Here’s a full breakdown of what I cover in this course:

1st Thing - Connected Mothering

When I talk about mothering, I am not simply talking about mums. Lots of people in a baby’s life can offer the qualities of mothering but it’s something that the modern world makes more and more difficult. This week, we will discuss:

Why belonging and attachment are crucial to babies’ development
How to create strong attachment and be your child’s safe base
How to build love bridges with your child
Why meeting children’s needs can be hard work and how to handle that.

2nd Thing - The bountiful brain in infancy

A healthy understanding of what happens inside our babies’ brains from the moment of birth and as they grow throughout childhood and adolescence is incredibly helpful to shape the way we parent. We can have huge influence on shaping our baby’s brains, particularly in the first five years. In this session, I’ll touch on:

What supports healthy brain development
Memory and how to make memories that matter
Helping children learn self-regulation
Learning and reading
Mindsets & how they can help or hinder a child.

3rd Thing: Go-slow Childhoods

All parents want the best for their children — we want them to grow up healthy, happy and kind, and to live meaningful lives as adults. We want them to be able to manage living in our chaotic world and avoid becoming overwhelmed by the speediness and busy-ness of modern life. One of the best ways to do this is by calming our children’s lives. Stress is a new challenge to children’s health and social wellbeing in our modern world. This week, I’ll cover:

The high cost of stress for our children
Tips for soothing, calming and relaxing children (and your household)
Dealing with separation distress
Cultivating mindfulness
How to slow down in a sped-up world.

4th Thing - Roosters & Lambs: Temperament Matters

Temperament can often be at the root of some of our most challenging parenting moments. I define temperament according to a spectrum at which either end sits a feisty, noisy rooster or a gentler, quiet lamb. When we view our children like this (and seek to help them find a balance in between), we can be less reactive and more compassionate in our approach to them. This week, I’ll discuss:

The qualities of roosters and how to parent them
The qualities of lambs and how to parent them
Praise and encouragement
Understanding challenging behaviour
The damaging effects of shaming
Creating a family solution-seeking process
Positive parental communication.

5th Thing - The magic of movement and play

Without plenty of natural movement, babies and toddlers run the risk of experiencing developmental delays in all areas of their life. Human beings were born to be movers and living a sedentary life is really a disruption to our nature. In this session, I’ll touch on:

How our risk-averse society is stunting our children’s development
Play and its power to grow happy, healthy kids
Stages of play for babies, toddlers and children
The costs of lack of play
Getting outside
How to bring more play and movement into our children’s lives.

6th Thing - Gorgeous girls and beautiful boys

Gender has a big influence on all of us, not just our biology but also what is expected of us, how we are treated and how we behave accordingly. In this session, I’ll look at some of the common differences between boys and girls, and discuss why the sad statistics and poor outcomes for boys has made me a boy champion. I’ll cover:

Why girls are generally developmentally ahead of boys in the early years
The sexualisation of girls
The importance of dads to their daughters
Why boys need our understanding
The emotional vulnerability of boys
The modern-day ‘warrior’
Helping boys with conflict.

7th Thing - Expectations, belief systems and mindsets - positive memory pathways

Our expectations of ourselves as parents and of our children can often undermine our happiness — particularly if we are measuring ourselves against media-driven ideals of perfection. In this session, I’ll take a look at how our beliefs are formed and how they can stick with us for a lifetime and discuss:

How our beliefs influence the way we behave and feel, and the language we use
How to avoid over-reacting or with anger when our children don’t meet our expectations
Resilience and why it matters
How to encourage flexible mindsets in your children.

8th Thing - Kindness and fairness really matter

Our children’s emotional and social worlds are just as important as their cognitive and physical development. But how do we raise our children to be kind, caring and fair people rather than serial killers? In this session, we’ll dive into:

Emotional intelligence
How to raise a moral child
Why kindness matters and what it means
Building empathy
Avoiding meltdowns and wars
How screens can influence kids’ behaviour
Disciplining with fairness and kindness.

9th Thing - The safe circle of community

Belonging is not just something that makes us feel good; it is a biological drive for survival as we are instinctively terrified of the being excluded from our tribe. In the current context, as our world gets busier and busier, we’re losing our ability to stay connected in real time. How does this affect the way we parent, and what might the impact be on our kids. This week, we’ll look at:

Helping our children to build genuine linkages and have positive, meaningful involvement with others
Why communities matter to resilience
When bad things happen
What you can do today to build your own community.

Bonus Material

As a thank you for signing on to my online course offering, every registrant will receive two free audio downloads from me:

1. My 9 Things Ebook

The course comes with an eBook version of my book, 9 Things.. so you can read along as you progress through the course, or dip into in your own time when you just want to read more about a particular issue. This book is usually worth $14.99.

2. My 9 Things Video Seminar

3. A conversation with Justin Coulson

I recorded this wonderful interview a while ago with this father of six girls and author of What Your Child Needs from You (he's since gone on to write many more books). During our chat, we discussed how to be a mindful parent; dads and daughters; discipline and specifically alternatives to time out; and how to be emotionally available in our busy world.

4. My “Relax & Escape” creative visualisation

This relaxing visualisation for the whole family (especially adolescents and adults) encourages you to completely unplug from the external world to restore yourself to a natural balance of mind, body and spirit, and connect to your own inner resources of strength, creativity, inner awareness and wisdom.

5. My "Flight Fantasy" creative visualisation

This short, relaxing visualisation can be used with individuals or groups aged 5 and older. In it, I use breath, colour, music and the imagery of a bird in flight to take listeners on a relaxing, contemplative journey. From a place of quietness and imagination, I invite you to reflect on your fullest human potential and the way in which you are called to express that. The track is more than a simple relaxation, it plants a seed that will grow in everyday life, manifesting positive outcomes for children and adults alike.

My Guarantee

If you are not satisfied with the course content or delivery within 30 days of signing up, I will happily return your registration fee. The bonus materials are yours to keep. It is my absolute honour to be able to support families through my work and I look forward to connecting with parents through this course who are committed to quietly improving their lives.

Best wishes,