Treat The Summer Holidays Like A World Cup – Because Winging It Won’t Work

Posted on 06/07/2026 by Boris Clair

This summer, millions of people have watched 32 nations go to the World Cup with months of preparation behind them: meticulous planning, clear roles, a shared game plan.

Nobody turns up to a World Cup and wings it. Yet there are plenty of families who will turn up to the six weeks of school summer holidays with no plan at all.

Sometimes it’s easier to pretend it’s not happening and to assume it will work itself out, and then we all wonder why, by week two, someone is metaphorically drowning.

Cue the panicked parent group WhatsApp messages.

Advice for parents when it comes to nailing summer holiday scheduling

I’m a performance psychologist with over a decade’s experience working with the world’s top athletes and teams. My advice for winning the summer holidays is simple: approach it like a World Cup squad.

Before the holidays begin, sit down and treat it like a pre-tournament debrief. Map the weeks ahead:

Who owns what?
Who has the big work commitments and when?
Which weeks need childcare cover and who is sourcing it?
What are the non-negotiables for each person?

Get it out of one person’s head and into a shared system that everyone can see, and then look at subs: who’s available on the side, who can be called in in an emergency, who can be warming up ‘just incase’?

Don’t shoulder it alone

Divide by ownership rather than task. In a World Cup squad nobody tries to play every position. Clear roles mean nobody is waiting to be briefed and nobody is quietly absorbing everything by default.

To be clear, when I talk about your squad, I’m not just talking about two-parent households. I am talking about whatever parenting looks like for you. A grandparent who can step in on Wednesdays. Another parent friend you swap childcare with. A sibling who lives nearby. A neighbour who has offered to help and actually means it.

Your squad is whoever shows up. Name them, brief them, and use them.

Take five minutes before each day to prepare

Watch any World Cup team and you will notice something. The best ones don’t just train their bodies, they train their minds, starting with pre-performance routines, engaging recovery protocols, and honest debriefs after every game.

Parents need the same approach this summer. Start with the pre-performance routine. Before the chaos of each day begins, take five minutes to know what the day holds. Know your role and what you need from whoever’s supporting you.

That small act of preparation changes the entire shape of the day. The best teams in the world do not walk onto the pitch without knowing the game plan – don’t walk into your day without one either.

Have weekly check-ins

At the end of each week, check in. Share what worked, and what didn’t. Look at what needs to change next week. High performing teams do not pretend a bad game was fine. They replay it, review it, and adjust. Do the same.

Find time to rest

Build in recovery. Not as a luxury, which parents (especially mums) so often do, but as an operational necessity. World Cup squads have rest days built into the schedule because performance without recovery is not sustainable.

You cannot run at full capacity for six weeks without something breaking. Rest is part of the strategy, not a weak moment.

For solo parents, rest is even harder to protect and even more important to fight for. Asking for help is not a failure of independence. It is the most high-performance thing you can do. The best athletes in the world have a support team. You are allowed one too.

Give yourself grace

Name what you are actually carrying. Most parents are running a second full-time job in the background of their brains during the summer. That cognitive load has a neurological cost.

The prefrontal cortex, which handles planning, decision making and emotional regulation, has a finite capacity. When it is running the summer schedule it is not available for everything else. Naming that is the first step to making change.

Find a mantra and use it. Something that brings you back when it gets overwhelming. Mine is: “This is hard and I can do hard things.”

The best athletes in the world talk to themselves through the hard moments. You are allowed to do the same. Say it in the car. Say it in the summer camp pickup queue. Say it on day four when it is raining and the plan has fallen apart. You can do hard things. You have been doing them all along.

Mindset is as important as logistics. Go into the summer knowing it will be hard, and knowing there will be days that do not go to plan. Know that you will feel stretched and that is not failure. That is what it looks like to do something genuinely difficult.

Elite athletes don’t expect every session to feel good. They trust the preparation and they back each other.

The summer holidays don’t have to result in everyone being stretchered off. But they will come at a cost if you go in without a plan, without shared ownership, and with one person silently carrying everything.

Now, just 12 nations are left battling it out in the World Cup this summer with months of preparation behind them. If you’re in England and Wales, you’ve still got time left to plan your summer holidays. Don’t waste it.

