Calmer, Easier, Happier Screen Time with Noël Janis-Norton

In the past she's come to Abingdon and given fantastic advice on parenting and homework. But we are excited to welcome back Noël Janis-Norton, who is coming to John Mason School to talk about children and ‘Screen Time’.

The most frequent question Noël is asked is how to limit and manage screen time. Parents know their children become aggressive and stressed after prolonged time on an electronic device - whether phone, XBox or TV - and they know that it limits their child's willingness to do other activities - yet they struggle to find ways to deal with it.

Noël is a real inspiration and has just so much wisdom and experience in dealing with children of all ages. She will be at John Mason School on Thursday, May 12 at 6pm to discuss her proven techniques to help parents in this complex area.

In 'Calmer, Easier, Happier Screen Time' she uses the latest scientific research to show just how addictive the digital world can be for the developing brain. She'll also use calmer, easier, happier techniques to help parents wean their children and teenagers away from their electronic devices, to limit and guide their screen time in a positive way and, feel parents are more in charge of this challenging area of modern life.

This event is free, but space is limited - so please email us to reserve a place if you want to come. For anyone who has seen Noël speak before, she's a quietly engaging and inspiring speaker. 

And if you know anyone who you feel would benefit from practical advice – let them know!

Calmer, easier, happier parents all round

Parenting, and how to develop a parenting style that helps your children be more confident and want to cooperate (without complaint and without having to be reminded) was the subject of our evening event on Monday July 16.

It was a sell-out, and it took a while to move enough tables in the shop out of the way to make room for all the mums, dads and grandparents who came along to pick up some tips on how to take some of the difficulties out of looking after children.

Parenting guru Noël Janis-Norton has spent many years developing her parenting techniques, which are now collected in her book  ‘Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting’, which is currently one of the best-selling books on parenting.

In a mixture of good advice, questions, and even a little role play, the audience was taken through Noel’s strategies to help children want to do as you ask, the first time of asking.

Her approach is based on remembering to praise your children when they get things right. She explained why focusing on bad behaviour can actually have a negative effect and why nagging and reminding them when they are doing something wrong is a strategy that is stressful for both parent and child.

Constantly finding things to praise is often counter-intuitive and parents often have to work hard to succeed, but the result is that children are reinforced with positive images of the behaviour their parents would like to see and Noel said she has never known her strategies fail.

She also gave us the science behind it, explaining that in focusing on helping children picture correct behaviour you help to programme their long-term memories, which is what guides repeated behaviour.

Noel encouraged the audience - even if they were sceptical - to try her techniques, even if they found it difficult at first. She also encouraged sitting down with their children, making sure they knew exactly what behaviour is expected.

The final result is that children are more confident and self-reliant generally in their lives.

It was a fascinating evening and I doubt anyone went away without a resolve to try it out.

Noel’s next book will be about homework – and from the enthusiastic response to the evening on Monday, we are hoping she will come back next year and help us all take the stress out of homework! We may have to find a suitable school...one with a bit more room...

Thanks very much to Noel, who travelled up from London on the day especially to attend the event. We sold out of the book on the evening - but I'm glad to say that more copies of her book have now arrived!

Update 2013 - Noel is returning to Abingdon on Wednesday May 22 to talk about the challenges of homework - find out more here.


(If you'd like to know a bit more about the evening, blogging Mum ChildLedChaos attended the evening and has written a fabulous blog on the event here, including more on Noel's approach, methods, and her extremely effective 'socratic' method of asking questions repeatedly to get to the root of specific problems raised by those in the audience!)

3 4 Friday: Events: Search and Rescue (and breathe out)

For today's 3 book pick from the shelves of Mostly Books, we've focused on three books to coincide with three events coming up in the next few weeks.

Books often get described as a 'phenomenon' these days, but 'Where's Wally' can truly be described as such - not just because, 25 years after it launched, it still sells in the tens of thousands a year, but because it was (and is) a book that continues to reach out and turn children on to sitting with a book, where other books have failed.

A firm fixture in our culture - think spin-offs like 'Where's Stig' and 'Where's the Meerkat' (amongst many others) we are holding a month-long Abingdon Where's Wally? Hunt starting on June 29. There'll be fun and prizes galore...

For the parents amongst you (and that includes us) we could all do with a bit of 'Calmer, Easier, Happier Parenting' from time to time, so this book by childcare guru Nöel Janis-Norton offers down-to-earth, practical, common-sense advice to help improve our relationship with children, and have happier children at home and in school.

We are delighted to be welcoming Nöel to Mostly Books on Monday, July 16th - and intend to create a relaxed atmosphere (including the odd glass of wine) in which Janis can talk about her philosophy, give advice and answer questions.

Finally - little girl heaven. We appreciate that not every girl is into princesses (or animals), but for those who are, how about a brand new series of early reader books which have 'action' princesses who rescue animals in danger?

We think these are a great new series, and we've lured Rescue Princesses author Paula Harrison down to Mostly Books to host a Rescue Princess Party on Tuesday 7 August from 10.30am.

She will be helping you make crowns, tiaras, animal masks - and judging the best dressed Prince, Princess or Animal on the day!