5 Things to Look For When YOU Approach a Company That Offers Parenting Solutions:

5 Things to Look For When YOU Approach a Company That Offers Parenting Solutions:

Sometimes it can be difficult to make the right choice when choosing a service or product from an unknown company, especially when you have your family's interest at heart. The best way is always to test out the company and see if it is the right one for you by asking them a range of questions. If it feels right, then it probably is the right company for you to work with.

Just to help you along the way, here are 5 Things to look out for when you approach a company that offers parenting solutions:

1. Do they have a Long lasting parenting model for success?
2. Do they offer After Service Support Systems?
3. Do they Enable you to establish or re-establish your own identity as well as being a parent?
4. Does their their service help you to identify root causes of some of your parenting challenges and help you to eliminate them?
5. Does the service help you to take control of your life and Create the life you want?
   
   ‘When you really go for what you want, you are helping more people than you realise.’
   Jennifer McLeod

Good luck and happy shopping!

With Inspirational Blessings
Jennifer McLeod
info@PositiveInspirationS.co.uk


+44 (0) 121 551 1668

I don't have the confidence to manage my children!

I dont know about you but I have had some shaky times in the past when my confidence had let me down and especially at times when I had been stressed. It seems that it was especially at these times when the children 'must have decided' that it's 'let's play up just for mummy' time- yeaaaahhhh!!!!!!

I have two very confident boys who at times in the past, it felt like they were much stronger than I was, especially at times before, during and after my divorce. Ghastly time!!!!!!!!!!!!!

However, there may be less serious occasions in your life than a divorce or separation when you might have felt your confidence ebb away for whatever reason and it just continued on a downward spiral. Children instinctly react to changes whether these are implicit or explicit changes, as children tend to be a lot more perceptive and intuitive than perhaps adults may think or accept. My ex-husband and I didn't argue in front of our children even when things were bad just prior to the divorce, however, the fact that things were not going well between us had it's obvious affects on the children.

When children sense that something is not right, they start to play up, or act out, perhaps more as a way of protecting themselves and especially if they don't understand what it is that they are experiencing or sensing. The worst thing that a parent can do when a child asks 'What's wrong mum?' or 'What's wrong dad?', is to say 'nothing is wrong' or in effect lie to the child. If the 'lying' continues, albeit the parents good intentions of seeming to protect their child, the child will begin to internalise the 'nothing is wrong' as 'oh, maybe there's something wrong with me then! maybe I didn't sense that at all, and because mum or dad says that there is nothing wrong, it must be true!' The knock on effect of this is that children experiencing this situation are likely to grow up not trusting themselves or their instincts, which potentially could lead to them becoming introverts, or even abused in adult life.

Clearly, children don't need to know every single detail of what is wrong, and indeed the amount of information given needs to be tailored according to the child's age. However, acknowledging that they are right in some way will help your children immensely. When I first discovered that this was a better way to deal with questions that I would much rather not answer, I began by saying something like, 'I have quite a lot on my mind right now. Bear with me.'

If our confidence is letting us down, it is likely that we will go into some kind of insecurity mode which means that in order to overcome our own sense of feeling insecure, maybe inadequate, or unworthy, potentially we may then instinctively take this out on the children to compensate for what is missing in us. Taking it out on the children can happen in so many different minor and major ways, for instance, shouting at the children, slapping them, sending them to their room for something naughty that we 'perceive' that they have done or worse, physically harming them in a serious way.

The greatest gift that you can give to yourself at times like these is to acknowledge that your confidence is perhaps not as you would want it to be and to make the decision to do something about it. And then TAKE ACTION to change it! Again, the children will also benefit greatly in the positive changes in you.

Take Control of YOur Life Today


With Inspirational Blessings
Jennifer McLeod
www.PositiveInspirationS.co.uk Tel: +44 (0)845 056 3840

Single Parents and Lone Parents

The government has been pretty forthright lately in its determination to get lone parents back to work as a way of reducing the unemployment figures. I think it is fantastic that lone parents get all the support that they can get to start working or go back to work at the time that is just right for them, isn't it? However, that is unlikely to be the case in reality.

There are so many things to consider in terms of getting lone parents to work, that i wonder if the government has fully thought through lone parents needs.

As a lone parent myself with two children, I know how challenging it can be to take on all the parenting responsibilities, or share some if you have a supportive ex-partner. Some lone parents may not have the support network to help with childcare outside of normal office hours or indeed during office hours; they may not be able to afford nursery fees; returning to work may undoubtedly bring about fears of having some of their benefits being taken off them and not being replaced by sufficient income from their new job, with no immediate way of filling that financial gap. In addition, there are those lone parents who may not have worked for a long period of time, which means that they may have lost a lot of confidence and the working world or business world may appear too overwhelming for them. They may need re-skilling in meaningful career paths and not just a piecemeal attempt to get them in the lowest possible level job at the lowest possible pay in the quickest possible time just as a quick fix or a 'tick box' mentality to prove that unemployment is on the decrease!

Other than very important practical things to consider in getting lone parents back to work, there are emotional and psychological challenges that need to be taken into consideration.

Who will deal with the emotional and psychological challenges that lone parents might be facing when returning to work or entering the workplace for the first time. There may be feelings of guilt, insecurity, fear, anxiety, low self esteem or a lone parent may be someone who is harming themselves on a regular basis. Additionally, what about the emotional and psychological baggage that people bring with them from childhood that are amplified in adulthood? Who will help some lone parents to get rid of some of these potentially detrimential baggage and Emotional Roadblocks(tm) that could be stopping them working in the first place or not being as an effective parent as they would like to be?

And what about possible parenting challenges with either young children or teenagers? If these challenges are not dealt with, they could also affect the lone parents and single parents ability to perform well in their job and potentially affect team morale.

Some people need more support than others to move on in their lives. Just looking at one aspect of a person's life, such as employment/unemployment is not the most useful way to help people move on in life.

With Inspirational Blessings
Jennifer McLeod
www.PositiveInspirationS.co.uk