Sophie Bruce is a performance psychologist for parents and founder of MOLO.

Got A Rude Child? Parenting Expert Shares The Two Words You Should Say To Them

Posted on 26/06/2026 by Boris Clair

A parenting coach has shared the two-word response parents can use if their kids are being disrespectful – and it’s surprisingly simple.

In a TikTok video, Mike Wallach, who runs Apparently Parenting, said: “Stop letting your kids walk all over you with this one trick.

“It’s super simple – and when done correctly, they rarely push back against it.”

What’s the trick?

The parenting coach and behaviour analyst said if a child is disrespectful or rude towards you, all you need to say in response is: “Try again.”

This can be used in a variety of scenarios, added the parenting coach, such as “when they slam the door, when they yell back ‘no’, when they’re playing too rough, [or] when they snatch a toy out of someone’s hand”.

“They immediately know what needs to be done to change their behaviour,” he explained.

Of course, some younger children might need a bit more direction than simply “try again”. If they say something rude to you, or shout at you, you could respond: “That’s not how we talk to each other. Can you try again?”

If they shout a demand at you, like “I want a snack!” you could respond: “Let’s try that again. How do we ask nicely?”

When kids are rude it might be tempting to raise your voice, but parenting pros suggest remaining calm and speaking in a steady voice, otherwise the situation will likely escalate.

According to My Parenting Solutions, asking for a replay is “so simple and effective”. But if your child is having a tantrum, it’s probably best to wait until they’ve calmed down to encourage them to try again.

The method can work well, because you’re giving children the opportunity to practice acting respectfully.

Any more tips?

Yes! If your child is being angry or rude, or having constant tussles with siblings, ‘special time’ might just help.

Child psychologist Dr Becky Kennedy, founder of Good Inside, described it as the “best bang-for-your-buck” parenting strategy.

Put simply, ‘special time’ is a period of time you carve out in your day where you and your child have one-on-one time together.

“So often, our attention as parents is split between work, siblings, admin, getting everyone fed, and the endless mental to-do list and demands on our time and resources,” Anna Mathur, a psychotherapist and author of The Uncomfortable Truth, told HuffPost UK.

But special time “cuts through that noise”.

It could be five minutes, it could be 15 minutes – but the idea is you get rid of all distractions and just sit and spend time with your kid.

Mathur said it works because “even 10 minutes of dedicated one-on-one time is a statement that tells your child: you matter, you’re seen, I want to be with you” and helps kids “feel emotionally secure, which strengthens their nervous system and improves behaviour”.

7-7-7 Parenting Rule Could Reduce Attention-Seeking Behaviour, Says Psychologist

Posted on 08/06/2026 by Boris Clair

If you’re anything like me, you’re always on the lookout for new parenting tricks and tips to help make your life calmer – and your kids happier.

I recently stumbled across something called the 7-7-7 parenting rule, where parents aim to spend seven minutes in the morning, seven minutes after school or work, and seven minutes before bed connecting with their child.

Over the course of the day that’s 21 minutes of undivided attention – and experts say it can work wonders for their behaviour.

Dr Sasha Hall, a senior educational and child psychologist, tells HuffPost UK the idea draws on attachment theory. “When children experience regular, undivided attention, it can strengthen emotional security and support regulation,” she explains.

“Over time, this can reduce behaviours linked to seeking attention, as the need for connection is being met more consistently.”

The benefits of the 7-7-7 rule

If you’re juggling work, household responsibilities and family life, carving out this time and embedding it into your routine can give you something concrete to aim for, rather than a “vague sense” that you should be forming deep connections with your child all day, says Dr Hall.

“Instead of repeatedly saying ‘just one minute’, and feeling they have fallen short, it creates defined moments where attention is fully focused,” she adds.

The timing of these moments can also support key transitions across the day. “A focused period of connection before school can help a child feel more settled when separating,” says the psychologist.

“Time after school can support decompression. Connection before bed can help with emotional settling and winding down.”

For children who have siblings, and feel like they receive less individual attention, carving out this one-on-one time can also be beneficial and reduce fights.

