Dilemmas & solutions

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difficult to express their feelings, foster social relationships and make friendships; they can often appear anxious or withdrawn.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.

Bill Gates recently gave a speech at a High School about 11 things pupils did not and will not learn in school. He talks about how feel-good, politically correct teachings
created a generation of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept set them up for failure in the real world. Every parent should take comfort from his words and every child, learn them by heart!

The CyberSmile Foundation launches its annual Stop Cyberbullying Day on the 21 June 2013 with this message: "Be nice online".

Research shows that reading to a young child is the single most important thing you can do to help your child’s education. Getting boys to read is often a challenge. Father of  three sons, Tim Mungeam, author of Fantastic First-time Father and Chief Executive of Springboard for Children, gives his top tips for getting children to enjoy reading.

As parents we have two major functions to ensure that children have a consistent, safe and secure environment in which they can learn reasonable rules and understand why they are important and to nurture self-discipline or self-control. Anne Coates author of Parenting Without Tears Guide to Loving Discipline outlines some strategies.

 

The question has been raised again whether children should have pocket money or earn money from part-time work. Anne Coates thinks a combination of both is the better solution.

Most children are disrespectful at some time or another. The challenge for parents, writes Anne Coates, author of Parenting Without Tears Guide to Loving Discipline, is to choose your battles and to make sure you lead by example and show your offspring respect.

Following the successful launch of  the first book, Parenting Without Tears Guide to Living With Teenagers, the next in the series will be about discipline in the family. Do you have any points or questions you'd like covered ?