Dilemmas & solutions

The long summer holidays can spark problems in the family and this seems to be on the increase as recent research by Childline suggests. Help is at hand for both children and parents.

With the school holidays here, the NSPCC is urging parents to think carefully before leaving their children home alone during the summer holidays.

With a plethora of activities designed to direct and entertain children, it is more important then ever to provide daily opportunities to play outdoors. In her book Balanced and Barefoot, Angela Hanscom argues that outdoor play is vital for children's growth and development and here she give some ideas as to how to achieve that with reluctant children.

Elyssa Campbell-Barr, author of Choosing Childcare, discusses her top ten most important and useful questions to ask potential childcarers.

Are you worried about your toddler’s touchscreen time? The National Literacy Trust gives reassurance and top tips on how to make technology beneficial for your child’s early learning.

Children form their gender identity (that is, their sense of “boyness” and “girlness”) during the pre-school years, and their views about gender typically become fixed and stereotyped at that stage. However, the results of the PageGroup Recruitment “Drawing Gender” Study reveal that later on, during the primary school years. Dr Richard Woolfson discusses this and gives his top tips for avoiding the pitfalls.

Rev Brian Cranwell MSc MPhil is the author of Where is My Mum Now? And was the incumbent of a large parish in Sheffield for 13 years, a parish with seldom fewer than 140 funerals a year. During this time he was also Chairman of the Cruse Bereavement Care Sheffield branch, and a founder member of Sheffield based Gone Forever Trust. Here he discusses how to support bereaved children.

Greg Smith, Head of Operations at the Oxford Open Learning Trust, gives his Top Tips on Home Schooling. 

New research from Osper, banking for young people, shows that only one in ten parents, with children aged eight to 18, regularly discusses savings and finances with their children. Here Jasmine Birtles from MoneyMagpie.com and Osper give their top tips for helping your young people kick start their savings.

Co-parenting at Christmas: Let the children’s wish come true writes family lawyer, James Skinner of Simpson Millar solicitors. Each year, his team helps separated and divorced parents agree plans for Christmas and resolve disputes before they ruin the festivities.

It’s that time of year again – parents attempt to sort the academic wheat from the chaff, otherwise known as choosing the best secondary school for their children. Sarah-Jane Butler, founder of Parental Choice, offers some advice on choosing a school.

Marina Seisenberger, author of EXPAT The Easy Way, gives her top ten tips for moving abroad with children.

Today parents will hear at which primary school their children have been offered a place. Some will be disappointed and will wish to appeal. Last year 87 per cent of appeals failed so Maxwell Gillott are offering free advice on how to engage in the appeals process formally and with more chance of success.

Music therapy can be extremely beneficial to the developing child with ASD who struggles to make sense of the world and of other people.Children with ASD find it difficult to express their feelings, foster social relationships and make friendships; they can often appear anxious or withdrawn.  Such signs mean that speech can also be difficult (if not, non-existent in some cases), as well as concentration and emotional stability. But music has many counteractive benefits to autistic behaviour, writes Caroline Crabbe, General Manager at Jo Jingles.

How do we persuade our "reluctant readers" to read?  Well, let’s start by re-branding them, says author and teacher Kate Hanney.

Getting children to school on time is part of their eduction for life – they won't be able to stroll up for work half an hour late every day, and students may find they are barred from entering a lecture if more than five or ten minutes late. So what do you do to instil punctuality? Anne Coates gives her top tips.

Whether you agree with it  or not, homework is a fact for most children of school age – often from reception class onwards. Anne Coates gives her top tips for parents to make sure the homework gets done.

Christmas is a stressful time for most families, even more so if you’re a step-parent and have your partner’s children spending the holiday season with you. New York based writer Dr Wednesday Martin, author of Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel and Act the Way We Do, has been a stepmother for ten years and gives her top ten tips for surviving the holiday season.