“Having protected moments where a parent is fully present and focused on one child can strengthen the parent-child relationship and support that child to feel seen as an individual,” says Dr Hall.

“It shifts them away from being experienced as the sibling who joins in, towards being recognised in their own right.

“When a child knows there are moments where they will have a parent to themselves, it can lessen the drive to seek attention in other ways.”

The challenges of the 7-7-7 rule

Obviously, if you’ve got multiple kids, carving out 21 minutes per kid over the course of the day can quickly become unachievable.

“Parents may find themselves trying to repeat this several times in the morning and evening, which is often when time is most limited and stress levels are higher,” notes Dr Hall.

There is also a risk that it becomes too rigid. “If parents feel they must stick to it in a very fixed way, it can add pressure rather than relieve it, particularly for single parents or those working long hours,” she adds.

What if this doesn’t feel achievable?

The psychologist suggests a more realistic approach is to build connection into routines that already exist, rather than adding extra pressure.

“For example, the school run or pick up can be used as a point of focused attention, without trying to manage other tasks at the same time,” she says.

Short bursts of focused attention, or ‘micro-moments’, can also be very effective for parents, notes Dr Hall, adding: “These might include eye contact, physical closeness or following the child’s lead in play, even for a brief period.”

Instead of choosing three points in the day, parents could narrow it down to just one or two, such as the start and end of the day.

Child psychologist Dr Becky Kennedy, founder of Good Inside, calls it “special time” and previously said it’s the “best bang-for-your-buck” parenting strategy, helping kids who struggle to listen, are being angry or rude, or having constant tussles with siblings.

She suggested even just 10-15 minutes of special time can be beneficial. The key is to give them your undivided attention – no phones, no distractions, no siblings.

“For families with more than one child, it may be more achievable to rotate one-to-one time, so each child has predictable opportunities for individual attention across the week,” Dr Hall adds.

Ultimately, every parent is doing their best with the resources they have.

Dr Hall suggests our focus can be less on meeting a fixed time target and more on ensuring children regularly experience moments where they feel “noticed, valued and responded to”.

Forget The Stacked Itinerary, What You Need Is A ‘Plop’ Holiday

Posted on 06/06/2026 by Boris Clair

There are trips where you pack every waking moment full of sightseeing, activities and excursions. And then there are trips you spend mostly horizontal: laying in a lounge chair, reading a book, sipping on a cold beverage and occasionally getting up for a dip in the ocean or pool.

The latter is what cookbook author and mum-of-four Caroline Chambers aptly refers to as a “plop vacation.”

A “plop” holiday is one in which you “wake up in the morning and pack a pool or beach bag, and literally plop by the pool or beach for the entire day,” Chambers explained in a comment on an Instagram post from a Mexico trip she and her family took earlier this year.

It’s similar to what folks in the travel world call a “fly and flop,” Chambers, author of the forthcoming What to Cook When You Don’t Feel Like Cooking: Make It Fast, told HuffPost.

“My sister is a luxury travel agent, and I often see her talking about this type of vacation where you fly to a destination and then basically flop down and don’t leave for the rest of the week,” she said. “Some people call it ‘flop.’ I call it ‘plop.’”

Certain travellers might look down on trips that don’t maximise time away by trying to see more, do more, learn more. And that kind of perspective-widening travel does have its benefits. Chambers herself loves “really, really adventurous travel where you are getting off the beaten path, seeing a local community in a way that you never could otherwise,” she said.

"There is no better balm for the soul that is overtaxed by all the daily logistics of running a career and having a house full of kids than plopping down by a pool and having a waiter come take your drink order and bring you lunch by the pool," said Caroline Chambers, who coined the term "plop vacation." — “There is no better balm for the soul that is overtaxed by all the daily logistics of running a career and having a house full of kids than plopping down by a pool and having a waiter come take your drink order and bring you lunch by the pool,” said Caroline Chambers, who coined the term “plop vacation.”

But there are also some notable upsides to holidays of the plop variety.

“Sometimes you just need to completely reset your nervous system and not have to deal with any logistics,” Chambers said. “There is no better balm for the soul that is overtaxed by all the daily logistics of running a career and having a house full of kids than plopping down by a pool and having a waiter come take your drink order and bring you lunch by the pool.”

