this period which can impact behaviour dramatically. Parents often report sudden changes in their children and feel they no longer know how to respond to this new person in their midst. They need new strategies to enable them to communicate effectively, to maintain effective boundaries and to support their children through a time of great change to emerge as competent adults.

  
  Parents need to be able to understand teens and communicate effectively if they are to reduce conflict, help improve teenagers’ self-esteem and to minimise the impact of peer pressure. Listening effectively to teens helps improve their ability to solve problems, to develop judgment and to be considerate of others. It also encourages teens to come to their parents if they need help.

  In this workshop we teach strategies that help foster a really positive relationship between parent and teen.  It is suitable for parents of children approaching the teenage years as well as parents whose children are already teenagers.
  
  The workshop covers:    

  • Understanding teenagers’ behaviour
  • Boosting teenagers’ self-esteem
  • Engaging with teens so they want to listen to you
  • Motivating teens so they want to willingly cooperate
  • Listening actively to encourage teens to talk
  • Maintaining boundaries that generate respect, foster harmony and instil good values 

   

  
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• Helping Kids be Resilient

  Duration: 2.5 hrs

  Strong self-esteem is vital for children to help them cope with the inevitable knocks of life. This workshop shows you how to really improve your children’s confidence and belief in themselves, build capacity in them and how to encourage them to deal with things constructively when they face challenges. It will also address effective strategies for dealing with and avoiding any bullying children might face.
  
  This workshop covers:   

  • How to foster strong self-belief
  • How to encourage children to share their problems
  • How to encourage resilience, perseverance and coping mechanisms to deal with life’s knocks
  • How to get involved when your child is bullied and teaching children strategies for coping with bullying

   

  
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• Raising Girls - Perfectionism and self-esteem

  Duration: 2.5hrs

  Being a girl today is not the same as when their mothers were growing up. They are subject to different and more intense challenges and pressures than the previous generation. From about the age of 10 a girls’ self-esteem goes into decline; the pressure to achieve in the academic, sporting and arts arenas is enormous. While her mother will also have gone through the process of recalibrating her whole identity and working out friendships, what she believes in and how she fits into the world, her mum will have been able to do it in the privacy of her own home without the full glare of the spotlight that is social media to hinder the process.

  The stresses in a tween and teen girl’s life are so great now that eating disorders, self-harm and depression are more prevalent than ever before. Girls are growing up much faster. Steve Biddulph in his new book, Raising Girls, talks about our 18 being their 14 and our 14, their 10. They are exposed to far more media and with it relentless messages about how they should look and behave. For girls how they look, and their ‘hotness’, has become a constant obsession. Young girls are behaving in a way they feel they should, rather than in a way they would like.

  At the same time girls are growing up in an era of ‘girl power’ where they are encouraged to believe they are capable of anything. Perhaps the two conflicting forces of enormous pressure to perform and to grow up and to look ‘hot’ come together with this talk of empowerment  to create a situation where girls struggle to voice what they need and how they feel. Sometimes girls’ words come out mean. And then we parents struggle with words too.

  You may be concerned about preserving your daughter’s innocence in a world which encourages them to grow up so fast. You may worry about the effect of the media, particularly on body image. Strong self-esteem is vital for children to be their best and to cope with the inevitable knocks of life and the highly competitive world of the 21st century. While we want our girls to strive to do their best it is important that girls are not handicapped by unrealistic perfectionist tendencies and that they learn to cope with and learn from failures.

  This talk looks at the issues that are especially relevant to girls; how girls are different and how parents can help. We look at techniques parents can use to bring up your daughters to be strong, confident, willing to try new things and with a strong sense of self-worth while encouraging consideration for others. In particular we teach practical and effective strategies for fostering strong self-esteem and a positive body image and for encouraging a ‘growth mindset’ and healthy attitudes to struggle and set-backs.

  
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• Raising Boys: Channelling physicality, encouraging cooperation and boy discipline.

  Duration: 2.5 hrs

  This workshop looks at the many positive qualities of boys and how these qualities can also present challenges to the boys themselves, and also to their parents, and how we can channel them effectively. We look at practical ways to help boys do and be the best they can, whether that’s at school or at home, and in life generally. 

  We also look at how we can handle particular issues such as how parents can help boys channel their high energy constructively, and deal with excessive competitiveness, even aggression. We present key skills that help boys develop good habits of co-operation including using structure and routines to help boys. We give parents effective techniques for handling misbehaviour and helping boys understand and work within boundaries. 

