A happy and harmonious family life comes from knowing what your child wants and being the parent you want to be.
As an author and after over 30 years’ experience working with 100’s of families across the world, in nurseries and private sleep clients I honestly thought I’d seen it all. Recently, I felt I wanted to give up my business because parenting has changed so much! I changed my mind because the reality is today’s parents need more help than ever, particularly during this pandemic which has caused a high rise in anxiety.
Life with children is far from perfect and like COvid, is full of the unknown. One minute it can be incredible and the best thing that ever happened to you. At other times being a parent is lonely, tiresome and totally confusing particularly if you listen to conflicting advice, rather similar to what our Government is telling us.:( My mum often complained, ”I had 3 under 3 and no help’. She lost her mother whilst pregnant with me and just ‘got on with it’. Mistake. The impact of her loss and mental health left long-term scars that affected us all.
Being a sensitive child, I felt and took on her pain and that’s one of the reasons I do my work. I was dubbed the ‘difficult middle child’ and I lived up to it! In reality, I was different to my sister who was quiet and easy. I had a different personality. I was the active, sporty one who was always on the go and curious. Looking back the ‘difficult’ children are the ones that I have tended to look after when I worked as a nanny. I love the challenge and see these children through a different lens. A child is only reacting to how they feel in a given situation.
As time has passed I have pieced together what was happening for my mother. Unfortunately, she died when I was 30, so we didn’t have a chance to have those conversations. My mum suffered with mental health and didn’t have the energy to keep up with me and my sister who was a year older. We had a good routine and a father who was very ‘hands on’, just as well, as 16 months later my brother arrived.
If she had had emotional support in the early years, over time she could have learned how to manage her own trauma which later resorted to her turning to drink and smoking to mask her unhappiness.
Over many years I have witnessed far too many career-minded and stay-at-home mums suffer exhaustion, sleepless nights and battle on with no support. Being a parent is not an endurance test but we tell ourselves ridiculous stories, like I ‘should be able to figure this out’, I can’t ask for help, no-one will understand’ etc. these stories hold us back and keep us stuck. Instead, we need to consider what advice we would give to our nervous 3/4/5-year-old on the first day of school?
I have developed an exciting process that will knock your sox off, leave you gasping and have you and your child sleeping soundly night after night, without playing the ‘wish and hope’ game. That’s like waiting for Father Christmas to bring you a gift but forgetting to ask for exactly what you want. If you wish to make your dreams come true in time for Christmas, be quick or you may be disappointed-
Simply ASK – you can email for more info juliet@sanitynanny.com, I’m ready for you when you’re ready to take that first step to waking up happy, refreshed and relaxed, it is easier than you think.