Dilemmas & solutions

Sam Wass, the on-screen scientist of the multi-award-winning Channel 4 series The Secret Life of 4-, 5- and 6-Year-Olds, gives his top tips for parents whose children are returning to school.

Each summer, children forget much of what they have learnt at school during the previous year. Countless research studies have shown the negative effects of "summer learning loss" on everything from long-term literacy levels to entrance to elite universities. Here Margaret Gray of Simply Learning Tuition, a leading independent education company providing introductions to private tutors, shares her top tips on preventing summer learning loss with some ideas for work to be done quickly and easily, even on the beach. 

Sara Gethin, author of Not Thomas, discusses what schools look out for when considering child neglect and what a concerned parent can do.

The mother/daughter relationship can be one of the closest and life-enhancing in our lives. Sadly it can can also result in hurt and estrangement. Conflict counsellor and author, Angelena Boden, gives some tips on how to effect a reconciliation. 

International anti-bullying charity Ditch the Label is launching a new campaign called #TalkToYourBoys. The campaign aims to encourage young males to discuss their feelings or issues they are experiencing with parents or peers and will highlight how effective communication can be in helping boys navigate issues of bullying, poor self-esteem and mental health issues.

According to a new survey of parents carried out for the NSPCC, 53 per cent of parents were unaware that social media sites like Facebook require users to be over the age of 13. And shockingly one in five parents thought there were no age requirements at all. The NSPCC and O2’s Net Aware guide offers advice to parents about social media.

Allison Vale and Victoria Ralfs, authors of How To Raise A Feminist, give some advice on raising feminist boys.

According to a recent survey of over 2,000 British parents "a third tell their children every day that they love them, five per cent never say it to their children." Anne Coates looks at the ways children know they are loved.

Author Ela Lourenco gives a personal account of living with a daughter who is dyslexic and gives her top tips that helped them. 

The Clangers for kindness campaign encourages everyone so spread kindness every day – just like the Clangers in their little blue planet. Here are the Clangers top ten kindness tips to practice with your children.

New research from the National Literacy Trust reveals a sharp decline in how often children aged eight to 18 are writing outside school and how much they enjoy writing. Here are some tips produced by the Trust to encourage your child’s writing.

The latest Barbie film soon to be released on DVD – Barbie Star Light Adventure – promotes the idea of female scientists. Science is cool for girls and here astrophysicist Dr Sarah Hutton gives her top tips on how to get our daughters into science.

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.