Worlds apart (but still neighbours)

One of the many weird and wonderful things I did on the journey to becoming a psychologist was interviewing a range of teenagers from all over the UK. I was doing a study exploring how teenagers cope when one parent is seriously unwell. What impressed me the most...

Drowning in Information

There is a scene in Wall-E, the 2008 Disney film about a robot left to clean up an abandoned Earth. Humans are living on a spaceship, hugely overweight and shunted around in automatic chairs, slurping up their fizzy pop while watching a permanent screen.I think of...

The Politics of Parenting

Since the iPhone entered my world, with instant access to a limitless amount of information, I can’t even begin to imagine the number of articles I’ve read about parenting (mostly at 2am). Each day, I flick through at least 10 different opinions, ideas and...
Ghost Busting

Ghost Busting

“In every nursery there are ghosts. They are the visitors from the unremembered past of the parents; the uninvited guests at the christening” Selma Fraiberg So far, I’ve written a lot about how important it is to trust your instincts. Today, just when you...
Who Made you the Expert

Who Made you the Expert

“…the baby who is fed every time he cries will find it difficult or even impossible to accept the idea that rewards belong to those who work for them. If we teach our offspring to expect everything to be provided upon demand, we must admit the possibility of sowing...