Stories, Tips and Resources for Developing Your People-literacy Skills

Sometime ago, I was asked to deliver management training to a team in a local school here in Auckland NZ. The principal was having a problem with her deputy principal and staff getting along together. There was a bit of conflict happening. I’ve alway thought of...

Many parents worry about their kids being bullied, or if they have one with bullying tendencies what to do about it. Many people out there think that we are making too much of a fuss about it, that we should leave kids to their own devices. I tend to disagree. I...

Source: The Virtues Project Educator’s Guide by Linda Kavelin. Being a trained facilitator for the Virtues Project developed by Linda Kavelin Popov, I’m very passionate about supporting parents to raise happy, kind and responsible kiddos.  Parents are ultimately...

Some time ago I was delivering my DISCovering Me Program for Youth to a school, when I noticed there was one student not handing in his “HomePlay” assignments. Instead of asking him about it in front of the class, I spoke to him in private and asked what the reason...

How to Communicate with Teens So They'll Talk To You A parent of a tween reached out to me the other week and said, “Help! My daughter is not talking to me anymore and I don’t know what to do about it!” I’ve known this mother now for some time and know that she really...

My Blog this month is about “Being shy”, or as some say introverted. I was prompted to write about this topic when I was out grabbing a coffee the other day, when I was visiting my elderly mum. While waiting for my coffee I observed a mum with her two Kiddos. The...

I’m starting off this Blog with a few questions to get you thinking. What were you raised to believe as a child? Did you perceive that your environment was friendly…or not friendly?  Favorable? Or Unfavorable? Did you think tasks should be handled by taking control of...

There have been some parents asking me, “How come my kids fight with me so much?” So, I thought that my blog post for this month would give you some insights on why this happens, and tips on how to create more harmony in the family.   Clashes between tweens, teens and...

Positive thinking helps with managing stress and can even improve your health. There is this saying that many of you may have heard, “Is your glass half-empty or half-full?” How you answer this age-old question about positive thinking may reflect your outlook on life,...

The kids were running late for school and Sarah was starting to grow impatient and get angry. 12-year-old Sam wanted to grab a snack, and Peter the 10-year-old was arguing with his sister who was making fun of him. Everyone was ignoring her! Sam opened a can of...

When my kids were growing up I had a part time job that gave me a chance to get out of the house and mix with other people. I did have to be organized though as hubby caught the ball when I was running out the door. Dinner or lunch was prepared and the list for the...

I was thinking about what to write for December and I kept getting taps on the shoulder in the form of conversations I was having with people. A friend of mine said, “Gosh Sandra if only this time of year wasn’t so hectic. Hubby does nothing to help!” Or another...

Do you sometimes wish your teen was better at solving problems instead of blaming others, ignoring them wishing they would go away, or feeling defeated?  Do they demand that you solve their problem for them? Or worse do they complain and then storm off or shut you...

Listening to the news and watching TV gives us plenty of reasons to worry about our kids. How times have changed. We all want to protect our kids and make sure they’re safe and healthy. Where this can become problematic is when parents attempt to remove obstacles in...

As a teenager growing up, my parents were what I thought controlling. I remember as young kids we weren’t allowed to speak at the dinner table until all our food was eaten. The one vegetable I disliked was the brussel sprout, so you can imagine the silence that went...

As Bruce Lee once said “To know oneself is to study oneself in action, with another person”. With that in mind, it’s so important to become emotionally intelligent (EQ) by learning what is driving your behavior and the behavior of others. And we call this behavior...

Most parents dream of a responsible, independent teen—one that lends a hand with household chores without being asked, always calls to check-in and also hangs out with a good crowd of friends. But, in reality, all teens are going to drop the ball on responsibility...

A few years ago, I was facilitating a workshop and a participant asked me this question, “My mom is just an unintentionally toxic person. How do I handle my agitation around her coming to visit us over the next few days?” Toxic interactions can slip into family life...