We were struggling at home with our 4 and 6 year old boys behaviour and felt like we had no control. We were terrified of meltdowns and arguments and used all the techniques like negotiating, bribing, rewards etc with the boys for an easy life – but it didn’t make things easier. We constantly asked ourselves whether this was how hard parenting should be and whether we just couldn’t handle it and were awful parents or whether our boys were just more difficult than other children.
Other parents seemed to make it look so easy we often felt like we were failing and doing everything wrong. We would read Katherine’s reviews and be in tears as we could relate so much to people’s stories, and we genuinely didn’t think there was a solution – that we would just have to continue fire fighting and hoping things would get easier as the boys got older. We finally reached out to Katherine when we found out we were expecting our third child as the thought of introducing a baby into the existing chaos filled us with dread!
After our first call with Katherine we were excited, everything she said resonated with us and we finally felt that there was a chance that things could improve. We were apprehensive and nervous before Katherine’s visit and having a stranger live with us for 3 days judging our parenting, but we instantly felt at ease when Katherine arrived. She explained the process to us and how everything would work, at no point did we feel judged or like we were doing anything wrong.
Katherine instantly recognised that our boys were control grabbing, and in particular our eldest was in control of the whole household! This was a massive eye opener to us, and once we started the process we realised just how little control we had over our children and our own lives! The process was hard, and Katherine explained that we would see behaviour getting worse before it got better, as this was a result of us regaining control from the boys. The behaviour we witnessed coming out during this process was unbelievable but Katherine taught us to remain calm and in control at all times, and we gained more confidence as the days went by.
Even in the 3 short days Katherine was with us we saw a huge improvement in the boys, they were sitting and eating their meals without fuss, tidying up after themselves and staying in bed for longer and not disturbing us at 5am! We couldn’t believe the difference! The process was actually really straight forward, there were no complicated techniques or methods to it, it just felt like simple straight forward parenting. Katherine opened our eyes to how parenting should be and it sounds crazy to say it but how parents should be parents and children should be children!
A number of months have gone by and we have now welcomed our third child. Katherine has been on the end of the phone whenever we’ve needed reassurance or questions. The change in the boys is incredible, we no longer dread simple things like eating out or getting jobs done at the weekend, rather than feeling like we have to constantly entertain the children. Everything is on our terms and although there are still bumps along the road, we are equipped with the knowledge and confidence with how to deal with difficult behaviours!
We’ve been able to enjoy our new born and we actually enjoy spending time as a family now, which is something we didn’t enjoy a few months ago! Reaching out to Katherine is the best decision we’ve ever made as parents and we can’t thank her enough, it’s changed our lives!