Have you delighted in how eager your pre-schooler is to embrace every aspect of life? Have you experienced their never ending chatter, asking questions, getting messy, tasting, squishing, touching and enjoying everything that crosses their path? You might be aware that young children can develop their thinking, their language, imagination, speaking and listening skills through creative play. Have you marveled at how skilfully your child’s preschool teachers involve the children in their care in creative play? We know preschool can be a wonderful experience which helps our little ones for communicate and interact with others and of course enhances their learning. Perhaps you’d love some ideas on how to support your child’s development, creativity, play and learning at home so you can create a loving and stimulating home environment too. If that’s the case then join Dr Rosina, entertaining and educational parenting expert as she interviews Ruth Churchill. Ruth is an author, researcher, and founding Director of Early Arts which is an award winning training network which trains Early Years and Primary educators to achieve the highest standards in teaching and learning. It’s all about building teams of inspired, passionate and highly skilled teachers to bring young children’s creativity to life. Ruth’s passion and striving for excellence has been the driving force behind her establishing Early Arts in 2002 and just 7 years later in 2009, scaled it up to have a national footprint. This show is filled with down to earth practical tips that work and you’ll learn: The importance of children’s creativity – how it helps develop brains and bodies develop optimally. What creativity is – and what it isn’t! Everyone can be creative! How important it is for adults to experience the benefits of being creative in order to better help their children do the same. How to remove obstacles from your own creativity and build your creative confidence as well as competences. Simple activities everyone can do! About the relationship between creativity and play. The four key elements you can focus on as a parent in order to enable children to reach their most creative potential. Developing our own creative leadership. Fun for you and your child. Top tips for developing a more creative home or child-friendly setting. You know, the closer bond you have with your young child the easier it will be to navigate the teen years together. Making time to have fun together creatively can strengthen that bond and create beautiful memories for your child for life! The way you parent can have a positive or negative impact on your relationship with your child and your child’s long-term mental health. Research shows that higher parental care, lower parental control and the more open the relationship are more likely to lead to greater mental well-being for children. Do you find the controlling approach of discipline, punishment and rewards model you’re using with the kids isn’t working? Would you like a research and heart-based approach that is founded on empathy and education and supports you to develop a close bond with your child? Dr Rosina’s practical Win Win Parenting approach where you’ll get great tips, resources and support to lovingly raise well-rounded and capable kids from toddlers to teens. Screaming at the kids more than you’d like? Are you struggling with parenting in general? Just like a personal trainer can help you get the health outcomes you want, let me be your personal parenting coach. You can get the ongoing support you need with my 12 month online program. Learn at your own pace with videos, audios and articles to help you handle day-to-day parenting challenges, get your parenting questions answered and join our community forum where you can share with like-minded parents – all for around US $16 a month. A tiny investment for more peace of mind and more peace in your home. You and your family are worth it! Dr Rosina’s practical Win Win Parenting approach empowers you to raise well-rounded and capable kids from toddlers to teens, get great tips, resources and support.

