15-Minute Parenting.

Following on from a past episode where Joanna advised how to avoid jumping in with a fix/change agenda today she responds to a question from a listener who asked how we ensure our children have practical problem solving skills to work such situations out.  She addresses this through a 6-step problem solving formula that you can put into practice at home.

This week Joanna responds to your questions and comments on the topic of teen aggression and addresses the question of how the recent pandemic circumstances have contributed to a rise in aggressive behaviour or not. Joanna explains the difference between ager, conflict, aggression and violence and what to do when a situation is out of control along with playful ways to work with more mild levels of anger.

Joanna reflects on the findings of recent research that highlights the role of emotional connections between teachers and students to enhance learning outcomes.  She talks us through how emotion is not the opposite to reasoning but is actually essential to reasoning.  She raises the question as to how we can better support our teachers to support our children and offers playful activities that can be done at home and in the classroom.

In this episode Joanna responds to a question from a parent who is wondering how to tell their children that their parents are separating.  She talks us through the ideal approach and how to handle the less than ideal reality by staying grounded in what we will always have in common, our shared love for our children.

Friendships are very important in adolescence.  In this episode Joanna talks us through how the patterns of friendship change during adolescence and the role of ego in that.  She spotlights a situation of a teenager who struggles to make friends and what their worried parent can do about this.

In this episode Joanna talks us through the psychological process of mentalisation and how we use this process to fill in the gaps of stories/life events when we don't actually know all of the details. She relates this to parents trying to read the minds of their teenagers when not a lot is being shared and the potential pitfalls of this. This episode is about embracing curiosity over certainty.

You are used to hearing Joanna speak about the importance of play in children's lives, well in this episode she is spotlighting the value of play in adult lives too.  This episode is for any adult, not just parents! Joanna promotes growing the opportunities for playfulness in line with our own growing adult responsibilities and highlights how healthy a playful state of mind is in adult relationships.

Joanna refers to a parenting event she did where she spoke about why our older children still need and benefit from imaginative play after which she received a flurry of questions as to how parents can achieve this. In this episode she talks us through how to keep imaginative play alive throughout childhood.

In this episode Joanna talks about eating disorders and disordered thinking around food. She focuses in this episode on the impact an eating disorder can have, not only on the person living with the disorder but on relationships, especially the parent-child relationship.

Joanna has received many questions from parents about the fears and phobias their children have developed in recent months. In this episode she differentiates between a fear and a phobia and talks us through how to work through each with our children.