Plop vacations are great for anyone who just wants to rest and recharge their battery. But they can be particularly enjoyable and (relatively) low-stress for people with young kids. Just pack a bag with everything your family needs for the day: “snacks, diapers, toys, all of it, minimising schlepping as much as possible,” said Chambers.

“It allows the parents to actually feel relaxed afterwards because our needs are being taken care of too,” Chambers said. “We can sit by the pool and have a margarita and order our kids’ lunch.”

Kelsey Pomeroy is a content creator who specialises in parenting and travel with kids, and has two young children of her own. When she hears the term “plop vacation,” she pictures “setting it all down and letting it all go, a rare treat in the life of parents to young kids,” she told HuffPost. It’s appealing because “schlepping stuff around is “the bane of [her] existence,” Pomeroy said.

Plopping with little kids in tow is not going to be as tranquil as plopping child-free. But it can still be pretty relaxing.

“A plop vacation is what people imagine when they think of the word ‘vacation,’ and I love the idea that even if it isn’t the same as a vacation was pre-kids, you can still plop and achieve pockets of peace throughout the day,” Pomeroy said.

As Chambers wrote in a post on her Substack, even though your kid is “spilling half of your margarita before you can even take a sip,” she still finds it “very restful and fun.” And if you need some grown-up plop time, you can sign the kids up for camp at the resort or book a local sitter, she said.

As parents and caregivers know, it can sometimes feel intimidating to leave the house – let alone leave the country – with young kids.

“So whether the beat of your family is to run around all day or plop, I love seeing easy frameworks like ‘plop vacations’ making traveling with little kids feel more accessible,” Pomeroy said.

These ‘Sacrifice Scorecards’ Tell Us A Lot About How Parents Are Being Failed

Posted on 30/04/2026 by Boris Clair

What have you given up since becoming a parent?

It might be precious time spent with your newborn – the UK’s paternity leave is the worst in Europe forcing many dads back to work before they’re ready. It might be career progression, a pay rise or even your job (85% of women leave the full-time workforce within three years of having their first child).

It might be your savings or any extra income you are forced to make in order to pay for full-time childcare, which can range from £60 to £100 per day (government help with these costs is applicable to some, not all).

A new study on fatherhood from Equimundo, which polled 8,000 parents and caregivers across 16 countries, found fathers value care more than ever – but are increasingly stretched to breaking point.

The study found parents don’t have the time, resources, or support to care for their families without constant strain, which it dubbed a “crisis”.

Savings (and safety nets) are drained, hours are cut to work around the school day (four out of five parents said their employer won’t allow flexible working), job security hangs in the balance, and study and leisure time quietly disappears.

The sacrifices parents make

The report’s “sacrifice scorecard” asked the world’s mums and dads what they have had to give up in order to care for their loved ones.

It found parents are making six to eight separate sacrifices to provide care for their children.

One in four had to refinance their homes to pay for care services, one in three turned down a professional advancement to provide care, almost two-thirds worked overtime to bring home extra pay, and half took on a second or third job to increase their income.

It’s no wonder then that three in four dads, and four in five mums, are losing sleep over their financial future.

The report highlighted how these sacrifices can also fuel increased anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and higher alcohol consumption. It noted fathers have higher odds than mothers of falling into the high-distress group, with younger dads most at risk.

Its authors summarised that fathers want to be present and active in the daily lives of their children, but are held back by norms and policies that haven’t caught up – and it’s placing great strain on families.

Elliott Rae, founder of Parenting Out Loud and Equal Parenting Week, said the sacrifices dads are having to make, per the new research, tell “a new version of the same story that we have heard” from mums over the years.

“This isn’t about competition between the sexes; it’s about recognising that both parents are continually having to make sacrifices because of societal structures that make parenting in the UK akin to the ‘wipe out’ obstacle course tryouts,” he said.

“Unequal parenting leave means that mums are set up as the primary carer and dads are set up as the chief provider, and both parents then struggle to excel in each other’s lanes.

“We need to set parents up as equals from the get-go by levelling up paternity leave, and then we need to instil flexible working practices that allow mothers to work to their full potential instead of making themselves smaller in order to ‘have it all’ and dads to be able to be the present dads that they want to be.”