Young children are naturally creative and I see that creativity in their art, music, dance, conversations, questioning and especially in their make-believe imaginative stories. I have been nurturing our five-year-old son Cameron's creativity by providing lots of opportunities and experiences from which creative ventures can spark and grow into being. Here are a few of the activities I've shared with Cameron which you might like to try in your home. Music and song Musical instruments have opened up a world of sound and fun for Cameron. I've introduced a collection of different instruments, just a few at a time. I began with very simple instruments like a tambourine, triangle, harmonica, bells, drum, castanets, maracas, xylophone, and even a cardboard box, a pot and wooden spoon. I found when we played with his special musical instrument box, I inspired the budding musician in Cameron and had so much fun too. We add songs, dance, actions to songs which provides an unlimited source of creative opportunities. Recording our music and playing it back is really exciting too and at times hilarious as you can imagine! Over the years I’ve introduced more sophisticated instruments so for his 3rd birthday he received a toddler size guitar and a small keyboard and of course ...he loved them both! We’ve also taken him to piano lessons in a small group once a week and last Christmas he had his first piano recital. It was simply too cute! Arts and crafts projects I love drawing, colouring, pasting, cutting and painting and now, so does Cameron. I've found that arts and crafts projects have been wonderful ways to encourage his creativity. I've built a few Imagination and Creation Stations for Cameron to enjoy. In the garage we have the Painting Station with easel, old clothes and painting materials. In the family room cupboard we have the 'less messy' Projects Station with a variety of art and craft supplies. So, when it's creative time we can go to a special place, imagine and create. In the family room, Cameron has a small table with plastic on the floor so neither of us 'worry' about mess and interrupt the creative flow! He has access to boxes and containers filled with age appropriate art supplies including coloured and plain paper, old magazines, pencils, crayons, markers, play dough, stickers, scissors and paste. As Cameron is only 3, I continue to introduce different art supplies, one at a time and I help him learn how to use them. Generally, I stay with Cameron for most of his arts and craft time and experience his artistic creations as they unfold. I love taking photos as it's an easy-to-store keepsake of his creations and development. Sometimes we enjoy creative activities that are less messy and don't need special supplies. For example I use lots of questions to get his imagination and creativity going. Questioning Cameron naturally asks a lot of questions throughout the day and so do I. One of my favourite ways to fire up his imagination is making up creative questions. While reading from one of his story books, I look for fun questions. Every page has a wealth of questions just waiting to be asked like "what do you think the cat is thinking?", "if you were the sun where would you go when it's dark?", "why does that house have a pointy roof", "why is that girl sad?" or "if the boy was going on a holiday where would he like to go?" Cameron's answers are wonderful. I love seeing his ideas appear and listen to him sharing them. More recently I've found that he is more interested story-telling rather than simply reading books. Story-telling Every night, just before sleep, Cameron and I tell stories. He loves it when I ask "what story tonight?" He usually suggests an animal or a topic and we begin. I start the story and then ask Cameron a question inviting him to suggest the next part of the story and then I add something and on it goes. We keep taking turns until the story naturally comes to an end - usually with me skilfully weaving how the main character in the story - the animal or child - get into bed ready for sleep. Sometimes he likes us to repeat the same stories night after night with only little changes and developments. At other times whole new stories and inspirations appear! It's so much fun as I never know what will come! As Cameron gets older I'd like to continue create opportunities for him to tell me more of the story until he can tell his own whole story from the inception of the idea to its conclusion. I'll also buy him a journal so he can write his own words, stories, poems or songs. Final reflections I'd like to end by sharing what I've discovered while researching how to inspire creativity in children. I found some interesting information that has alerted me to things I need to 'watch out for' so as not to stifle Cameron's creativity. Upon reflection and my own experiences, they seem like great things to keep in mind. When completing activities to inspire creativity: I make it all about enjoying process and not the quality of the product. I comment on the colours he's used, his efforts and ask questions like "are you having fun drawing/painting/cutting?" I invite Cameron to tell me about what he's created as I can get it terribly wrong using my own interpretation of his art. I find that asking questions opens up even more opportunities for his imagination as he explains his art and his creative processes. I can help Cameron become reflective and self-validating by asking him how he feels about his own processes and his own work, rather than him only relying my external praise, and finally, although it is really tempting for me to put the ears in the right place, add a neck where there is none, colour the purple carrot, orange for the sake of 'teaching reality', I refrain and allow the creativity to come out in the form it comes out. I make this Ok by telling myself that I can create teaching opportunities some another time and most importantly...purple carrots look and taste delicious in the world of imagination! Actually, I know this is hard to believe, but recently I came across purple carrots – they are all natural, nutty and delicious. How funny is that!

