EPISODE NOTES
In this episode, Claire talks with Sue Atkins: a parenting expert, author, speaker, coach and broadcaster.
Sue previously worked as a teacher and deputy headteacher for over twenty years; however, a period of reflection and re-evaluation whilst walking her dogs lead Sue on to a different path to becoming an author, parental coach and broadcaster.
Sue is passionate about supporting, nurturing and helping parents to raise happy, confident and resilient children. As a practitioner and trainer in ‘Neuro-Linguistic Programming’ (NLP) she offers friendly advice that has resulted in the publication of her books ‘Raising Happy Children for Dummies’ and ‘Parenting Made Easy: How to Raise Happy Children’.
Sue makes regular appearances on TV and radio to offer her advice and support: ‘This Morning’ and ‘BBC Radio’ to name but a few. She is also Disney’s parenting expert for their Facebook ‘lives’, Ladybird Books’ parenting expert, a counsellor for India’s Parents World magazine, and has established an online Parenting Club.
 
KEY TAKEAWAYS

The importance of parental engagement.There is a lot of crossover between working with children, developing their confidence and resilience, and then working with their parents. Being there to greet children in a morning and chat with the parents, as well as sharing positive feedback at the end of the school day, are effective ways to build a rapport with parents. Time and effort must be spent on aiming to reach out to all parents. There will be parents who value education and they will be the ones who usually engage and become involved in the various events that schools organise. But we must also encourage the parents who, perhaps, had negative experiences at school and think of ways to reach out to those groups.
Encouraging resilience.Sue discusses her principles of resilience and how these are important to develop in children to help them feel independent and autonomous. She outlines the importance of a child feeling connected to their family, their school and their community, and also to feeling that they matter and are important and significant. Sue talks about developing children’s understanding that it’s fine to try new things, maybe fail and make mistakes, and how this aspect of being courageous is an important attitude to encourage.
Have a vote of confidence in our youngest children.Raising confident and resilient children starts, from a parenting point of view, right at the beginning. A positive mindset, attitude and habits start in the early years. Adults must empower young children to feel capable and confident. We must give children opportunities to find some things difficult rather than be too quick to step in and help as this encourages them to stick with challenging experiences and develop those skills. Adults need to empower young people and children with more independence earlier on.

BEST MOMENTS
“With good parental relationships, we are breaking down barriers and building bridges, not walls, between parents and children so that we all nurture them and give them the best start we can in life.”
“Don’t always rush to rescue a child. Help them sometimes stick with something... We can help children by leaving them to struggle a little bit. Don’t leave them there struggling for ages - that demoralises them - but allow them to feel capable and confident. That builds their self-confidence and builds their self-esteem.”
“He couldn’t make that connection [transitioning to Year 7]. He couldn’t get used to the changes; he couldn’t make good friends… That always sat in my mind as a surprise – there was this very self-confident young man in his primary school who struggled to belong, to connect, to feel he was part of the new school for a little while so that triggered something in me to make sure all children should be nurtured, just as good practice. I’m very keen on seeing primaries and secondaries talking a bit more.”
“Parents and teachers think [children] are worried about cer