When we find out that we are having a new baby, we are full of hope and anticipation about what the future will bring.

But what if it isn’t quite what we thought it would be? What if our child shouts at us? Or even worse, hits, kicks and/or punches us? What if they don’t talk to us at all? What if they seem to live in a world of their own? What if they never sleep?

We all face challenges as parents – some more than others. But when our children challenge us on a daily, or almost daily basis, it can feel isolating, scary or worrying and we might even question our ability to parent.

At Child Behaviour Solutions, we work hard with you to build on your confidence as a parent and to help you understand your child’s world – and why it is they are behaving in such a challenging way.

Different parenting groups will look at theories such as attachment and relationship theory.

We try to use a slightly different approach to this. We look at families as individuals and give you the opportunity and space to really work out why the challenging behaviours might be happening, what the function of the behaviour is and what we can learn from our children when they display challenging behaviours. That might sound a bit strange … what we can learn from our children … but behaviour is a way of communicating how we feel about something – so yes, if we learn to listen to behaviour rather than just see the action, we can learn something.