Why your Teenager seems erratic, emotionally Unstable, Unresponsive, Disrespectful or even Reckless. Are you raising one or more teenagers, and are they argumentative, volatile and even down right disrespectful? Are you wondering who took your sweet child away and delivered a teenager who’s mood can go from ambivalence to rage in a split second over the simplest of comments or questions? According to brain researchers, this volatility is a normal part of adolescence. Much of the brain development that occurs during the teen years is focused in the areas that support adults to control their behaviour, to regulate their volatile emotions, and recognise and evaluate the risks and the rewards of the circumstances people find themselves in and the choices they make. Have you heard the saying the teenage years are like putting a fast car without breaks in the hands of an inexperienced driver… this is often the analogy used regarding the teenage brain. Basically, teenagers feel compelled to experience and experiment with the unknown which often includes exploring sex and relationships, fast cars, smoking, drinking alcohol and even taking drugs – their motivation to try new things precedes the brain development for regulatory competence – that is – their desire for experiencing the new and exciting is greater than their ability to control these impulses based on the negative consequences that can result from risky behaviours. So if you’re feeling confused and stressed about how to keep your teenager safe, have more peace in your home and basically have a better understanding of your teenager, then sit back and try to relax as I interview Wendy Middlemiss PhD, Associate Professor in Educational Psychology, at the University of North Texas. This show is filled with down to earth practical tips that work and you’ll learn: The key aspects of teen brain development so you understand your teenager’s feelings and impulsive behaviours. Why adolescents think and make decisions differently to adults. How teenagers seem to be compelled to engage in risky behaviours How you can help your teenager navigate sex, alcohol and drugs safely The ways you can stay close and talk to your teens about what is going on in their life Practical tools to help your teenager make responsible choices when you’re not there! You know, the closer bond you have with your young child the easier it will be to navigate the teen years together. The way you parent can have a positive or negative impact on your relationship with your child and your child’s long-term mental health. Research shows that higher parental care and lower parental control are more likely to lead to greater mental wellbeing for children. Do you find the controlling approach of discipline, punishment and rewards model you’re using with the kids isn’t working? Would you like a research and heart-based approach that is founded on empathy and education and supports you to develop a close bond with your child? Dr Rosina’s practical Win Win Parenting approach where you’ll get great tips, resources and support to lovingly raise well-rounded and capable kids from toddlers to teens. Screaming at the kids more than you’d like? Are you struggling with parenting in general? Just like a personal trainer can help you get the health outcomes you want, let me be your personal parenting coach. You can get the ongoing support you need with my 12 month online program. Learn at your own pace with videos, audios and articles to help you handle day-to-day parenting challenges, get your parenting questions answered and join our community forum where you can share with like-minded parents – all for around US $16 a month. A tiny investment for more peace of mind and more peace in your home. You and your family are worth it! Dr Rosina’s practical Win Win Parenting approach empowers you to raise well-rounded and capable kids from toddlers to teens, get great tips, resources and support.

Has your pre-schooler started asking questions like “Where did I come from”? “How did I get in your tummy?” “How did I get out of your tummy mummy”? Or “Why do girls have a vagina and boys have a penis”? And perhaps you’ve you found your children touching their private parts or even showing them to their friends and you’ve been unsure of how to handle it. Each of these situations can cause a great deal of stress for parents who don’t feel confident or even know where to begin to answer their young child’s questions about sex and sexuality. Now you know that saying “that’s a good question, ask your father”, or “I don’t know, ask you mother” is just going to get you into trouble! There is NO need to worry as you’ll get all the information, tips and strategies you’ll need to handle these kind of situations with your children in a healthy and safe way in this interview. Join Dr Rosina, entertaining and educational parenting expert as she interviews Amy Lang who is an author and sexual health educator and enjoys helping parents have talk with their kids about sex from pre-schooler to teens. You can find out more about Amy, her books and her programs at her website. This show is filled with down to earth practical tips that work and you’ll learn: The place to start – correct names for privates. Why to use them, what words to use and how to introduce the “new” names. Playing Doctor – what’s typical and what’s not. Why kids play this way, what’s going on in their heads, examples of typical and not typical scenarios – the difference between curiosity based play and sexualized play. Non-shaming ways to help young children respect boundaries. You’ll even get the specific script to use – if you’re not sure what to say, and why it’s important to stay calm and keep your cool. When and how to talk about making babies. When to start and why it’s best to start young! What to say, how long you can safely put it off. Who’s the one with the problem about talking about sex – you or your child? After today – you’ll feel more confident to have the “birds and the bees talk”. You know, the closer bond you have with your young child the easier it will be to navigate the teen years together. The way you parent can have a positive or negative impact on your relationship with your child and your child’s long-term mental health.