Gary Barker, president and CEO of Equimundo, responded that while “men are doing more of the care work and finding meaning and happiness in doing so”, families everywhere “face enormous challenges to provide basic care”.

He called on men to “demand and advocate for the care services we all need”.

Lee Chambers, founder of Male Allies UK, wants to see changes to policies that better support parents.

“The problem is we’re asking dads to be providers first and then telling them they need to do 50:50 childcare too. They want to do it, they want to be there, but there’s still a huge pressure to work like you don’t have kids,” he said.

“The reality is something has to give and without policies in place to support dads to be dads, they end up taking a hit as a family, both financially and mentally.

“We need to create balance – put structures in place that enable mums to work without getting paid less than dads for doing so, and we need to enable dads to be dads by giving them time off to bond and care for their children.

“We need to close the gaps if we want any hope of reaching equality at work and home.”

I Lost My Daughter To Cancer. 4 Well-Meaning Words Left Me Feeling More Alone In My Grief

Posted on 18/04/2026 by Boris Clair

When we hear about the death of a child or young adult, we are unsettled, unmoored. Such deaths are out of the natural order. And if it could happen to your child, it could happen to mine. Life is never safe once you have children.

When my daughter died of cancer at age 40, some people remained silent, distancing themselves, as if the death of a child might be bad luck, contagious. Other well-intentioned people hesitated, retreated, reaching for a safe landing.

“There are no words.”

“Your loss is unimaginable.”

“I can’t imagine what you are going through.”

Why is it so easy to find words for joyous occasions – births, graduations, weddings – yet we lose language when seeking words to console and comfort the bereaved? Death humbles us, revealing the empty spaces in language.

I understand. I do. My daughter’s death left me without words. It is incomprehensible to lose a child. Grief isn’t one emotion; it is a tsunami of sadness, anger, shock, pain, helplessness and deep yearning. Perhaps reaching for the shorthand, “There are no words,” is an easier way to say: There will never be words large enough to express this sadness.

After Alex died, I fell into many empty spaces in language, especially the space where I had no name for myself, a parent who has lost her child. Names exist for a child who has lost a parent (orphan), or for a woman who loses her partner (widow), but what do we call an orphaned parent?

Recently, though, I stumbled upon vilomah – a Sanskrit word that means “against the natural order.” The word vilomah embraces the primal injustice of outliving one’s child, inverting the generational order, an upside-down world. Parents expect to predecease their children, not bury them. To be a vilomah is to become an unwanted messenger from a distant point of human existence.

Bereaved parents – vilomahs – aren’t surprised when we learn the word bereavement has its roots in Old English, meaning to deprive, rob, take away. The future tense has been rearranged: Our children have been deprived of their hopes and dreams – their future – and we, their parents, are robbed of our future with them.

The author (right) with her daughter Alex at a family party.

But placeholders such as “there are no words” close off conversations when they most need to begin, forcing a parent who has lost so much to find words to comfort the speaker. Bereaved parents need their friends and families to be safekeepers, using specific words to describe our beautiful children, reminding us that our children live on in their memories.

I needed words of comfort to bring her back – stories about her light and love, her acts of kindness and courage. I needed to hear people say her name – Alex – and surround me with words of love.

Here’s what I want to say to everyone: be brave. There are no perfect words to comfort the bereaved, no comfortable words for something so uncomfortable. You can’t fix my loss, but you can hold in your hearts everything about Alex that made her specific and human – her love for birthdays and balloons, pandas and popsicles, dresses with pockets, Japanese art and fashion design, running marathons and then ultramarathons, making everything look so easy.

You can reminisce joyfully about photos of Alex at the finish line of her 100-mile runs, beaming with a thumbs-up, or about the ways in which she celebrated life’s small pleasures and brought family along for the celebration. Her beautiful curls and welcoming smile that felt like a hug, or the big-hearted gifts she gave – she was a spectacular gift-giver.

Or her love for s’mores and ice cream cake, sushi and dumplings, for growing dahlias and daisies, for the multitudes she contained. These loving, specific words capture the light Alex carried, the vividness with which she lived her life.

