I’ve just been interviewed by http://www.piratefm.co.uk/ about a 12 year old who was hospitalised and in a coma as he had a serious reaction to “Thumb Blowing” the “fainting game”. It all seems rather dangerous and foolish as teenagers squat with their hands down and blow until they hyperventilate & then stand up and take a big breath and […]
k As the shocking BBC Panorama report ‘Pills & Pregnancy’ hits the headlines – a campaign organised by the very wonderful Emma Murphy about the shocking truth about FACS Syndrome, I thought it would be helpful to tell you about the Top 30 Autism Spectrum Blogs to give you support & help. Emma is […]
When Rhianna was badly beaten up by her boyfriend Chris Brown I took the opportunity to talk with my daughter about domestic violence. Having fame, money and status doesn’t seem to lessen the probability that 25% of women suffer domestic violence of some sort. I was greatly saddened to see the photos of Nigella Lawson in the papers […]
More than a million children are growing up without a father and numbers are set to increase, a think tank has warned today. It’s a staggering statistic and a worrying trend as so many children are growing up with a lack of male role models in their lives. The number of single parent families is […]
My heart goes out to the family of 5 year old April Jones and I really think it’s time for Google and Microsoft to take moral leadership and responsibility to act over the shocking ease with which some people are allowed to use the internet to fuel their perversion. Mark Bridger, sentenced yesterday to spend the rest […]
I’m delighted to have been interviewed for The Sunday Times today as I’m speaking on One Page Profiles at The Sunday Times Education Festival on 22nd June. Here’s the link to read what I have to say about class sizes in schools ! What we’d change now. http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/festival_of_education/article1264415.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2013_05_25
Sometimes the reason for your child finding it difficult to sleep is that their room is too colourful, too stimulating and just too plain overwhelming. One tip is to strip back your child’s brightly coloured bedroom and reduce the stimulating toys in an effort to help them sleep. What do you think ? A good idea? Let me […]
Victoria’s Secret is known for its risque fashions, but some parents think the brand has crossed the line with items in their “Bright Young Things” campaign. A father wrote an open letter, parents started a petition and a Facebook page was created alleging that the provocative underwear was targeted at teen and tween girls. Items […]
I’m discussing swearing on BBC Radio Wales as most children learn how to swear before they even know the alphabet, according to a new book that examines bad language and its origins out today. English speakers also use a swear word on average once in every 140 words, roughly the same proportion as the […]
I am delighted to tell you that I was on BBC Radio 4 at 8pm on Wednesday 10th April joining the panel discussing how we teach children to have a strong resilient character on Bringing Up Britain “Character can be broadly defined as the collection of strengths and weaknesses that form and define who we […]
I’ve just been interviewed by BBC Radio Birmingham discussing this article where an assistant in Boots tapped a 3 year old child who had been knocking bottles of bleach off from a shelf. I know myself falling out with a friend on holiday who let her 3 year old spit at his Dad and was allowed to rub […]
I spent a lot of time talking to parents about how to protect their children from watching the News when it is on a constant loop of disasters or bad, negative stories. But as children grow up and mature they need to be more aware of the wider world around them so I read with […]
Today I was on BBC Three Counties Radio and The Vanessa Feltz Show on BBC Radio London discussing the NetMums Survey suggesting that kids are all grown up at 12 these days instead of at 16 in previous generations. Click on the link to read more in The Daily Mirror I want you to do something […]
There is a very powerful campaign from Save The Children launching today about breastfeeeding. “We have made dramatic progress, stopping children dying from preventable disease over the last decade, down from 12 million to 6.9 million in the last decade. But whilst there are fewer children dying, we’re not making the progress we should […]
I’ve written before about icons, role models and the positive and motivating influence they play in our children’s lives. But what happens when they turn out to have feet of clay – like the rest of us or are tragically flawed? I listened to The Jeremy Vine Show at lunchtime as they were discussing the tragic […]
