Parenting a stubborn, strong-willed child is challenging to say the least. I should know! My daughter would just refuse point blank to do as I asked. She’d scream and shout, and jump up and down and put up a fight. She wanted things her way. Every day was a battle of wills. It was utterly exhausting, and however firm I held my limits nothing would make a blind bit of difference, she would constantly pushed my boundaries. That was until I learnt to see what was really going on. And how to best support my daughter.

  Question: "I need help to stop shouting and screaming at my kids, I feel like a bad mum,  I know it's not right and it isn't the way I want to talk to talk to them, but I feel stressed and when they don't listen to me, no matter how hard I try to breathe I find myself yelling. Why am I always shouting?  I then feel guilty.  I need help as take 3 deep breaths isn't working for me as a tip. Any advice?"

  "My daughter is 6. and we get bouts of angry spiteful and violent behaviour at home more than at school. Recently she's been saying we don't love her, and she wants to run away, she thinks we love her brother more, he is only 2. How can I reassure her once she's calmed down? It’s so hard to strengthen our bond which is sadly strained sometimes due to her challenging behaviour." Mrs. H.

  I look back to when I was struggling with my daughter's out of control behaviour and wish someone had shown me this way of parenting. It would have saved years of frustration and wasted time. I am now the only UK Language of Listening® coach. No mean feat. That alone is two years of in-depth training and coaching. Having supported hundreds of parents, they tell me it’s the simplest, doable and most effective way to gain willing cooperation and still hold firm with their boundaries. You too can find the same success, happiness and sense of calm that I have found, not to mention WILLING cooperation and kids who WANT to listen to you.  

    If you’re in England, then this week marks the reopening of schools. Yippeee! Whatever your experience of lockdown, it’s likely all our children will need support to ease back into the school routine. I’m sure most parents are uncontrollably excited. but if you have a more anxious child, I bet like many parents, you may also have that dreaded thought of “How in the hell am I going to get my kid to school without a battle or meltdown?!”    

If you’re struggling to manage your child’s behaviour, I bet you’ve tried it all--the constant nagging, shouting, threatening to take toys away, and yet nothing seems to work. Deep down you’re worried you’re going to damage your long-term relationship with your child. I know I was. I would lie in bed at night, the guilt of shouting at my kids washing over me, dreading yet another day of dealing with the tantrums and my kids answering back. I felt like I’d hit a brick wall and was about to throw the towel in. I couldn’t take any more.

  Do you feel like you’re forever losing your cool? You’re stuck in a negative cycle of shouting and dragging your child to the naughty step and yet your child doesn’t change his behaviour? or maybe it 'works' in the moment, but the unwanted behaviour soon returns. Maybe you feel like giving up, as whatever you do, you still can’t get through to him. Maybe you’re fed up feeling like they don’t respect you or take you seriously or you have that nagging feeling that timeouts aren't really working.  

How to avoid arguments and power struggles with your child. “My child is forever saying NO! to my every request. Help! How do I get my child to say yes, especially when she argues about everything? It’s wearing me down.” It’s a common question I hear from many parents the world over. You know the drill, it’s bath time. Your child knows it’s bath time. And yet the first thing out of her mouth is a NO! You want the T.V off for dinner, you want to sit at the table and have family time and your child says NO! You’re trying to get out the house on time, shoes on and bags packed, and your child says NO!

Do you have an explosive child? Are tantrums taking over family life? We all know how utterly exhausting it is dealing with tantrums, but did you know that the way we respond to our child’s tantrums not only puts a stop to the behaviour we don’t like, it’s also key to our child’s future mental well-being and how they manage their behaviour and emotions for life? As many of you know, my daughter used to have the most epic MASSIVE meltdowns which was one of the reasons I became a parenting coach. I’m thankful every single day I found Language of Listening® the coaching model changed my life and my daughter’s, and the many many families I support.

  Have you ever wondered why your child won't listen unless you shout? I want to show you how to get the kids to listen without shouting, threats or bribes and what to do when your child doesn't listen. One of the biggest challenges in parenting is getting our kids to listen willingly. We can begin to overcome this challenge by understanding things from our child’s point of view. But first, it helps to consider how our usual responses often make the situation worse.

I've teamed up with Worthing Mums and Dads as their parenting expert, answering parent's questions.This post was originally seen there.  Do you have a toddler that refuses to listen? I'll show you how to get your child to listen and behave. Question: My 2 1/2 year old does not listen. Other mums have been surprised at her obvious and intentional ignorance – and it’s with many, many different things! Even if I just say her name, sometimes she’ll look me in the eye, smirk and run away. I’ve tried ‘positive parenting’ and explaining things gently, coming down to her level etc… But it doesn’t get through. I’ve tried taking away luxuries, but she thinks it’s a game. She laughs if I do raise my voice and get cross. She has run away, towards the road, the last couple of times I’ve collected her from nursery and on Monday I broke down crying in front of the nursery workers and other parents because she just wouldn’t listen and was pulling away from me – was totally embarrassing!!