Interview audio courtesy of 2GB We've all heard of the terms "mummy's boy" and "daddy's girl" and usually it comes with negative connotations. Well not anymore! A new UK study by the Marriage Foundation (August 2018) reveals that children who are close to their parents have better mental health outcomes and stronger social skills. In this short audio clip Ben Fordham, radio host on 2GB interviews parenting expert, Dr Rosina McAlpine, CEO of Win Win Parenting. You'll learn why having a close relationship with your kids is important and tips for how to achieve it!

Have you experienced bullying as a child or an adult? Is your child being bullied and you feel helpless? Bullying can have detrimental physical and psychological effects on a child and can result in isolation, depression and even suicide. There is a lot that can be done to overcome and to prevent bullying and today’s show is all about practical solutions that work for you and your child. Bullying is prevalent in schools and in workplaces and it can even happen at home where one sibling bullies another. So what can parents and kids do? Today my guest is Sue Anderson author of the award winning book titled Unbullyable: Bullying Solutions for parents and Children. Since 2007 she has coached hundreds of children, parents and teachers affected by bullying using a unique coaching methodology. Sue has developed a “Good2gr8 Schools Program”, mentoring webinars as well as animated videos for children – you can find these and more at her website. In this interview you’ll learn: What bullying is and what it isn’t. The signs to look for when your child is being bullied. What it means for your child to be “Unbullyable”. Practical approaches you can use to help your child prevent or overcome bullying. Why children bully and how to help them stop bullying. Learn more about Sue Anderson and her coaching programs and resources at her website where you can learn how to bully-proof your child.

Do you need some help with managing nap time? If so please enjoy this interview with Katherine Feeney ABC Radio Brisbane You'll learn about: When do daytime naps start coming to an end? Is there a hard and fast rule about the right age? What signs should we look out for that our toddlers are ready to stop napping? Just how much sleep DO toddlers and preschool children need? Best ways to “drop” a nap and easing the transition: shorter naps or stop them all together? The idea of resting as opposed to napping? Does ending daytime naps mean more grumpy time? Earlier to bed at night once daytime naps come to an end? What about parents? Their daytime nap was also our daytime break ... What can we do for ourselves during the transition to ending the little ones' daytime nap? What is the most important thing for parents struggling to remember? Hope you enjoy the interview! Dr Rosina McAlpine

One of the most important gifts a parent can offer their child is to prepare them for life. Imagine how good you’ll feel when it’s time for your children to leave home, if they have good self esteem and are resilient. We all know that life can bring so many different experiences and life lessons - some wonderful and others really challenging - while we have no control over this - with the right help, your children can develop the life skills to be able to respond positively to anything that life brings. Parents are the most important influence when it comes to developing a positive sense of self and good self esteem. Self esteem develops over time from when children are really young. Here are two parenting tips that will help your child develop good self esteem and feel good about who they are. Children learn by mirroring what their parents do and say…you know that right? This becomes painfully obvious when you hear your own words or see your actions played back to you by your child. So, it makes sense then that the most powerful way to help your children develop good self esteem is to live it yourself. Your children will watch and learn from you if you offer them a good example. Spending time with your children will also make a world of difference. Children know that if you make the take time be with them - this shows them that they are important to you and that goes a long way to helping them feel good about themselves. A strong sense of self goes a long way when times are tough, but having a resilient child goes even further. How do your children handle life’s downs? Are they OK if they lose a race, fail a test, fall over and hurt themselves or have a disappointment? Resilience is the ability to get up and move on when things are tough. You can help your children learn this skill from a really young age. For example, if your child falls over and they are not too hurt, do you rush over to rescue them or do you guide them so they can help themselves. You can use words like “oh dear you’ve fallen over, roll over onto your tummy and push yourself up with your arms…that’s right darling come over here…”. In that way you are helping them to help themselves as you won’t always be there to pick them up. Do you allow your child to win every game? Can you see how helpful it would be to allow them to lose sometimes so they can learn how to cope with loss? There are so many ways you can help your child develop good self esteem and resilience and it doesn’t have to take a lot of time…it just takes care and know how.

