Search Results

No matter who I speak with, everyone is experiencing stress at some level every day. Whether it is because there is too much to do, financial issues or relationship troubles each of these can create a lot of stress. Not to mention the low level stress like...what will I cook for dinner tonight, prepare for the children’s lunches tomorrow or buy for my friend’s birthday? And the list goes on… And what about our children’s stress? Children have busy schedules, social issues and study pressures – not to mention the stress they experience simply because they see their parents are stressed. In my book, Inspired Children: how the leading minds of today raise their kids, has a chapter by Maggie Dent dedicated to understanding the stress children experience and how to help them manage it. You can read more about it in her chapter entitled: Calming children and the world: tools for managing stress and chaos. Now we all know that stress makes you feel unwell but what many people may not realise is the MEDICAL FACT that according to the National Institutes of Health from 80 to 90 percent of all illnesses are either directly or indirectly caused by stress. Scary! Furthermore, research shows that many adults aren’t able to manage their stress because no-one helped them with stress and distress in their childhood so they did not develop the self regulating systems in their brains.  You can see that it’s really important to manage your own stress and to help your children learn stress management techniques that will give them a valuable skill for life. It doesn’t take long to decrease your stress and you can use a variety of techniques like focussing on taking a few deep breaths, going for a short walk (in nature if possible) or doing a few stretches for the neck, legs, arms and back because as it turns out stiff muscles hold tension and make you feel more stressed. Makes sense! Why not make it a fun and relaxing time for both you and your kids.

Many times parents ask me about what they can do to change their child’s behaviour. For example, I received an email from a distraught mother asking for help.  “My son doesn’t have any friends, he gets picked on at school and he never stands up for himself. What can I do to help him?” Unfortunately this is a common story for many school children. An important step in making lasting positive changes to behaviours is to first uncover and challenge any limiting beliefs your child may have. You know that your beliefs drive your behaviours right? For example if you believe you can’t do something you are unlikely to try it, on the other hand if you believe you are capable of trying something new you are more likely to give it a go. It’s the same with your child. If your child doesn’t have any friends, begin by uncovering his beliefs about friends and friendships. Beliefs like: “It’s hard to make friends”, “Nobody wants to be my friend”, “I’ll never have friends” will not be supportive for coming up with ideas about how to make friends and then trying them out.  Changing beliefs isn’t easy, the key is to know that they are only beliefs and if your child is willing, they can change their beliefs. Think about it, how many times have your beliefs changed over your life? Helping a child to uncover and change limiting beliefs will help them be differently in the world.

Take a moment to think back to your childhood. Do you recall times when an adult scoffed at your concerns and dismissed your emotions? How did it make you feel? Now, think about whether you take your child’s emotions seriously? If not, how do think this makes your child feel? Acknowledge his emotions and help him to express them Raising an emotionally well-balanced child begins with acknowledging his concerns and feelings, and helping him find ways to appropriately vent anger, frustration, fear, and sorrow. Your little one's fear of monsters under the bed is ‘real’ to them so a dismissive comment like “don’t be silly there are no such things as monsters” can be hurtful! Alternatively you could help him understand his fear, find the true source of his worry, and then tackle the emotional Bogeyman together. Understanding the impact of emotions in our daily lives Let's face it, emotions are at the centre of our lives. If you’re in a really good mood, you tend to see life in a more positive light – appreciate that the sun shining, be a lot friendlier to others, and not get so upset if your child spills juice on the carpet. It's easy to see that emotions affect how we see and interpret the world, and how we respond to and behave in it. I’ve learned so much from the great work of Dr Joe Dispenza and interviewed him for my  Inspired Children book  where he shares his wealth of knowledge on raising emotionally intelligent kids. He shared in detail how he helped his own children to manage their emotions and behaviours by creating opportunities for them to learn and showing them, not telling them, how powerful they are in the world. Dr Joe’s children learned that they are able to make a huge impact in their own lives and the lives of those around and as such, they should be mindful of how their emotions and actions affect their surroundings. For example, he introduced this powerful exercise in his home for all members of his family – parents and children together. With just three pieces of bread – on one piece they wrote the word 'Love', on the next 'Hate', and on the third, 'Ignore'. Each piece was then placed in separate plastic bags and the ignore was hidden away in a cupboard. Every night for an entire month, the whole family would say positive affirmations to the bread labelled 'Love' using words like, "I love you. You're a beautiful piece of bread. You're the best bread I've seen in my life" with as much love and energy as they could put into it. The 'Hate' bread was treated to vile words and negative emotions, while the 'Ignore' bread was simply forgotten deep in the cupboard. After a period of time, the children saw that the 'Love' bread wasn't mouldy and revolting as the 'Hate' bread. On the other hand, the 'Ignore' bread was the worst of the three. Through that exercise, Dr. Dispenza's children understood how their emotions affected how they treated objects around them, which in turn, affected the general state of the object itself. He then talked about how it affected them inside their body to say words of hate or love and how these words might impact family and friends if used. Dr Joe goes into more details about how to support a child’s emotional intelligence and power in the world in two chapters in Inspired Children: how the leading minds of today raise their kids. In the same way we spend hours supporting our child’s academic achievements, raising an emotionally intelligent, well-balanced child requires instruction, effort, practice, discipline and a willingness for parents to grow and develop right beside their children.