When someone says, “There are no words,” I hear “That’s all there is to say,” and when they say, “Your loss is unimaginable,” I hear “I will not try to imagine your loss.” These expressions allow speakers to retreat, staying emotionally adjacent to the bereaved parent’s loss, leaving us isolated, sealed off, deprived of moments of true connection.

When friends and family tell an Alex story or ask for one, they open the uncomfortable spaces in language and let my daughter live on in words.

Bereaved parents live with the geography of our grief, becoming familiar with its peaks and valleys, its edges. Our grief doesn’t disappear; its tail is long. No worries if you didn’t bring the casserole or cannoli; there is plenty of time to offer comfort to a bereaved parent and honour a child’s memory.

I am grateful to the many friends who continue to lift up Alex’s name and carry grief with me – like the neighbour who cooked Alex’s favourite dumplings each month for an entire year, leaving them on our front porch with a simple one-word note reading “love”. For the friends who plant dahlias to honour Alex, or wear dresses with pockets remembering her, and the friends who are listening presences, lingering in the backyard to talk about Alex.

And I am always grateful to the wonderful friends and family who put April 2, Alex’s birthday, and July 15, the day she died, on their calendars, knowing these are both rough days for me and important days to honour Alex’s memory.

A Jewish proverb reminds us of why we need to try to fill the empty spaces in language: “One dies twice – the first time when a body stops breathing; the second time when a name is no longer spoken.”

To a bereaved parent, silence feels like forgetting. Whenever someone speaks the name of my beloved child and asks about her, her life story is kept alive.

If you know a bereaved parent, reach out with loving words and gestures, show up and help carry their grief – and do it again. And again. Become safekeepers of memory – tell a story; ask for a story. Help a bereaved parent find the spaces where their beloved child continues to live.

There are always words.

Do you have a compelling personal story you’d like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what we’re looking for here and send us a pitch at pitch@huffpost.com.

Help and support:

Mind, open Monday to Friday, 9am-6pm on 0300 123 3393.
Samaritans offers a listening service which is open 24 hours a day, on 116 123 (UK and ROI – this number is FREE to call and will not appear on your phone bill).
CALM (the Campaign Against Living Miserably) offer a helpline open 5pm-midnight, 365 days a year, on 0800 58 58 58, and a webchat service.
The Mix is a free support service for people under 25. Call 0808 808 4994 or email help@themix.org.uk
Rethink Mental Illness offers practical help through its advice line which can be reached on 0808 801 0525 (Monday to Friday 10am-4pm). More info can be found on rethink.org.

When’s It OK For Kids To Play Out Alone? An Expert Shares 4 Questions To Answer

Posted on 16/04/2026 by Boris Clair

Gaining independence is a crucial part of growing up – but at what point are kids ready to go it alone and play outside without you watching their every move?

In contrast to those who won’t let their kids go anywhere alone, there are a number of parents who are taking a more laidback approach and parenting “like it’s the 90s”, giving their kids the freedom to play out unsupervised.

I can see the appeal. We lived in a quiet cul-de-sac growing up and I was allowed to play out with our neighbours’ kids – we knew we had to stay in the street, or in one another’s homes. As we got older, we were allowed to venture a bit further afield. It gave my parents a break, and it made me feel like I was capable and trusted.

Nowadays I live on a relatively quiet street on the outskirts of a major city. There’s not much traffic, we’re near a park, but I’m not sure at what point I’d feel comfortable letting my kids go it alone (admittedly they’re both way too young, but it’s something I’ll have to consider in the years to come!).

Gail Sayles, a Childline practitioner, suggests there isn’t really an age when kids are ready for that next level of independence. Instead, it depends on the child and the situation.

“What matters most is whether your child feels ready, and whether you feel confident letting them take that step. If either of you isn’t quite there yet, that’s a sign they may need a bit more time,” she tells HuffPost UK.

What are the signs they’re ready?

Obviously, babies, toddlers and very young children should never be left alone because they can’t keep themselves safe.

The law doesn’t specify an age when parents can leave a child on their own, but it’s an offence to leave a child alone if it places them at risk.

Sayles notes parents are in the “best position” to judge whether their child is ready to head outdoors on their own, “because you know how they usually behave when you’re not with them”.

