Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant.Bedtime and the lead up to it can feel like quite a juggling act especially when you have more than one child to do your bedtime routine with.

This time of the day is often when we want things to be calm and to be able to give our children opportunities for one-to-one time, but it doesn’t always happen that way! At the end of the day everyone (including you!) is tired, and bedtime might not always go as you would hope…but that’s ok! Don’t put too much pressure on yourself - it can take time to find what works and it will evolve over time as your little ones get older.

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. They say that moving house can be one of the most stressful things you can do…if you then add in supporting children when moving house, it really can be a challenging time! In this blog I am going to give you some ideas as to how you can make the whole process easier for your child/ren and you!

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. It can feel so daunting when it comes to choosing childcare - there are so many options! Whatever your reason is for needing childcare it is important that it suits you and your child/ren’s needs. In this blog I am going to talk you through the different options of childcare and why they may (or may not) be right for you.

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. One area which families can find very challenging during the phases of separation anxiety is bedtimes and naptimes. In this blog we are going to specifically look at how and why separation anxiety might affect bedtimes and sleep.

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. Crying is typically seen as something which is negative; something that we do when we are sad, upset, angry, frustrated etc. However, there are times when we cry for other reasons and often a ‘good cry’ can actually make us feel better..!

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. It is very common for children (and adults) to experience dreams, bad dreams and nightmares. This is often a normal part of sleeping although it can be very hard to watch or listen to your child if they are having a nightmare or night terror. I am often asked by parents what the best thing is to do to help their child when they are having a nightmare or night terror, but to do this we first need to look at what the difference is between the two.

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. It is likely that if you are reading this blog, you have a toddler or pre-school aged child who has started to say “I’m scared” about one particular thing, or is saying it regularly throughout the day in relation to lots of different things.

The feeling of being scared (or fear being the emotion) is very normal and natural and part of our flight, fight or freeze response. Feeling scared (or experiencing fear) is something which is essential to human survival. This response helps to let us know when we are in danger and can then trigger us to take steps to protect ourselves and get out of the dangerous situation.

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. You might be in the situation where your little one has mastered using the toilet/potty in one environment quicker than the other – this might be at home but it could be at nursery! Toilet training is something that can take time as it is all about biology, timings and developmental stages…but we also need to take into account the environments your little one spends time in.

If a child is worried or anxious about anything this may cause the body to tense which in turn can make going to the toilet challenging. It can lead to ‘holding’ either, or both, wee and poo until they are in an environment where they feel relaxed, or, in some cases, when they are put into a nappy for nap or bedtime.

Everyone has different experiences. For some their little one is quite happy to use the toilet or potty at nursery, but refuses to at home, or they are great at home but refuse to go at nursery! I am going to look at some of the reasons why this might be and give you some strategies to help.

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. The day when clocks change is coming up and it can always be a worry that this is going to have an effect, meaning all your hard work on getting a good sleep routine in place could be ruined. Fear not! There are some easy ways to keep this on track!

This blog specifically focusses on the clock change that we have in October, where we ‘fall back’ and gain an extra hour…or we hope that this would be the case but not always so when we have little ones.

Written by Claire Burgess, Family Consultant. When we look at children’s play we often talk about the need for them to be physical and often we think about this as going to the park, climbing, running etc, but we do also need to appreciate our children’s need for ‘rough and tumble’ play.