Family Date

18/02/2026

This morning, I walked out of the shop and spotted a mum with her two daughters, about six and three. It was one of those mornings—cold, snowy, the kind where you wish you’d just stayed in. The eldest couldn’t resist those stone steps, itching to climb and jump, just to feel that small thrill.
But all she heard was, “Be careful! Don’t do that, you’ll fall! You’ll scrape your knee! You’ll ruin your new dress!”
Standing there, my heart ached. Of course, this mum was just doing her best to protect her daughter—who wouldn’t? But I could see, in that moment, the little girl shrink back, her excitement melting into disappointment. She came back and took her mum’s hand. And mum kept going, “So this is good, what if you had slipped and fallen? You would have been so sorry.”
I get it. Gosh, I have totally done this myself. It’s almost impossible not to let those words tumble out when you love someone so much and want to shield them. And yet—what does a little girl hear when her wings are clipped before she even gets a chance to try? “Don’t risk it. Don’t be bold. Staying clean and safe matters more than finding out what you can do.”
And that’s what sticks with me. A new dress? It can be washed. A scraped knee? It will heal. But that glowing curiosity, that fearless voice that says “I want to try!”—we can’t buy that back for them.
Let’s be honest—sometimes my own fear wants to shout louder than their bravery. But what if, instead, we learned to pause and just watch them take that jump? What if we quietly cheered instead of loudly warning? Maybe our children would trust themselves a little more, learn they are resilient, strong, more than their mistakes.
We’re not just protecting their skin and their clothes. We’re teaching them how to live. And maybe, just maybe, we could let them fall and find out that they can get up again, and again, and again. Isn’t that what courage really is?

16/02/2026

I asked my child to put their shoes on, and you’d think I’d handed them a pop quiz in quantum physics - while riding a unicycle. The sigh they gave could have powered a small wind farm. I honestly worried they’d need a fainting couch.

Sometimes, their big reactions to our small requests can feel overwhelming. It’s in these moments that we can feel our own frustration rising. But what if we saw it not as defiance, but as them simply being overwhelmed?

When you feel lost in these daily struggles, remember to take a breath. You are teaching them how to navigate their big feelings, one pair of shoes at a time. You’re doing an incredible job. .fun

19/11/2025

We don’t mean to raise people-pleasers… but we do, one tiny sentence at a time.
“Everyone is looking at you.”
“What will they think?”
“Stop crying.”
“What did your friend get?”

Little by little, kids learn to tune out their own voice and tune into everyone else’s.

My new blog is about how that happens and how we can help our children build confidence, courage, and a strong inner voice instead. 💛✨

Full post now live on Familydate.fun ✨

We don’t mean to raise people-pleasers… but we do, one tiny sentence at a time. “Everyone is looking at you.” “What will they think?” “Stop crying.” “What did your friend get?” Little by little, kids learn to tune out their own voice and tune into everyone else’s. My new blog i...

12/11/2025

We teach kids coding, maths, and frameworks
but do we give them space to think, feel, and trust themselves?

My latest blog explores what children really hear when we talk to them and how to raise kids who know how to think and who they are. 💛
👉 Read it on Familydate.fun

We teach children facts and rules, but forget to help them discover who they are.

06/11/2025

My daughter’s first handmade pot broke this week… and what happened next taught us both something about grief, love, and resilience.
New blog is up - this one is close to my heart. 💛

Today I learned that sometimes the best thing we can do as parents is not make it better. Just be there. New blog: How Kids See Us - The Broken Pot.

15/05/2023

Check out my article in the South West edition of Families Magazine, on managing kids behaviours at parties, written with the help of the lovely Agata from Family Date.

https://issuu.com/familiesonline/docs/swl_325_may_june_2023_proof_final?fr=sMTU5NTYwMTY2MTQ

26/01/2023

Children do better when they feel better. Hugs help our kids and us feel better. Next time when your little ones are having a hard time, offer them a hug. If they refuse don’t force it, tell them you need a hug. If they still refuse, tell them that you are ready for a hug whenever they are and walk away. Hugs help us and our kids calm down, control breathing, reconnect our prefrontal cortex so we get out of the fight/flight/freeze state and start thinking rationally (to our capacity). when genuine they are a game changer. Try it next time. .fun

17/01/2023

Is your child ignoring you? Not listening to you? Well, firstly this is normal, kids don't often listen to us and yet it can be frustrating for parents and pushing all our buttons. So, next time your child is not listening to you, rather than screaming your heart out, try these steps:
1. Check how you model listening to them. Are you engaged? Do you make eye contact with them? Kids are copy cats!
2. Use non verbal tools like: a touch or an eye contact. Kids are visual learners. When they are engaged in what they are doing, your voice is tuned out so they need a bit more to actually notice you.
3. Connect with them first before redirecting. Ask about what they are doing and then ask what you wanted them to ask.

For more tips, follow or send your questions my way.

26/12/2022

Merry Christmas! Enjoy the time together with your loved ones! Dirty dishes, cleaning up can wait, it’s not going anywhere! Merry Christmas!

13/12/2022

Action! Not words! My most favourite tool to handle a tantrum. With Christmas around the corner, our kids routines will change. It’s likely we are going to experience a tantrum or a few of them. A child throwing a tantrum is a child that is trying to communicate, we just cannot understand what they are telling us. They could be saying: “I am hungry”, “I am tired”, “I am bored”, “this is too much”, “someone took my toy”, “I miss my toy”….. and more. So if you want to handle a tantrum ACT. Step 1 - take your child to a quiet space where you can be one on one with him. This could be a bathroom, a car, a utility room. Step 2- validate their feelings: it’s ok to feel sad. Stop the urge to lecture, blame or shame your child there! Step 3 - give them as much time to calm down. Step 4 - see if they want to tell you the problem and find a solution. It’s ok if they don’t at the moment and want to go back to play. You can pick it up later! Step 5 - rejoin. This tool is respectful to you, your child and the situation

29/11/2022

Christmas is coming. You are probably pretty busy right now getting ready. On top of that are you wondering how you are going to survive this, how your kids will behave, what your family will think when your kids are misbehaving. I got good news for you, I have a list of tips that will help you get into a driving seat and as a result relax over Christmas and enjoy it! Get in touch and I will send you a list of effective tips to drive your kids’ collaboration, manage misbehaviours when they happen. Get in touch and get the list. Stick it to your fridge as a reminder. Don’t worry, you got this! we, mums stick together! Agata@familydate.fun

22/11/2022

Social interactions is a skill that we need to teach our kids. It’s no different to a skill of reading.

When it comes to reading we start with teaching the basics and then step by step we increase complexity. Right? kids learn phonics, then blending sounds into words, then words into sentences and finally reading pages and books. It takes years for them to become fluent.

Same goes for social interactions. We need to start by teaching our kids the basics and then step by step increasing the complexity.

Unfortunately for some reason we just assume kids know how to behave by default and that they should be fluent at it. Reality is different. Take time to teach your children the social interactions and with time they will become fluent at it. Start small. Manage your expectations. Prep for Christmas.

If you need any help with ideas how to teach kids social interactions by incorporating activities into your daily routines, get in touch.