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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.

One of the key life skill areas of the Win Win Parenting program is "Personal Power". The aim is to empower parents with the knowledge and skills to help their children develop their personal power, become resilient and fly through life. Personal power is not about physical strength, it’s about your child’s inner strength, their psychological strength. Personal power is not about overpowering others, it’s about helping a child feel good inside and secure about who they are so they don’t feel the need to overpower or be like anyone else. In this sense, every parent wants their child to feel good about themselves, value their own uniqueness and have personal power, right? So what exactly is Personal Power? What does it mean to have Personal Power? Today's blog is all about understanding three fundamental aspects of Personal Power: self esteem, self confidence and self efficacy and how this can help you to raise psychologically and physically healthy children. You may have heard of self esteem and self confidence as these are terms that are commonly used. You may not have heard of self efficacy, but it is an important part of personal power, so read on to find out how it supports your child’s life success. A lot of parents get very confused about what the terms: Self Esteem, Self Confidence, and Self Efficacy actually mean. Here are some explanations: Self Confidence Self Confidence is all about 'Doing'. People can be extremely confident and have no doubts whenever they complete tasks or they can have very low self confidence and feel unsure of their ability to complete a tasks or activity. And of course anywhere in between from overconfident to under confident! Many parents say, "I really want my child to be self confident." And in the past, I probably would have too. However, after many years of reading and researching about this topic, now I don’t want my child to be highly self confident as a general rule, but what I want is for him to be able to realistically assess his level of confidence right across the spectrum from a very low level of confidence to a very high level depending upon what activity he's doing. Before I confuse you, let me elaborate. If your child is ‘over confident’ about everything, then he could get into a lot of trouble because he may take unnecessary risks even when he’s unfamiliar with the process or task being performed. For example: a child who gets a new bike and has never ridden a bike and is generally over confident may take more risks than they should. "Wow! Thanks for my new bike! It’s wonderful! I’m going for a ride!” Even though this child has not ridden a bike before, if they are overconfident in their abilities they might go to the top of a hill and start riding. As an adult you can see that this could end in disaster. At best, a few scrapes and cuts at worse a more serious injury with a car! Nobody wants to think about that. On the other hand, a child who generally exhibits low Self Confidence is often reluctant to try anything new and that inhibits learning. Ideally, you want your children to have realistic and varying levels of Self Confidence, depending on what they are doing. We want our children to be confident enough to be unafraid of making the first move and trying new things safely, but at the same time, not to be so overly confident that they won't seek help if they don't know how to do something. Helping your children to understand these ideas, will help them learn to assess their abilities and skills more realistically and evaluate the risks they can safely take for a given situation. Ideally you want your children to achieve a balance between trying new things and learning, but doing it safely! It is important to say that in general, men and women have quite different approaches here. Have you noticed in general (obviously this is not true in every instance) that fathers are more likely to encourage their children to take greater risks and mothers are more likely to encourage their children to play it safe. So it’s very helpful just be aware of that when you disagree! The important thing to remember is that raising a child who has personal power and is resilient needs a balance between the two. OK, now you know that self confidence is all about ‘doing’. So what is self esteem? Self Esteem Self Esteem is a completely different matter. Self esteem is not about ‘doing’ it is about ‘being’. To help you understand more about what Self Esteem is, have a go at this exercise. Do you remember the very first day you held your baby in your arms? You looked at your baby and it was an awe-inspiring moment. Your baby was beyond beautiful – the most perfect being. Now stop and think back to that moment - what was your child doing? I'll tell you; probably doing absolutely nothing ‘special’ just looking up at you, waving their arms around and if you’re lucky, maybe a smile and the moment was amazing. Your saw your child as a special person most importantly, they were special without doing anything – they were just being themselves and by just being, your child is already amazing! Each person is a miracle of creation and life, which is the being part of every one of us. Self Esteem is a judgement about ourselves and is about the 'Being' part of ourselves (not the doing part). The fact that we are alive, we can move your fingers, see, walk, and talk is incredible in and of itself. Because every human being from the time they are born and throughout their life is unique and valuable being in the world of creation, means that each and every person has the right to have good Self Esteem simply because they exist. Every person is a miracle! Take a moment right now to just appreciate your life. Think about it - there's blood pumping around your body. You're growing hair and replacing millions of cells throughout your body all the time. How amazing! You have unlimited potential of how your are going to choose to be in the world, which gives you the birth right of good self esteem. Your child doesn't have to do or be anything or look a particular way in order to have good self esteem. Self Esteem is about feeling good about who you are. Self-esteem is a judgment about yourself. So it is so important to help your child see that they have the right to have a good judgment about themselves and sail through life with good self esteem. Self Efficacy Self Efficacy is a term that is not used as much in everyday language so you might not have come across it before. Self-efficacy, alongside self esteem and self confidence is an important part of personal power. Self Efficacy is a combination of Self Esteem and Self Confidence. For example, when I first became a mother, I didn't know much about Parenting but I knew a lot about studying and researching, so the part of me that is my Self Efficacy said, "I don't know about much about raising a child. I have very low confidence with parenting, but I know that I can learn all about child development and parenting with some help and by doing some research." And that's what Self Efficacy is; the belief in yourself, your ability to do something or be something you aren’t yet but aspire to be, and your willingness to do what it takes to accomplish your goals. If you believe you can do it, and you take the steps needed, you have the personal power to achieve your dreams. You can help your child to understand how to develop belief in themselves and empower them to achieve their goals. So now that you know the difference between Self Esteem, Self Confidence, and Self Efficacy, you can help your child to unconditionally love and accept themselves for the amazing being that they are (self esteem); help them develop the skills to accurately assess their confidence with a tasks (self confidence) and finally help them to develop self efficacy to believe in their ability to be the best they can be and do what they love by believing in themselves and having the courage to learn and to grow and to keep going until they achieve their dreams!

Article writen by Laura Donovan - Romper Extract: Dr. Rosina McAlpine, a parenting expert based in Australia, tells Romper via email that stigmatizing this form of parenting with labels, or any other form for that matter, isn't helpful to parents or children, and that it's wise to remember that many of these parents are simply trying to do right by their kids. "We need to understand that parents are thrown in at the deep end when it comes to parenting — no manual comes with the child — and there is so much pressure on parents to be 'good parents' even though they may have had no training in child development or parenting and not have the skills they need to raise happy, healthy, well-adjusted children," McAlpine says. Read full article

Article by Cosima Marriner for Sydney Morning Herald Extract Rosina McAlpine wrote Inspired Children: How the Leading Minds of Today Raise Their Kids, because she believes child-rearing is a skill that must be learned. ''We've got this perception that we're supposed to inherently know how to be a good mother, but it's time we 'fessed up - we've got no freakin' clue,'' Dr McAlpine says. She defines a good mum as one who teaches her child to manage their emotions, develop healthy eating and exercise habits, build resilience, and believe in themselves. ''The best thing you can do right now is go on a parenting course rather than worry about what clothes your child is wearing,'' Dr McAlpine says. ''You're developing a child's brain, emotions, physicality. How about getting a bit of help?'' Link to full article

As a parent, when your kids throw a tantrum, it can make you feel all kind of things, depending on the day. But it's all completely normal, in fact it would probably be weird if your kids were perfect angels all of the time. There are some reasons behind the dramatic outbursts though. Dr Rosina McAlpine, from Australia, is a childcare expert at Win Win Parenting, and knows a thing or two about why children misbehave. Read full Article