It can help to ask yourself a few practical questions to help make this decision:

Can they remember important information like their name and address?
Do they stick to agreed timings?
Do they behave responsibly when you’re not with them?
Would they know what to do if plans changed unexpectedly?

The expert advises parents to talk through different scenarios with their child – for example, what they’d do if they hurt themselves or felt uncomfortable. “These conversations can be reassuring for both of you and help build confidence,” she says.

And if you’re unsure whether they’re ready for this next step, you can always start small. Let them play in a nearby area, go out for a short period of time, or spend time with certain friends you trust – this can be a good way to see how they manage, adds Sayles, while still keeping things safe.

What to tell your child before they venture out alone

If you’ve decided your child is ready to go it alone, there are a few important things to address first.

They should be able to share their full name and address and have access to phone numbers for at least two trusted adults.

They should also know what to do in an emergency, including where they could go for help – for example, a shop, library or approaching a police officer or shop staff.

It’s also crucial they feel confident crossing roads safely and know that they should never go anywhere with anyone, even someone they know, without checking with a parent or carer first.

My child’s not ready. What do I tell them?

If you don’t feel your child is ready to venture out alone, Action For Children suggests explaining which skills you’d want them to have first, and then making a plan together to help them learn those skills – that way, they won’t feel like you’re simply shutting them down.

You’ll Definitely Want To Ask Your Kid This Question When They Next Say ‘I’m Bored’

Posted on 12/04/2026 by Boris Clair

If there’s one statement parents have probably heard a lot these past two weeks, it’s “I’m bored” – usually with the added request of “will you play with me?” tagged onto the end.

But often we’re working, or trying to catch up on an admin list that’s as long as our arm (and the rest), or doing chores, so it’s not always possible to down tools and get stuck in.

While turning the TV on or handing over an iPad can feel like a simple fix (hey, we’ve all been there), experts are increasingly nudging parents to try and reduce kids’ screen time where possible.

So, if your children say they’re bored, how’s best to respond?

**Get them thinking about what they want to learn**

Yes, there’s the age-old classic of: “Great, grab the vacuum!”

But children’s author Ty Allan Jackson suggests you could say something along the lines of: “Wow. That’s awesome. What a great opportunity for you to be creative.”

And then he suggests you ask them a simple question: “What is something you wish you knew how to do?”

In a reel on Instagram, the TedX Presenter said: “That question will get them thinking and give you directions on how to entertain them, or better yet, on how they can entertain themselves.”

Of course, there’s every possibility they’ll respond with a shrug or an “I don’t know.”

But some parents have found it successful. One user, known as @mom.outofoffice, said she tried the ‘Wow method’ with her daughter and, admittedly, the first time she asked the question her daughter “just stared” at her.

“But then she said she wanted to learn how to use the coffee machine. We tried it together, and soon she was making it by herself,” said the parent. “Before I knew it… she had turned our kitchen into a full-on coffee shop. And wow… it became one of her favourite ways to play.”

Boredom is good for kids (yes, really)

Neuroscientist Alicia Walf, a researcher in the Department of Cognitive Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, told Forbes boredom is critical for brain health, noting it can improve social connections and foster creativity, too.

According to psychiatrist and author Dr Carl Marci, letting your kids figure out how to keep boredom at bay could be far more beneficial than stepping in for them.

When his children tell him he’s bored, he’ll urge them to go and figure out how to deal with it – but without technology or something connected to the internet.

“They get mad at me,” Dr Marci previously told HuffPost UK, “but after a few minutes, they start to creatively solve their problems or distract themselves with social interaction or play.”

Bring on the summer holidays…

‘Bank Account Cleared By A Threenager’: Don’t Make This Expensive Mistake When Handing Kids Your Phone

Posted on 09/04/2026 by Boris Clair

Parents have opened up about the dangers of leaving kids to their own devices on their devices, after a viral post showed how easily a child was able to spend their parents’ money while using their iPad.

In January, parenting influencers Cole and Abbie shared their son had been on a secret shopping spree on their iPad, paying for a load of Apple services. “I didn’t think it was possible without my Face ID but here we are. Massive lesson learnt,” wrote the influencers at the time.

