Articles & Resources

The Superpowers of ADHD
Whilst many children become frustrated at their ADHD traits, they also hold many positive qualities and abilities due to their brain’s unique patterns and reactions. Children and adolescents with ADHD have higher levels of energy and awareness than their peers. At the bottom of this, is an aversion to boredom. Simply, when bored their brains

Children’s Activity: Recognising my Value
Self-esteem Self-esteem refers to understanding and recognising our own value, outside of others. When we have high self-esteem it is a protector for mental health, whilst poor self-esteem makes us more vulnerable. Can you recognise your own worth? value? personality traits? skills and talents? Free Download Download here Next steps Download the worksheet here Consider

Do we expect too much logic from children?
When you were younger, did you ever have an adult say to you: ‘Why didn’t you think this through?’ ‘Didn’t you think about that happening?’ ‘Why didn’t you consider the consequences?’ Having worked with children for over 25 years, I frequently reflect back on how much things have changed in our understanding of working with

Children’s Activity: Self-love
Self-love When we take good care of ourselves, it improves our mood, mindset and our connections with friends and family. Taking care of ourselves means that we are talking to ourselves and treating ourselves with love and care. This can include: The way we talk to ourselves The way we treat ourselves (food, drink, sleep,

8 ways to reduce overwhelm at Christmas
Christmas and Fear Whilst Christmas is often a magical and exciting time of year, for many children it can quickly become overwhelming. It’s interesting that not all children perceive the sense of excitement as exciting, and for many children I have worked with over the years, excitement is categorised for them as fear or dread.

Children’s Activity: Gratitude
The Power of Gratitude It has been found that practicing gratitude has a positive impact on our sense of happiness and well-being. When we practice gratitude consistently, and over time, we can train our brain to focus on what is going well, and develop a sense of optimism. It has been found, that gratitude boosts

What is interoception?
Interoception is the ability to identify, understand and respond to the state of the inside of our body. It involves the awareness that we have of our internal bodily signals, and whether we can interpret what these mean. This includes aspects such as hunger, thirst, heart rate, body temperature, breathing rate, emotions and our digestive

Children’s Activity: Mandala
Download here Free Activity So, this week, our free activity is a downloadable mandala colouring sheet, so you can unwind together. Why not make it a family affair and all have a go…. Download it here Print it off Grab some colouring pens or pencils Relax and unwind Want to learn more? Are you looking

Motivation is imaginary……
“When I’m motivated, I will get started” “Once that wave of motivation appears, i’m there” “I just need some motivation, and then I will do it” “I’m just not motivated right now” The infamous motivation…..ever noticed that it’s the most elusive feeling in our repertoire? Motivation is defined as – ‘a reason or reasons for

Children’s Activity: Journal Prompts for Anger
Journal Prompts Journalling can help us to calm our minds by structuring our thoughts. Journal prompts help us to explore different aspects of our lives and develop a deeper understanding of them. By taking time to deeply think about different concepts, we can find peace, solutions or identify areas for support. Journal prompts are questions

The Value of Promises
What is a promise? Promises. When we are little we little, we are repeatedly asked ‘do you promise?’, or told ‘I promise we will….’ or ‘I promise we can…’, but what is a promise? In the dictionary, a promise is defined as: (n) a declaration or assurance that one will do something or that a

Children’s Activity: Journal Prompts for Self-esteem
Journal Prompts Journalling can help us to calm our minds by structuring our thoughts. Journal prompts help us to explore different aspects of our lives and develop a deeper understanding of them. By taking time to deeply think about different concepts, we can find peace, solutions or identify areas for support. Journal prompts are questions

8 ways to support children with ADHD in learning
So often, when talking about children with ADHD we hear words such as ‘daydreamer’, ‘distracted’, ‘absent minded’ and in the worst case scenarios words such as ‘lazy’. However, ADHD is, at its heart, an aversion to boredom. Long periods of sitting, listening, with no action create heightened levels of boredom, and in doing so further

Children’s Activity: Reframing Adversity
Adversity: When we experience challenges and adversity we can find ourselves trapped in spirals of limiting beliefs or negative thinking ‘why me?’ ‘nothing even goes right’ ‘the world is against me’ etc etc. If we learn to reframe the adversity to look at what it taught us, as well as what we are grateful for

Why do children lie?
A frequent issue which is presented in my coaching and therapy work surrounds lying. Parents and carers will frequently ask why their child is lying and want to stop it from happening. However, whilst lying is often labelled as a behaviour issue, it most frequently has other causes lying beneath it. So, why do children

Children’s Activity: Safety Circle
Emotional Safety Feeling emotionally safe means that we have the freedom to feel creative, dream and explore. This means that we are in en environment that feels safe physically, emotionally and socially. Including; having people that we can trust, can be open and vulnerable, feel listened to and heard, show kindness to ourselves and others,

Can you stop yourself eating marshmallows?
Over the summer we saw a trend on social media of parents (and some dog parents) placing marshmallows (or dog treats) on a plate in front of their children and leaving the room to see what their child did. The internet was consumed with joy as they watched these videos of small ones looking round

Children’s Activity: Coping Strategies
Finding effective ways to respond to our feelings supports children to develop their confidence, self-esteem and independence skills. When we are able to effectively react when our emotions feel overwhelming, we also build resilience. So, this week we are sharing 16 coping skills, to share and explore with children, to support them to build their

DISCLAIMER
The resources on this site are for individual use. They are not permitted to be mass reproduced by other organisations without a licensing fee. The content and resources on this site may not be mass reproduced in whole, or in part and are not for re-distribution by third parties without special permission from the provider. No use of these resources may be made for resale or any other commercial purposes without prior consent and written permission from Dandelion Training and Development. In some cases a licensing fee may apply.