Family

Advice, tips and lifetsyle features aimed at parents, children and families.

Six signs that mean you might be in a toxic relationship

Experts tell us that no relationship is perfect, and that some amount of arguing and compromise is normal.

But if your partner’s behaviour is becoming a constant source of negativity, it might be a sign that you’re going through more than just a rough patch.

When it comes to love, we can easily be blind to the signs that a relationship is becoming harmful – because we all...

Five key signs you are in a happy relationship that will last

Sure, the start of a new relationship is amazing (if it’s going well) but long after the honeymoon phase is over, it’s often the more mundane day-to-day stuff that sustains a long-term happiness as a two.

We’re all familiar with the signs of an unhappy relationship – arguing, distrust, cheating – but what are the subtle markers of a partnership that has staying power?

Here...

Teenage body image: Eight ways to help improve your child’s self-esteem

It’s never been easy to be a teenager – but to add to the standard adolescent angst, today’s young people are exposed to a huge amount of online pressure to look a certain, idealised way.

And it’s not just teenage girls whose self-esteem and mental health is damaged by such pressure – last year The Good Childhood Report found boys were also experiencing a decline in happiness...

Ten ways to help get your baby to sleep

Most exhausted parents are desperate to get their bundle of joy off to sleep at night, and will try anything from rocking and swaddling to singing lullabies.

Baby sleep expert Andrea Grace says: “It goes with the territory that when you have a new baby, you have sleepless nights, and while we see some unusual methods to get babies to sleep, like parents walking the streets at night...

Safer Internet Day: Five ways to keep children safe online

It’s every parent’s instinct to keep their child away from harm, but as young people spend huge chunks of their time online, keeping them safe in the digital world can be really tricky.

Safer Internet Day’s global theme of ‘together for a better internet’ is encouraging young people, parents, teachers and organisations to work together, to make sure the internet is used safely and...

Want to save money? Nine things to stop buying in 2020

Convenience items often seem great at first glance – we can eat a hot meal straight from the microwave, brew a cup of coffee at the touch of a button and have a new outfit delivered to our door overnight.

While all of this is good for saving time and making life a little easier, it’s probably not so great for your finances.

If you’re looking at your bank balance after a low-...

Should you be worried about the way your teenager portrays herself online?

I’ve seen some of my 14-year-old daughter’s Snapchat and Instagram posts and she comes across very differently online to the way she does at home. How can I talk to her about being more honest about her online identity?

Will Gardner, director of the UK Safer Internet Centre ( saferinternet.org.uk ), says: “Many parents worry that being online can place pressures on young people which...

Is Keeping Up With The Joneses making you miserable?

Keeping up with the Joneses’ isn’t a new thing – the term was coined in 1913! However, with the rise of social media, it is more prevalent than ever before.

Cambridge dictionary definition: To always want to own the same expensive objects and do the same things as your friends or neighbours, because you are worried about seeming less important socially than they are.

The...

What is the best way to get your teenager to do their homework?

We all know teenagers should do their homework if they want to succeed at secondary school – but that doesn’t mean they will do it willingly, on time or even at all.

Which is why parents often use a variety of tactics, ranging from helpful, to annoying to downright counterproductive, in an attempt to to persuade adolescents to just get it done.

So what’s the best approach?...

How can I encourage my child to talk to me about his feelings?

My 13-year-old son seems upset about something but won’t talk about it. How can I encourage him to be brave enough to open up about his feelings?

Speaking ahead of Children’s Mental Health Week (February 3-9) ( childrensmentalhealthweek.org.uk ), Sue Rogers, a mental and emotional health expert at Action for Children ( actionforchildren.org.uk ), who leads The Blues Programme, an...

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