Firstly, to be clear: I don’t claim to be an ‘expert’ in either parenting or mindfulness, although I have been actively interested and learning about both for some time. The truth is being a parent is a never-ending learning journey - as is the practice of mindfulness – so I still have more than my fair share of Low Parenting Moments (LPM’s) - and learn new things from my children and about myself every day.
My commitment to positive parenting came as a complete surprise to me as I was a self-confessed sceptic about the idea of ‘parent education’. I believed that love and natural instinct were all you needed. This was before we hit the ‘terrible twos’ when I found no amount of love and natural instinct convinced my son to get up off the supermarket floor and stop stripping its shelves in a violent rage or to put his coat on when it was time for school!
By chance, in a bid to meet new parents at my son’s nursery (and a chance to drink a cheeky glass of free champagne!), I attended a talk put on by the PTA called something like ‘How to create harmony and say goodbye to the naughty step forever’. Much to my surprise, the content of the talk gave me a lot of ‘food for thought’, challenged my ideas and existing practices. Vitally, it offered real solutions: simple, practical ideas to help establish better communication and encourage cooperation and to achieve a more positive and harmonious home life.
it offered real solutions: simple, practical ideas to help establish better communication and encourage cooperation and to achieve a more positive and harmonious home life.
I was sufficiently intrigued to try it out and the results were immediate. My husband was flabbergasted by the change! This led me to attend a 10-week Positive Parenting Course with The Parent Practice and I subsequently went on to complete the Training for Trainers Programme and I am now a Parent Practice Licensee. The transformation in my own life is what inspires me to want to share these skills with other parents.
Way before children, my career began as a Qualitative Market Researcher specialising in ‘sensitive issues’. When I was just 30 I was forced to take ‘early retirement’ as the health issues I had following a diagnosis of lupus became seriously life-threatening. This humbling experience inevitably led to some soul-searching, through which I discovered mindfulness (way back before it was even ‘a thing’ as it is these days!).
The benefits of mindfulness have been invaluable to helping me better manage the challenges of parenthood (and just about everything else) and for this reason, I have added a mindfulness module to the positive parenting course. It is specifically designed to be achievable for busy parents and involves no lengthy sitting meditations or anything too ‘woo-woo’ as (although I love a bit of ‘woo-woo’ every now and then!) I know it’s not for everyone and parents can find it hard to find the time with all their other commitments!
I have two sons and a daughter, and I live in Peckham with my husband. I enjoy cooking (and eating!), yoga, theatre, camping and socialising with my friends – and these days a sad number of nights in with Deliveroo and Netflix!
- Daisy is a certified Parent Practice Licensee Trained by Melissa Hood, author of Real Parenting for Real Kids
- A certified Mindfulness Coach, coached by Albert Tobler, co-founder of London Meditation and co-author of The Rough Guide to Mindfulness
- She has completed 3 Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Courses (MBSR) at London Mediation and Jam Yang Buddhist Centre
- Completed the British Wheel of Yoga Foundation Course taught by Jan Wilding
- Completed 10-week Positive Parenting course with Parent Practice
- Most importantly a full-time mother of 2 boys and a girl
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