They weren’t the only ones to fall victim to it, either.

In response to Cole and Abbie’s misfortune, one commenter said: “It’s a parental right of passage to have your bank account cleared by a threenager. Mine did it on Amazon through the Alexa buying fart sounds.”

Another said: “My son wanted a rabbit so, while playing games on my phone, went on to Amazon and brought a hutch for £150, didn’t realised till it turned up at my door… and his answer was ‘can I have my rabbit now?’.”

“Been there done that!” added another parent, noting their child had purchased 100 fidget toys and 100 lip balms. Eek.

With kids still off school, experts from Protect Your Bubble are urging parents to check one particular setting on their devices to stop their bank accounts from accidentally being emptied.

James Brown, director at Protect Your Bubble, said: “It’s easy to assume that payments need passwords or additional approval; however, many devices and accounts allow instant spending once a card is saved to the account.”

He continued: “From a child’s perspective, it doesn’t feel like spending real money; however, for parents, it can mean hundreds, or even thousands, disappearing before they notice.”

How to stop kids from spending all your money online

First of all, turn off one-touch payments on devices and require approval for every purchase. “This single change can stop accidental spending instantly, and it takes less than two minutes to set up,” Brown said.

Households using Apple devices with Family Sharing set up should also turn on Ask to Buy, which blocks all purchases until they are approved.

Games consoles are also an easy way to wrack up debt. Brown noted they are “often overlooked, despite being one of the biggest risks”.

“Saved card details on PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo accounts can lead to purchases stacking up quickly,” he noted.

The expert recommends removing saved payment cards from accounts and setting monthly spending limits in console settings. You can also enable PINs or passwords for purchases.

“Consoles are where costs could spiral fastest,” he ended. “Prevention is far easier than trying to recover the money afterwards, and this is one of the most important tech checks parents can make this winter.”

UK’s Paternity Leave Changed This Week, But Dads Say It ‘Doesn’t Go Far Enough’

Posted on 08/04/2026 by Boris Clair

Dads-to-be now have the right to paternity leave from the first day in a new job, rather than having to wait six months to be eligible.

The change means that from 6 April, new dads can take two weeks of paternity leave from day one of a new job – however, this will not be paid leave unless they’ve worked for their employer for more than 26 weeks.

Dads can receive £194 per week or 90% of pay (whichever is lower).

But campaigners are saying the change “doesn’t go far enough” to improve the UK’s measly paternity leave offering, which has been slammed as the worst in Europe.

Ultimately, many want to see dads’ leave extended from the current offering of two weeks, to six weeks, as default.

Elliott Rae, founder of Parenting Out Loud and Equal Parenting Week, said the latest changes to paternity leave are “much needed”, but dads “should have been entitled” to it already.

“Paternity leave in the UK is dire and fixing something that should never have been an issue in the first place doesn’t go far enough,” he said.

“We need to start changing the way we think about families and valuing the roles of dads and partners more. Dads want to step up, and it’s high time we let them.”

Prior to the new changes, some dads were forced to take annual leave rather than paternity leave because their partners became pregnant shortly after they started a new role.

Oliver, from Gloucester, was one of them. He began a new role while his wife was pregnant. “Paternity leave entitlement should always have been in place from day one, regardless of whether you’ve switched roles,” he said.

“During the early days of parenting, having annual leave to use for illness or child care is vital, so using up a big chunk of your entitlement, or not being able to take time off at all, isn’t fair.

“We now need to use this momentum to drive forward more change and more rights for dads. We need to stop policy getting in the way of parenting.”

Hundreds of dads and partners plan to join a ‘Push for Paternity’ pram march on Saturday 2 May, in London, Leeds and Manchester, calling for a fairer paternity leave system.

Joeli Brearley, founder of Growth Spurt, added: “We should be embarrassed by how far behind the rest of Europe we are on parental support. We offer the worst paternity leave in Europe, one of the weakest maternity pay systems, virtually no meaningful support for parents of children with SEND, and a childcare system that quietly forces parents out of work and back to the kitchen sink.

“These changes are a step in the right direction. But let’s be honest, we are still at the foothills of a very steep climb if we want to properly support working families.”

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