When it comes to taking care of your home and your children would you say you’re happy with your share of responsibilities? OR Do you feel like you’re doing way more than your fair share of unpaid work? If you feel like you’re bearing the greater load and you’ve tried to get your partner to help and you simple feel like a nag and nothing seems to change…then this is the podcast for you! First - you’re not alone! Research shows that Australian women in a heterosexual relationship do significantly more unpaid domestic work - on average 5 to 14 hours a week when compared to their male partners who, on average, complete less than five hours a week. Shockingly, despite more women entering paid work, this trend hasn’t really changed for nearly 30 years. In this podcast, parenting expert, Dr Rosina McAlpine and life coach and facilitator Heather Pye discuss the “invisible load” that many working women bear and how they can create a more equitable environment at home to support family wellbeing. In this podcast you’ll learn: What the invisible load is and how to make it visible (and delegatable! Is that even a word? LOL). That you’re not alone if you’re feeling overwhelmed with a greater burden of unpaid work and there is something you can do – even if you simply feel like a “nag” and you’ve tried everything in the past to no avail. Practical ways to make your invisible mental and physical load more visible and how to have meaningful and effective conversations with your partner to create a better balance of shared unpaid home management and child care. Heather Pye is a coach and facilitator with a passion for empowering women. Most importantly she has a wealth of personal experience about work and family life as a wife, mum of three kids and being in paid employment too! This is a raw, fun and practical podcast, so have your note pad at the ready so you can write down the practical tips to plan and take steps towards a life that inspires and fulfils you and creates family wellbeing. Connect with Heather at https://www.theinvisibleload.com/about/ Connect with Dr Rosina and the team at Win Win Parenting www.WinWinParenting.com Are you a manager interested in supporting working parents to better manage work and family? Learn more about the Win Win Parenting workplace parenting education programs that empower employees with families to succeed at home and at work. See our range of lone line and face-to-face flexibly delivered programs at www.WinWinParenting.com

Supporting Children After Major Events: Dr Rosina was aked to comment on an article for The Australian after the recent tragic events in Bondi and how parents can help support, manage and understand their childrens fears and worries. “You can tell your children that this is a rare event and that it is tragic but it is not something that happens everyday and it is not something to be fearful of,” she said. “Have open conversations with them and to ask you any questions. “Reassure them that it is okay to feel scared or worried, these are all normal when events like this happens.” Read the Full article here

Whether it is a phone, tablet, TV or computer - technology is part of most adults’ everyday life. And it is not uncommon for a parent to pass a phone or tablet to a child to keep her amused so they can finish a task. The question is “when can technology safely be part of our children’s lives”? Researchers who study the impact of technology on children caution parents to delay and to err on the side of less rather than more use because the research has not ‘caught up’ with what is happening in society in terms of the impact of technology on our children. Numerous studies report that excessive or inappropriate use of technology can lead to physical, social and psychological harms to children. For example, did you know: more children today need glasses for short-sightedness due to inappropriate screen use? many children have poor posture as a result of excessive sitting and being hunched over computer games? introduction of screens with young children can result in language delays? Technology is not going away and parents need to be able to make informed decisions about TV, phones, games, tablets and computers.

We all know that life isn’t always easy. Sometimes we experience challenges that we need to overcome. So how well do your children handle life’s roadblocks, setbacks and challenges? Have you prepared your child to successfully navigate life’s ups and downs? Whether you have a toddler who’s had a toy snatched away by another child or a teenager who is being bullied, at every stage of development there are challenges for your children to overcome. And, the older your children get the more challenging the problems they’ll face, so the more capable and resilient they’ll need to be. Children who have a strong and healthy sense of self that is, good self-esteem are more resilient. Being resilient means that no matter what hardships life throws your way, you are more able to manage what’s happening in a positive way, pick yourself up and bounce back after the difficult experience.