  
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• Anxiety: spotting it, understanding it, teaching your child to deal with it

  Duration: 2.5 hrs

  Anxieties are very much on the rise in children and young people. 2.2% (about 96,000) children aged 5-10 and 4.4% of 11-16 year olds in the UK have an anxiety disorder. The prevalence is higher in girls. Recent research from Anxiety UK suggests that as many as 1 in 6 young people will experience an anxiety condition at some point in their lives.

  Children can be fearful of many things, some of them imaginary and many of them irrational. It can be hard for an adult to understand their fears.

  Anxiety can be beneficial as it protects us from danger, pushes us to take action and to perform at a higher level. Our nerves keep us alert and ready to respond, but we also need to recognise when we are not at risk.

  Many worries are a routine part of growing up but some are frequent and persistent and get in the way of normal life. Parents need to know when a worry is too big and how to help their child. 

  This talk covers:  

  what makes children anxious

  what are the signs of anxiety 

  what parents can do to help children deal with their worries

    -How to prevent anxiety

    -How to respond to anxiety        

  Goals

  Participants will learn to:

  • Understand what anxiety is
  • Understand what anxieties are normal at different ages
  • Distinguish normal worries from problematic anxiousness
  • Identify signs of anxiety
  • Understand where anxiety comes from
  • Use 8 tools to combat anxiety
  
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• SLOW Parenting: bringing up children in a fast world presented by Carl Honoré

  Duration: 2.5hrs 

  Presented by Carl Honoré 

  Children need to strive and struggle and stretch themselves but that does not mean childhood should be a race to perfection. Slow Parenting is about bringing balance back into the family. It means helping children reach their full potential by giving them the time and space to explore the world on their own terms. It also means giving parents the permission to relax and enjoy the ride. This workshop will explore how to find the sweet spot between doing too much and too little for our children.

  Carl Honoré is an award-winning writer, broadcaster and TED speaker. He is also a globetrotting ambassador for the Slow Movement. The Wall Street Journal called him ‘an in-demand spokesman on slowness.’ After working with street children in Brazil, he covered Europe and South America for publications ranging from the Economist and Observer to the Miami Herald, Time and National Post (Canada).

  Carl’s first book, In Praise of Slow, examines our compulsion to hurry and chronicles a global trend toward putting on the brakes. His second book, Under Pressure, explores the good, the bad and the ugly of modern childrearing - and offers a blueprint for change. It was hailed by Time as a “gospel of the Slow Parenting movement.” His latest book, The Slow Fix, explores how to solve problems in every walk of life, from business and politics to health and relationships, without falling for short-term, superficial quick fixes.

  Carl recently presented a TV show for ABC 1 in Australia in which he helped frazzled, over-scheduled families slow down. The title: Frantic Family Rescue. He is now working on a TV series to do the same for families around the world, from London and New York to Singapore and Mumbai.

  On top of writing, giving media interviews and making TV, radio programmes and podcasts, Carl rushes (slowly, of course) around the world to deliver speeches and workshops. His TED talk has been viewed 1.5 million times and he has been described as:

  “Inarguably the world’s leading evangelist for what has become known as the Slow Movement.” The Sunday Edition (CBC)
  “The global guru on the Slow Movement.” Globe and Mail
  “The unofficial godfather of a growing cultural shift toward slowing down.” Huffington Post
  “The godfather of the Slow Movement.” ABC TV News
  “An international spokesman for the concept of leisure.” Newsweek
  Carl lives in South West London with his wife and two children. In his spare time, he plays slow sports like squash and ball hockey.

  
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• Anxiety: spotting it, understanding it, teaching your child to deal with it.

  Duration: 2.5 hrs

  Anxieties are very much on the rise in children and young people. 2.2% (about 96,000) children aged 5-10 and 4.4% of 11-16 year olds in the UK have an anxiety disorder. The prevalence is higher in girls. Recent research from Anxiety UK suggests that as many as 1 in 6 young people will experience an anxiety condition at some point in their lives.

  Children can be fearful of many things, some of them imaginary and many of them irrational. It can be hard for an adult to understand their fears.

  Anxiety can be beneficial as it protects us from danger, pushes us to take action and to perform at a higher level. Our nerves keep us alert and ready to respond, but we also need to recognise when we are not at risk.

  Many worries are a routine part of growing up but some are frequent and persistent and get in the way of normal life. Parents need to know when a worry is too big and how to help their child. 

  This talk covers:  

  what makes children anxious

  what are the signs of anxiety 

  what parents can do to help children deal with their worries

    -How to prevent anxiety

    -How to respond to anxiety        

  Goals

  Participants will learn to:

  • Understand what anxiety is
  • Understand what anxieties are normal at different ages
  • Distinguish normal worries from problematic anxiousness
  • Identify signs of anxiety
  • Understand where anxiety comes from
  • Use 8 tools to combat anxiety
  
  View more Register interest