Episode 1 - Dr Laura Markham

Peaceful Parenting

Are you interested in peaceful parenting? Do you want to ditch the shouting and connect with your child in a more loving way?

Listen to this episode with Dr Laura Markham if you want to learn:

Why relationship is everything; how anything you do to encourage your child or discipline them or get them into good habits for life will be for nought if you don’t have a positive connection with them.
About what role a child’s maturing brain plays in cooperation and self-discipline
How to shift a child’s agenda from what they want to do to what you need them to do. Learn about how a child can give up something they want in the moment for something they want more –to connect with you.
About Dr Laura’s 3 big ideas to shift from less drama to more love:
1. Connection –children aren’t open to teaching until there is connection (Descriptive Praise is one of the most effective ways to create positive connections - module 1 on The Parent Practice’s Positive Parenting Programmes)
2. Coaching -no human wants to be controlled and they react against it –it leads to resistance. Children misbehave when they have feelings they can’t control. Effective parents help with emotion coaching (module 2 on The Parent Practice’s Positive Parenting Programmes) rather than punishing or trying to distract or shame the child.
3. Self-regulation –parents need to prioritise self-care if they’re to deal with their own frustrations.
How to keep calm, to stop being hijacked by emotions. This involves rewiring our brains. Anger is the human response to fear. When parents get afraid or worried about our child we react from anxiety and it touches off an anger response. Dr Laura advises how to avoid it
1. in the moment by recognising what is happening to you. Give yourself credit for that self-awareness. Stop, drop your agenda for the moment, and breathe. Give your mind another way to understand your child’s behaviour –reframe it. (At The Parent Practice we explore how to do this in module 10 on The Parent Practice’s Positive Parenting Programmes and in our Calmer Parents workshop)
2. In the background –if you’re depleted you can’t do this. Monitor your own wellbeing and put yourself on your own ‘to-do’ list.
In our celebration of vulnerability and perfect imperfection Dr Laura shares with us a Low Parenting Moment of her own.
And her top tip for raising children to be confident, happy and successful.