Today’s children are experiencing an alarming increase in the rate of obesity, type II diabetes and other health-related issues that can be avoided by introducing simple healthy lifestyle habits as early as possible. As Parents are busy they need healthy life style choices they can easily introduce into daily life. I’ve had a number of health-related questions and so here are some ideas I hope you find helpful:  Increase your child’s physical activity and decrease their sedentary behaviours by turning off the TV and computers and encouraging your child to move! Walking, cycling, throwing/kicking a ball and swimming are all great physical activities. Invite your child to eat more nutritious whole foods and less junk foods by not keeping junk food in the house and only eating it on the weekend. Get children involved in all parts of the process from planning meals, purchasing fresh produce and preparing foods. Educate children about good nutrition and healthy choices.  Model good lifestyle choices for your child. If you eat well most of the time and exercise regularly your child is more likely to do so. Small lifestyle changes in each of these areas can make a huge difference to your whole family’s health! Here’s a short video on helping your children learn about health and wellbeing

Parents often feel guilty about not spending enough time with their children. Life is so busy with work, taking care of the home and all of the things that need to be done of when raising a family so there is often so little time to spend with the kids. It’s easy to see that if parents don’t spend quality time with their children, their children could come to the conclusion that they are not important and this can harm a child’s sense of self. So what can busy parents do? By taking the time to spend just 10-15 minutes of one-on-one quality time with each of your children every day, parents show their children that they are important, that their parents care and are interested in how they’re going and that they are there for their children if they need support, advice or just someone who’ll listen. You could schedule special time when your children get home from school, or after you return from work or after dinner or just before bed. If you have more than one child, you can schedule a one-on-one meeting at different times during the day or make it at the same time each day and meet with a different child on consecutive days. One-on-one time with your full attention says so much. Remember, no phone, no cooking or being distracted, just being 100 percent present with your child. What person wouldn’t feel loved and valued in that environment? So why not try it? Ask each of your children to think about how they might like to spend 10-15 minutes one-on-one with you every day. It could be to talk, go for a walk, kick a ball, play a game or just hang out and have a snack together. The key is to make it uninterrupted special time for your child, doing what they want to do with you, sharing what they want to share with you. If you can’t manage to find the time every day, then make it every second day. The key is to make regular special time and then to be present and available for your child. Making this small change to your daily routine can make an enormous difference in your child’s life and nurture the bond you share.

Parenting expert Dr Rosina interviews Jill Starishevsky author of My body Belongs to Me (available on  Amazon ) a resource for parents to help educate and protect children against child abuse. Jill is an Assistant District Attorney in New York City, where she has prosecuted hundreds of sex offenders and dedicated her career to seeking justice for victims of child abuse and sex crimes. Outside the courtroom, Jill's fondness for writing led her to create  thepoemlady.com , where she pens personalized pieces. Her mission to protect children, along with her penchant for poetry, inspired the book My Body Belongs to Me, a children’s book intended to prevent child sexual abuse by teaching three to eight year olds their bodies are private. A mother of three, Jill is also founder of  www.HowsMyNanny.com    a service that enables parents to purchase a license plate for their child's stroller so the public can report positive or negative nanny observations. She has also appeared on Oprah sharing hr important message.

