Hello

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Hi my name is Mary, I am the founder of Happily Ever Parenting, a UK based family coaching service, a qualified 0-5 practitioner and mother of 3 whirlwind children.

Thank you for choosing Happily Ever Parenting!

I hope together we can work to make positive changes within your family and you can see a real, permanent difference in your child's challenges.

Your child's behaviour is their only method of communication, if we can understand what our children's behaviour is trying to tell us then we can understand better and respond appropriately.

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children are not and never will be perfect. And neither will we as parents. I do not profess to be a perfect parent. My children, they are normal, developing, awe seeking, mess making, constantly experimenting people who are pretty new to this world and think its pretty cool and want to see what its about. They cant control their emotions yet so they cry and express themselves in 'interesting' ways. BUT they have routine, they sleep, they have varied diets and they say please and thank you. I don't want for more than that... I accept their mistakes and love their imperfections.

I don't believe in 'methods', I will not teach you how to train your children, I think we can all agree that children cannot be trained! But they can follow rules and routines and behave with respect when we, as their parents, show them how to do it. And yes that does apply to sleep too!

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I believe in working with parents to help them truly understand the 'why's?'

Once we understand why our child is resisting a certain situation or acting in an unwanted way, we can find it much easier to empathise with them, connect with them on a positive level and help them to succeed! And lets be honest, as adults if we have a problem we just want someone we trust to help us. To respond with empathy and reassurance. We certainly don't want to be shamed or punished along the way!

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I believe as parents we must set clear and consistent routines, boundaries and implement these with empathy and compassion. Young children are constantly seeking to control their environment ... and that is a very important developmental milestone, as adults we must exercise some level of organisation in our own lives. accepting a child's need for control and implementing choice into their day to day lives empowers our children. That is not to say your child can choose to wear a bobble hat in the heat of summer or choose not to clean their teeth. Its giving them choice within our rules and boundaries. 

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I also believe in understanding emotions, both our own and those of our children. As parents we need to be able to contain our emotions. Not easy I know! We need to understand our triggers, the things that 'drive you mad' and and work on recognising and reducing negative responses. If we can understand what our children are feeling then, again, we can respond appropriately. Appropriate responses lead to appropriate behaviour, which results in positive communication .

Our children can feel listened too, understood, supported and most importantly safe, safe to grow up in an environment where they don't always get it right but they always know they are worthy of love.

 

 

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