The Happy Families Membership

Ahhh, Christmas. The time for families to come together, eat too much, laze around at least a little, enjoy quality time…and to spoil the children rotten! It’s tricky isn’t it? We all want our children to enjoy good things. But we don’t want to see them spoilt. We grimace when they seem ungrateful. We recoil when they act entitled. Is it ok to enjoy extravagance? Can we mix materialism and merrime...

Discipline is THE most contentious part of parenting. There are so many different ideas about it and it’s confusing for parents – especially when you try a discipline strategy and it doesn’t work. Is your child just different to all the others? Or is there ‘text book’ discipline and ‘real life’ discipline? But what if everything we thought we knew about discipline was wrong? What if we only discip...

Our lives are busier, noisier, and more hectic than ever. And it’s only becoming more so for our kids. Their generation is facing unique challenges, and as parents we are finding ourselves in uncharted territory as we try to equip them with the skills they need to cope. But help is available, and it’s something completely within reach – for you  and  your children. Research into Mindfulness tells...

Having a child with autism or Asperger’s syndrome places unique demands on parents. Nothing seems to be quite the way it was “supposed” to be. Communication, affection, behaviour, learning, and almost every aspect of life for a non-typically-developing child and their family can present challenges. Just a simple trip to the shops – not to mention getting through over a decade of formalised schooli...

Pretty much every parenting book or program recommends that you “catch your children doing something right and praise them for it.” You’re supposed to reinforce positive behaviour with verbal rewards – making sure it’s “effort praise” and not “person praise”. The idea is that if we pump up our child’s tyres, they’re going to be more motivated, their self-esteem will go up, and in the end we’ll hav...

Dealing with tweens, teens, and screens is tricky. Governing bodies with fancy-sounding names trumpet policies about how much is “too much”. Academics wring their hands about how screens are crippling our kids. And we’re stuck in the middle, just pleading for the kids to get off the screen and help out around the house, do their homework, or be kind to their sibling! It doesn’t have to be that har...

Dealing with tweens, teens, and screens is tricky. Governing bodies with fancy-sounding names trumpet policies about how much is “too much”. Academics wring their hands about how screens are crippling our kids. And we’re stuck in the middle, just pleading for the kids to get off the screen and help out around the house, do their homework, or be kind to their sibling! It doesn’t have to be that har...

Divorce, separation and blended families is an enormous topic and one we haven't tackled before in a Happy Families webinar. Unfortunately in the short time, we had in Part 1, we were unable to thoroughly cover the subject and answer everyone's questions. And we also recognise that circumstances being what they are, there are many people who may be looking for even more strategies that can be help...

No one enters a relationship and has children expecting it to end badly. Sometimes, however, the fairy tale doesn't last. Hearts are broken. Lives are changed. What is well known but rarely spoken, however, is the fear that separation and divorce can be damaging to children. It's hard to "put the children first" when there is so much pain in partners and children, so many competing agendas from wi...

You think the children need another chance, some more time, and a big hug. Your partner thinks they need a swift smack on the bum, no iPad for a week, and a time-out. Relationship tension because of parenting differences makes family life hard. This webinar is designed to help by giving you tools for creating alignment on parenting principles. It’s for parents, co-parents, grandparents and carers....

What’s the secret to stopping sibling rivalry? Don’t have siblings! If you have more than one child, it’s too late… so here’s a reality check. The kids are going to fight. They’re going to compete. They are going to have relationship ruptures. It is all but guaranteed. The real secret to a happy family is not how to stop the fighting, but how to help children repair, cooperate, and ultimately deve...

Remember when we all said we hoped 2020 would be amazing? Well, it can be. Sure, our routines have been upended, life has changed in ways we could not have imagined, and we are trying to adapt to a new ‘normal’. It’s true that jobs have been lost, and tragically, so have lives. But people are amazing. We adapt. We look forward. Schools are pivoting. Families are modifying what they do. We are find...

