I want you to reflect on how you want your kids to remember what it felt like to be at home during this time. Do you want them to remember it as a calm and safe sanctuary or a place of panic and fear? They are learning from you, and you are teaching them how to respond and act during a crisis. Now is the time to work on your mindset and taking care of the things that keep you calm. If checking your phone for news updates is sending you reeling then put the phone down. Choose a different activity to do. Protect your energy.

When kids reach the teenage years their vulnerability comes into very sharp focus. The older they get the more time they spend away from the security of their parents, and whilst this independence is of course essential, it can make them aware of how their personal safety could be compromised. Whether it’s walking to school with friends or hanging out in town at the weekend, teenagers can feel quite exposed and sometimes even feel threatened or in danger.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a generation who don’t measure their self-worth, their happiness, their potential on a number on the scales? With our kids being bombarded with thousands of images a day, is this even possible?

If you are nodding along but not sure where to start cultivating a positive self-image in your kids, here are a list of ideas to get you thinking about how you can implement small changes at home that will make a HUGE impact on your son or daughter.

As parents we want our kids to be able to come to us and tell us anything and everything. We want them to know that there is no subject off the table. But how do we get them to do this?

You may well be feeling that you don’t communicate with your teen in the way you used to; they’ve become quiet and reluctant to tell you about things that are going on. So what do you do then?

Here are 7 simple ways to get your kids talking:

Living a full life means experiencing the light and the shade, and feeling the full range of emotions, however painful and uncomfortable that might be. This is not easy when it comes to our children, particularly when they have so much more to navigate these days, and so much pressure to present a perfect life on social media. But if we don’t allow them to sit in the negative emotions and feelings, we are teaching them to suppress them. And that’s the sort of thing that will come back and bite them on the bum later on in life.

Here are some ways you can support your teen when they are experiencing these big feelings:

Since doing the inner work, I now know that success does not come without failure. Failure is where the real learning begins. For this reason I continue to make resolutions and set myself goals, and you and your teen should too!

So how do we set goals that don’t make us feel shame and worthlessness when we fail to meet them? How do we set goals that we can keep? And if we fail, how do we pick ourselves up and try again?

It is so important that goals are set from a place of kindness, abundance, gratitude and curiosity, and I always have a few that feel stretchy too.

Now they are teenagers Christmas just isn’t the same. They no longer believe in the magic. They find the traditions childish. They think spending time with family tedious. Your heart is breaking because although they were exhausting, you miss the Christmases when they were little with its nativities, pantos, elves on the shelves and visits to Father Christmas. But Christmas can still be special and magical whatever your child’s age. It’s all about planning ahead, letting go of a few things, and managing those expectations. Here are my 8 top tips for a merry little Christmas with teenagers.

Mock exams are just around the corner for some, and already upon others. How is your teen holding up? Are they stressed out and overwhelmed with how much work they have to do, not knowing where to begin? Perhaps they are taking things a little too easy for your liking, and could be working a lot harder to get themselves ready.

Whatever your teen’s approach is there is no doubt that exam season is stressful. Here are some useful ways to help your teen take meaningful action and stay motivated and ready to ace those exams.

A pretty cheesy acronym for FAIL is used in many schools. It goes like this:

F irst

A ttempt

I n

L earning

Cheesy but good, right? It is most definitely memorable, and it makes an excellent point. If we want our kids to be ok with failing and learn to fail ‘well’ then we need them to really hear this message; that failure is an essential part of growth and learning. Making mistakes helps our kids to learn. Mistakes are key to success. When we score low marks on a test our brain cells actually grow because it tries to find new ways to figure out how to get the right answers. The problem is that many young people feel ashamed and embarrassed of failing. If they do not feel comfortable with failure then it can result in anxiety, meltdowns and even cause them to give up entirely. So what do we do as parents to prevent this?

Cyberbullying is probably the biggest concern parents have about their kids spending time online. Gone are the days where you could escape from the playground bullies in the comfort of your own home. With smartphones making us more connected than ever, it’s easy for a bully to target their victim anytime, anywhere.

With this week being Anti-Bullying Week I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to look at the signs and share some strategies on what to do if your teenager is being cyberbullied.

One question that comes up often with the parents I work with is “If I use apps to control how much screen time my teen has am I preventing them from learning about willpower?”

Here’s the thing.

Willpower does not exist. It is a holy grail that has the potential to be extremely damaging to our self-esteem and self-worth. It is another thing we strive for, and inevitably beat ourselves up about when we can’t find it. And the thing is we may never find it because, that’s right, it doesn’t exist!