As a family, we decided that Cameron would go to a Montessori  school.  We considered many different types of schools in our local area including state, private, Steiner and Montessori schools.  In the end it was an easy decision and we chose a Montessori education. Here are just some of the many reasons:  Montessori is a very practical education where children learn lots of life skills right from a very young age like 2-3 year-olds learn to use tongs to serve fruit, sweep the floor, plant seeds, sing songs to learn colours, flower arranging and enjoy gardening all while learning about life. Children can start as young as 6 months old with their parents. We did this with Cameron and Colin, myself and my mum took turns in taking him so we all learned about how to support his development. It was as much a parent education as a child education and being a new mum - I learned a lot!   Every transition from us being there to us leaving him alone was slow and supported and so it was tear free! Cameron went for a few hours once a week until he was 2.5 with a family member. After 2 years of this, we left him with his teachers for a few hours a week. When it was time for him to transition to the 3-6 year old class he was already used to us leaving him and he started 2 half days at school then 3, then 4 until we had reached 5 half days. At four year old he was 3 full days and 2 half days and finally when he became a five year old ... now it is 5 full days. Each transition made it easy for parents and children. The system is student focused so the children themselves have a role in their curriculum development. For example our Cameron LOVES flags, so he has been drawing flags from around the world and learning to read, write and things about different countries and cultures all through working with flags. He has certainly taught Colin and I a few things! His favourite flag is Cameroon ... because it looks like his name Cameron except that it has an extra 'o'. The ratio of teachers/teaching assistants to students is around 10 to 1 as opposed to 30 to 1 in many schools so Cameron has all the individualised help and attention he needs. Children can therefore work on their own interests, at their own pace and don't have to keep up with or conform to a whole class experience. Children are taught many social skills and to care for others. For example, in the 3-6 class, Cameron is now 5 and the 5 year-olds need to hold the gate open for the 3 year-olds and help them out when they ask for help. I remember how happy I felt when another little 5 year old boy in his class told me he helped Cameron with his shoes when he was just a 3 year old. Both the creative and intellectual sides of the brain are developed. This is important to us as Cameron loves painting, craft and drawing as much as he loves numbers, letters and reading. Cameron says he wants to be an artist when he grows up! These are just some of the wonderful aspects of a Montessori education, to learn more you can listen to my interview with Montessori teacher. Matty van Drempt has 25 years experience working as a Montessori teacher!  Matty’s journey into Montessori began when she chose to enrol her own children in a Montessori school. Her children attended a Montessori school from the age of 3 till they were 12 and it was a great experience and made such a positive impact on her whole family that it inspired Matty to complete the Montessori training to become a teacher herself! Matty was born in The Netherlands and has been living in Australia for over 2 decades. Matty enjoys her work so much that in 2005 she undertook further training by completing a Masters in educating children from birth to 3 years. She is currently working with babies/toddlers and parents at Forestville Montessori School in Sydney Australia. Matty will share her experience and insights into children's development and how it is supported through a Montessori Education.

When you think of creativity and children, images of finger painting, craft, play dough and drawing generally come to mind. And of course arts and crafts are fabulous ways to inspire creativity in children. However, you can encourage your young children's creativity in less 'messy' ways by using questions and story telling. A good question has the potential to inspire imagination and creative thinking. One way you can do this is to ask interesting questions while reading a book to your children. Ask age appropriate questions like –“ if you were this boy/girl, what would you do?” “Where do you think the sun goes at night?”  “Why do you think the grandma feels sad?”  or “what would you do to help your friend?”  By challenging your children with questions that invite them to consider new concepts and ideas you enable them to use their imagination and develop their creativity.  Another powerful way to inspire your children's creativity is to invite them to engage in story-telling. For older children, you can talk over some themes they might like to explore and leave them to type or write out their story. They may also like to illustrate their story. Recently a friend's child completed a children's story (words and illustrations) as an assignment for school. Our Cameron was given this story as a gift and he LOVES it! As Cameron is young, we tell stories together. This is one of our rituals at bed time. Once we decide on a theme I generally make a start and then Cameron adds the next part. If he is stuck, I ask him a question to help him along. It is so much fun to see where his imagination goes. We have been doing this for years now, and as time goes by his stories have become more sophisticated and we have developed quite complex stories on some of his more popular themes. Why not try questioning and story-telling with your children. It is fun, educational and helps your child develop their imagination and creativity.  Find out more in our Inspired Creativity  E Book.

