In this episode, Helly Douglas joins Clare to talk about children’s behaviour being a means of communication. Helly shares how you can use the My Family Journal App to track and record patterns in behaviours to better understand the thoughts and feelings driving those behaviours.

Helly creates the content you can see on the My Family Coach website. She’s a former teacher, working for 16 years across all primary age groups, particularly focused on supporting children with additional needs. Before coming to My Family Coach, Helly set up a specialist class for Y7 and Y8 students who found it hard to make the transition to secondary school. Helly is now a Team Teach trainer and loves writing about all things behaviour, but she would say her most important job is being mum to her two wonderful children.

You can find Helly via the My Family Coach website, on Twitter, and LinkedIn

Helly recommends the book, Helping Your Child with Fears and Worries by Cathy Creswell and Lucy Willetts.

Helly shares three tips during the episode:

1: Think of behaviour as communication - we can work out what they’re trying to tell us through their behaviour.

2: Look for patterns in your child’s behaviour – the My Family Journal is really helpful for this

3: Change takes time – don’t get downhearted when you don’t see immediate success. This is a long game!

The My Family Coach podcasts covers every aspect of children’s behaviour, all in handy 15 minute (ish) bite-sized chunks. Each episode features a new guest chatting about a different aspect of behaviour and leaves you with three handy tips to use at home.