behaviour

We’ve all done it. We arrive at a support group meeting singing the praises of the child who has just arrived to live with us, and who had a reputation for very challenging behaviour but it is now an angel. We give ourselves a little pat on the back. It was easy really. We started as we meant to carry on and put in place the boundaries for good behaviour, and the child or young person responded. There was also some suggestion that there might have been a personality clash between the child and the previous carer’s family, so all in all the move was better for everyone. The child is settling in well and all is rosy.

One of the issues I explore in my book Happy Kids is that of respect. So often when I see the children I foster with their natural parents, I see a complete absence of respect. Not only from the children to their parents, and vice-versa, but also between the parents themselves, and from the parents towards other adults. It is so sad, and it makes working with these families and trying to rebuild relationships difficult. No one listens to anyone else, as each person focuses solely on their own needs; shouting orders, commands and insults, oblivious to each other.

“We are what we eat”. That is to say, the food we eat is absorbed by our bodies and therefore becomes part of us. But it is not only our bodies and our physical health that is affected by what we eat, but also our brains and central nervous system. While researching my book Happy Mealtimes For Kids, I learnt a lot. I thought I might share some of this with you.

When I was growing up the average person had never heard of ADHD, autism, Asperger's syndrome, bipolar disorder, attachment disorder, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, development delay, specific learning difficulties, or any of the conditions which now seem to be endemic in our children.