A few months ago I was out walking with my family and overheard a boy saying to his mother “mum the sun hurts my eyes. Can I have sun glasses?” His mother replied “Kids don’t need sunglasses.” I notice that she was wearing sunglasses and that her son was squinting. When I looked around I notice that my son and very few other children were wearing sun glasses. So, I decided to investigate. I dropped into my wonderful local optometrist, Proview Optical in Chatswood, NSW to consult with the experts. One of their optometrists, Dr Katrina Chim, kindly agreed to be interviewed so I could find out more about children and sunglasses. In this interview Dr Katrina offers sound advice for good eye health for children in the age range of toddlers to teenagers. In this interview you’ll find out: Why your child needs to wear sunglasses as part of good eye health and How UV rays can hurt your child’s eyes both in the short term and long term Why children who don’t protect their eyes are more prone to age related eye diseases Choosing the best sunglasses Why sunglasses are just one part of overall sun protection for your children. Why sunglasses are just one part of overall sun protection for your children. This is such an important interview, for your child’s eye health, so please find a few minutes to listen.

Could there be anything more wonderful than to see your kids grow up and live their lives?  Wouldn’t it be great to live a long, healthy and happy life so you could: See your child finish school and go to university Experience the career they pursue and see how they get on in life Enjoy time with your grandchildren... and maybe even great grandchildren oh that would be a wonderful life! BUT, today so many people are ill with diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune problems and the list goes on. How can you stay healthy so you are here for the long term – so you can see your grand kids and great grandkids? We all know that our stressful thoughts can make us sick, right? But did you know that healing thoughts can make us well?  The scientific evidence is clear: YOU CAN HEAL YOUR BODY WITH JUST YOUR MIND OK, I understand that you might be sceptical – I am a sceptic too. I like to know the science and see the research evidence before I believe! Now, have you heard about research studies that test drugs by giving some of the people the real drug and other people a ‘fake’ drug like a sugar lolly but that looks like the real drug? The fake drug is called a placebo.  The most important thing is that the sick patients who go into the study don’t know if they have been given the real drug or if they have been given the placebo. While this sounds unbelievable, there is well documented scientific evidence that a certain proportion of people who take the placebo get better. Yes, they take the fake drug and recover from serious illnesses. This is not a once off occurrence it is has happened study after study. How this works is that the patients are convinced that they have taken the real drug and the body heals itself. Hard to believe right? But the evidence is clear. People with serious illnesses do get better and all they take is a sugar lolly! This is a scientific fact – not fiction! Dr Joe Dispenza a well known scientist with continuing education in neurology, neuroscience, brain function and chemistry, cellular biology, memory formation, and aging and longevity, has been studying this incredible phenomenon for years.  After years of research, with hundreds of stories about people getting better using their thoughts alone – he decided to write his book and share this information with the world! This book reached New York Times Best Seller List only 1 week after its release! You Are the PLACEBO: Making Your Mind Matter, by Dr Joe Dispenza This book is for everyone who wants to understand how to live a happy and healthy life. If you haven’t got the motivation to do it for yourself, do it for your children and your grandchildren. I interviewed Dr Joe and he:  Told me about the inspiration for the book Shared some of the miraculous stories he has witnessed and shares in the book Gives scientific evidence of amazing healings from his workshops where participants Learn his model of personal transformation and heal themselves Explains what you can gain by reading this book... Don’t miss this amazing interview and by reading Dr Joe’s book, you can heal yourself and teach your children maintain good health too! I hope you enjoy great health, happiness for you and your family for many, many years to come!

