Family wellbeing
Every family is different and there’s no magic formula for family success. With so many pressures on families today it’s not surprising that parents lack confidence and reach out for help. If you feel that your family life is hard work and unrewarding, or that your children are difficult and unco-operative, it’s impossible to enjoy being a parent. Family life is about balance-the balance between home and work, between parent and child, between discipline and fun. With our considerable experience of children and families, Carlyle Key can help you put your problems in to proper perspective and guide your family back on track to family wellbeing. We’ve seen our advice work-over and over again. It can work for you.
Making the support network work
Families are not just the child and the parent, for most of us it’s a whole alliance of support-grandparents, friends, the nursery or school, the nanny or au pair who lives with us. We depend on this structure, and when it breaks down it can be very unsettling for all. Carlyle Key can help families identify where problems have arisen, act as mediators to resolve difficult situations, and help all concerned to move on to a positive relationship that will lead to a more peaceful and well-organised family life.
Carers, nannies, childminders, nurseries
The last thing parents want is to make changes in their often complex childcare arrangements. For advice on encouraging grandparents or friends to follow your childcare patterns, consult Carlyle Key. We also offer mediation where relationships with nannies, au pairs, childminders and nurseries have been damaged-helping all to go forward with clear expectations in the best interests of the child.
Co-operation with teachers
A teacher’s job is increasingly complicated and stressful but your child will gain most from school if teachers and parents share a good understanding of a child’s needs, any difficulties and particular abilities. The Directors of Carlyle Key have considerable experience of both sides of the teacher’s desk and they can help parents to understand how to form co-operative relationships with teachers to ensure that children reach their full potential at school.
Activity overload
Are you one of the increasing number of parents that has scheduled a hectic timetable of activities for your child after school and at weekends? Do you hurtle from school to Mandarin, ballet, flute and football? We all want to give our children opportunities, but are they doing too much? Are all these wonderful activities making your children grumpy and exhausted and stifling their creative imaginations? Children need space-and even boredom- to develop their inner resources. Carlyle Key can assist parents in planning a schedule for a child that will allow them to develop as well-rounded individuals-without activity overload.
Holidays and journeys
For busy parents of young children, the idea of a holiday seems like heaven. But all the excitement, different routine, change of climate, on top of a long journey with a bored and miserable toddler-this can be very far from the ideal break you’ve been longing for. The key to a fun and restful holiday with children lies in planningpreparing your children for new experiences so that it will be an adventure they can enjoy with you. Carlyle Key has tips and strategies to share with parents to help avoid “holiday hell”.
Social confidence
Some children hate parties and unfamiliar situations. They stay glued to their parent’s side at any new social occasion. They don’t want to join in and they don’t want you to leave. You want a break and you want them to be happy when you are out of sight. Carlyle Key’s understanding of children’s feelings in such situations has resulted in practical tips and methods for parents that will make your child less apprehensive and give him the confidence to explore and learn without you by his side.
Family breakdown
We are not experts in family breakdown support although of course many children we have encountered in our careers have been through upheaval in their family structures. Where Carlyle Key can be most helpful is explaining to parents how to present information to children in a way that they are developmentally able to process, so that they are more easily able to understand and therefore deal with unsettling changes in their lives.