Fatherhood has been undergoing a transformation in recent decades. Studies are highlighting that many more dads are involved with their children than ever before. For those children who have a safe, involved, positive relationship with their dad, the benefits are enormous. Yet too many dads don’t know how important they really are. Or they don’t know quite what to do. Or they might just think that...

Masculinity and what it is to be a boy is currently undergoing a transformation. In the era of #metoo the unwritten laws of boyhood and manhood are being questioned… by adults. Yet playgrounds are still awash with unhelpful and unhealthy peer-enforced standards of how boys are supposed to act – towards their friends, their peers, and towards females. The playground may be the most toxic place in t...

It feels as though the whole world is becoming increasingly upset about who our boys are, and who they’re becoming. Our sons are being raised in a cultural melee with questions about what it is to be male at its core. The unhealthy, unhelpful ‘boy code’ that is rampant in our children’s school environment encourages an undeniable form of ‘toxic masculinity’. This is a term that is being thrown aro...

There are so many myths and misunderstandings about how to build resilience. Parents have the best of intentions, yet some of their resilience-building ideas backfire – often without us even knowing. In this 60 minute webinar, Dr Justin Coulson will unpack why “Toughen Up Princess” is unhelpful, why competition can ruin resilience, even for winners, and why praise may be the worst thing we can do...

Resilience has been the buzzword in raising children for the past 20 years or more. And it seems that no matter how much we talk about it, we STILL struggle with raising our children with resilience. In fact, according to latest research findings, our children’s resilience is lower than it has ever been (since we began measuring it). This brief intro to resilience is designed to help you recognise...

Anxiety has become one of the leading causes of ill-health in our children. And it’s also affecting more parents than ever before. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated what was already an accelerating problem.  Can we stop anxiety? Where is it coming from? Are our kids bubble-wrapped snowflakes that just need to “toughen up” and get over it? Or is there an approach to our children’s anxiety that...

A short conversation for parents. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trying to guide a teenage daughter through a complex adolescent world is… well, complicated. Alcohol and drugs, mental health concerns, body image issues, premature and/or non-consensual intimacy, and friendship challenges are just the tip of the iceberg. Join me as I unpack the science and provide practical real world advice for parenting your teenage daughter. You’ll leave this presentation with...

First days. They can be anxiety-inducing. Whether it’s kindy, big school, high school, work, swimming lessons, or anything else that represents a new start, first days are scary for some of us, and our children. Even when everything starts ok, the worries can compound and by the time Day 2 (or Week 2) comes around, our children can become terrified. Facing First Day Fears is a webinar for every pa...

Every parent wants their child to succeed at school. But finding the magic formula for making it happen can be challenging. Some kids seem uninterested in school success. Do they just not care? Aren’t they aware that in some parts of the world other children would do anything for the privilege of an education??? How do I help my child succeed in school? Join me for this one hour webinar where toge...

This webinar is for both parents AND your senior students.  Everybody knows Year 12 can be the worst for our kids. There’s big exams. There’s big stress. There’s enormous pressure. There’s parent, teacher and personal expectations. And there’s big goodbye’s. But…. Year 12 can be the Best Year Ever!! Ahead of your child starting year 12 this year, Dr Justin Coulson will be hosting a 80 minute webin...

What are we supposed to do when our child is having a tantrum? Losing the plot? Going off their rocker? Most of our responses - no matter how well-intended - can make things worse. We tell them to stop it, calm down, cut it out... and they don't! They get worse! We send them to their room, take the iPad... it all backfires. Dealing with little people's big emotions (and challenging behaviours) in...

The difference good dads make is enormous. In the past two decades, scientists have found evidence that a good dad is not dispensable. Rather, he is critically important in the lives of his children. The trouble is, some dads don’t know just how important they really are. This webinar is for every dad who wants to make a positive difference in his children’s lives. And it’s for the woman who loves...