When it comes to parenting, discipline is a very controversial topic. There are many approaches parents use to discipline their kids including: time out, hitting, spanking and a variety of rewards and punishments. In many cases parents simply do what was done to them as kids, other parents choose to do the exact opposite. Do you need positive parenting advice and parenting strategies to support your child’s development? The key is to consider whether discipline is the best way to raise happy, healthy and well balanced children? And if so, which forms of discipline are best? This is the definition of discipline from the online dictionary: "The practice of training people to obey rules or a code of behaviour, using punishment to correct disobedience". The online example used to give it the word 'discipline' context is: "a lack of proper parental and school discipline" and the synonyms include: control, regulation, direction, order, authority, rule, strictness, a firm hand Hmmm? Is this what parenting is about? Control, Authority, and Strictness? Or is parenting about nurturing and educating our children to become the best they can be for themselves, their families and their communities? In this interview with Inspirational speaker Dr Robyn Mills  parenting expert Dr Rosina McAlpine discusses the pro's and cons of various common forms of discipline and punishment used by parents. Dr Rosina also shares her insights into a life skills approach to parenting which eliminates the need for discipline and punishment. Intrigued?… listen in and get loads of positive parenting advice. Listen to the Interview Find out more about developing your child’s Communication Skills  and how the Inspired Children Life Skills Home Activity eBook can benefit your whole family. Here are some of the key life skills your children can learn to help them fly through life: Managing emotions - practicing effective strategies for managing anger and expressing feelings;  Helping your child understand that they’re smarter when they’re calmer; Learning to listen actively to build strong relationships with family and friends; Nurturing your family’s connection: the daily catch-up; Exploring the meaning of friendship: your child’s views and your view’s; Evaluating current friendships: do I have good friends? These activities help your child make good decisions and make the ‘right’ kind of friends; Discovering your family history – a fun activity for your child; How to work effectively in a team or group for a school project; Exploring emotions: expressing anger in a healthy and safe way; Nurturing a relationship with yourself, knowing your personal goals. Remember each activity only takes around 15 minutes to complete and you can complete them at your own pace at a time that suits you and your family’s lifestyle. Most importantly, imagine how good you’ll feel about the huge difference you’re making as a parent to your child’s communication skills and ability to make great friends and get along with family members. The ability to build personal and professional relationships through effective communication supports your children to become successful and inspiring leaders in the world.

Most parents today say they don’t have work-life balance. In this interview Dr Robyn Mills and parenting expert Dr Rosina McAlpine discuss 5 keys to crafting and living a life you love- one that works for you and for your kids…the whole family. Come join us and listen  to this interview and learn more about going from a life that’s just okay to one that makes you shine – you owe it to yourself and your family! Key 1: Take time to re-evaluate your life The biggest break throughs in achieving work life balance begin with taking stock of all you, your kids and your family does. Most importantly identify things you can take out that aren’t important. Practical Parenting Tip : kids are often as overscheduled as parents. By reducing the number of unnecessary and unenjoyable things you all do, your family will make space for the things you love. Key 2: Have a clear vision for yourself and your family Now that you have some space – what will you fill it with? By sitting down with your kids and partner as a family, you can work out personal and family goals and create an inspiring vision – one that all members of the family are motivated to participate in. Setting goals and creating an empowering vision is a great life skill for your child. Key 3: Make your changes small, incremental and systematic Big life changes take time. Trying to do too much at once sets us up for failure. So make the changes small but significant and once you have them set – make another change. For example, if you have a health goal – how about swapping one drink per day with water and fruit instead of a processed snack. Have a plan and a system that will help everyone make the changes last. Positive parenting advice:  take the time to record and appreciate even small achievements. This is motivating. Key 4: Be OK with mistakes, setbacks and become resilient We are creatures of habit and changes take time to become embedded in our life – especially if we’ve had bad habits like saying “yes” to everything when we really mean “no”! So, be kind to yourself if you don’t get it right, pick yourself up and keep going! Having a buddy (friend, partner, child or other family member) can really help keep you stay on track. Key 5: Enjoy and be grateful your life every day. Gratitude is SO important. Research shows people who are grateful live happier lives. When we focus on the wonderful positive things in our lives we are less likely to feel anxious, depressed or defeated. Seeing the positive helps us feel good about our lives and see a bright future.