Browse published articles attributed to Sue Atkins, with full-archive search.
Although most of us desire a healthy relationship it’s surprising how many of us don’t really understand what makes love survive long term. Most of us are bombarded with images of love and sex in magazines, TV adverts, and on the radio but often they idealise, romanticise or trivialise love. So ...
Perhaps you’ve heard from 'You don't understand me?' to 'Why can't you just stop going on at me and leave me alone!' all before and are wondering if it’s normal. Well, to reassure you …. it is but your teenager's mood swings can affect the whole family and they can be a source ...
Do you feel like you're always wading knee-deep through your teenager's piles of discarded clothes, dirty glasses, crisp packets and magazines? Does it drive you mad to see the constant mess in your teenager's bedroom and if you do go and tidy it up do you find that instead of being thankful, ...
A parent is jailed every two weeks. Every school term a parent is jailed for their child's truancy once a fortnight every school term in England and Wales! What a shocking statistic. But what can you do as a parent? • Be actively involved in your teen’s life – talk, chat, guide, nudge, ...
So, the exams are here again! Don't panic and don't pretend they'll go away - they won't! If you're organised, you'll find the exams won't be the nightmare experience that you feared - and if you go about things the right way you'll even get time for some fun in between! Starting offnnn First ...
The pioneering biologist Bruce Lipton found that the cells in your body are always in one or two modes: protection or growth. Basically, in fear–mode or in love-mode. Whenever we feel threatened or judged we immediately go into fear –mode and close down, defend and shut ourselves ...
“Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies” n Nelson Mandela I remember when I was 19 spending a night in a cold, wet and blustery tent down in Devon playing the “Truth or Dare” game with a ...
'Keep on telling me what I am, and that's what I'll become’. Labels are so easy to give and so hard to undo. So be careful how you describe your children to their faces, to your friends and listen to what other family members say about each other and be mindful of accepting what you hear ...
Everyone gets angry with their kids at some time or another - it’s normal - it’s healthy - it’s a fact of life. Kids know just what buttons to push and they push them! I think as a parent and as a professional parent coach, it helps to accept that anger is an honest emotion, ...
There’s a new word out on the street called the “boomerang kids” - children who return to their parents’ home in adulthood and remain there into their 20s or even 30s !!! According to a leading charity Parentline Plus they are putting enormous strain on family relations. Student debt, the ...
Just relax and breathe deeply and slowly for a few moments and think about the most romantic, passionate, sensual and loving moments in your life. What were you doing….. seeing…… hearing and feeling in those magic moments? What would you be willing to do, or give up doing, to experience these ...
The days of not talking to strangers and not accepting sweets from them have long gone, as your child can make friends with people from around the global community in an instant. But how do you know who they are talking to and how do you monitor and keep a watchful eye on their activity? How ...
Sir Liam Donaldson the Medical Chief launches five-point guide for parents on how to stop children abusing alcohol As all my friends know, I like a glass of wine or two, but teenage drinking is a very big problem here in the UK and it needs your support, your confidence and your belief in your ...
I try to move parents away from thinking in terms of 'signs and symptoms' of drug abuse because trying to spot 'warning signs' is really no substitute for good effective communication. The risks of relying on checklists are that you may jump to the wrong conclusions, think the worst, get it ...
I have recently been coaching a local group of parents on their philosophy to life and their general family ethos. I asked them to think about things that were important to them in life like their values, their beliefs and their principles because parents who know what they feel strongly about ...
Be patient with your parents! • Stand on a piece of paper and write your parents names on it. As you step onto it imagine you are stepping into your parents view of the word. Really get inside their heads and see through their eyes. What do they see……. what do they hear….. and how do they feel ...
“Don’t wish it was easier; wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenges; wish for more wisdom.” Jim Rohn, an American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speake Rude and greedy behaviour among adults is contributing to the ...
The Dance of Intimacy This week will be all about Valentine’s Day and can be a time of great romance or great pain. Many people put their children first and of course while this is necessary and honourable is it at the expense of your own relationship? I remember a great friend of my Mum and ...
Did you know that more than one in 10 families in the UK are now stepfamilies and the number is rising. As families become ever more diverse, it’s estimated that one in three people are now touched by a stepfamily, whether they are a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or cousin. But what is it ...
What’s really important to you as a parent? What values or principles are really important to you? What’s your ethos in life …. What do you stand for? The reason for doing this is that your values are like your personal compass - they guide your decisions - they are what you ...
The Permission to Criticise your Partner Exercise! This worksheet is one that I use with my personal clients and I thought as it's a special week about romance and keeping the glow I'd share it with you! This worksheet gives you complete permission to let it all out – all the frustrations, ...
Do you want more attention, more respect, more help with the kids, more hugs, more romance, more surprises, more time together, more intimacy, and more fun? Someone to babysit, iron the shirts, help make the dinner sometimes or hang up the towels in the bathroom? Then ask. “But I shouldn’t ...
• You can never be too loving with your teenage children. Get rid of that old wives’ tale that hugging them, holding them, or telling them you love them is spoiling your children. If many of the parents of the world paid more attention to their children, the world would be a better and happier ...
Children are about to move onto secondary schools. Perhaps your child is one of them. This is a time of great change for a child and for the family as a whole as this transition is a time of growth, learning and independence. Children naturally have mixed feelings about this change. "I was ...
As the clock ticked down the old year and we all awaited the arrival of a brand new year, I begun to wonder what all the people around me truly wished for deep down in that very quiet place where dreams, hopes and wishes really live. You know the place where we don’t always reveal our true ...
"So what do we do? Anything - something. So long as we don't just sit there. If we screw it up, start over. Try something else. If we wait until we've satisfied all the uncertainties, it may be too late." Lee Iacocca Former Chairman of Chrysler Corporation Communication is ...
As parents it's sometimes difficult to know where you stand with your growing and maturing teenager. As a young child they looked up to you for everything, but now they want you to drop them off at the end of the road so you won't embarrass them in front of their friends and to not dress like ...
“Don’t wish it was easier; wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenges; wish for more wisdom.” Jim Rohn, an American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker Rude and greedy behaviour among adults is contributing to the ...
Why do we find it so hard to say no? Well one of the reasons is shortage of time we all seem to be in such a hurry these days. It's so much easier to give in and buy whatever it is your teenager wants rather than spending time explaining why you won't buy what they want or spend time dealing ...
There is absolutely no doubt that raising a family can be an exhausting, challenging and on many occasions a frustrating business; but when you get it right there is no single experience in life that will prove to be as fulfilling and rewarding as bringing up happy children. Every parent wants ...
Why do we find it so hard to say no? Well one of the reasons is shortage of time we all seem to be in such a hurry these days. It's so much easier to give in and buy whatever it is your teenager wants rather than spending time explaining why you won't buy what they want or spend time dealing ...
“This Summer, many streets in urban Britain are thick with warm flowers and cold blood”n n Mary Riddell from “The Daily Telegraph” Research suggests that infants in loveless, violent and abusive homes will have had their emotions hard-wired ...
“Don’t wish it was easier; wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenges; wish for more wisdom.” Jim Rohn, an American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speake Rude and greedy behaviour among adults is contributing to the ...
"Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life's coming attractions" Albert Einstein Nobel Prize Winner for Physics When I discovered the amazing power of visualisation, or the act of creating compelling and vivid pictures in my imagination of how I would like things ...