Tantrums are a normal part of growing up - not a sign of bad behaviour or bad parenting. In this post, we explore why tantrums happen, what’s really going on in your child’s brain during a meltdown and how you can respond calmly and effectively. Learn simple, empathetic ways to manage tantrums and support your child’s emotions.

Parenting doesn’t come with a manual and most of us end up blending what we learned in childhood with our own instincts. There are four main parenting styles - authoritative, authoritarian, permissive and uninvolved - each influencing children’s behaviour and development in different ways. While authoritarian or permissive approaches can create challenges in the long run, authoritative parenting stands out for its balance of warmth, boundaries and high expectations.

When we talk about raising emotionally healthy children, one of the key skills we’re really talking about is self-regulation - a child’s ability to notice, manage and respond to their feelings in healthy ways. But self-regulation doesn’t just appear overnight. So how do we actually teach these skills?

Most adults weren't taught about emotions as children. No one taught us how to be aware of our feelings or how to manage our behaviour when those feelings became overwhelming. Lots of adults report being sent to their rooms or being shouted at when their behaviour didn’t meet their grown ups’ expectations. I’d like to assume that for the majority of us, our parents tried their best with the information they had at the time. But now that we know more about brain development a

Emotional intelligence is an essential skill for navigating the world around us and it begins to develop throughout our early childhood.