Parent Support Compassionate guidance for UK families

Parent Support

Compassionate guidance for UK families

Latest Articles

The Pattern, Not the Punchline: A Measured Approach to Bullying Concerns at School
Child Wellbeing

The Pattern, Not the Punchline: A Measured Approach to Bullying Concerns at School

When a child with additional needs says that name-calling or exclusion is happening again, being told it is 'just banter' can leave parent carers unsure where to turn. This guide offers a calm, practical way to separate ordinary conflict from targeted behaviour, keep useful records, and work with school staff through their own policies.
When the Table Feels Like a Test: A Low-Pressure Mealtime Plan for Sensory Food Aversions
Child Wellbeing

When the Table Feels Like a Test: A Low-Pressure Mealtime Plan for Sensory Food Aversions

Mealtimes can become the most fraught part of the day when a child finds food difficult. This guide sets out a calm, low-pressure framework for UK parent carers — one that reduces conflict at the table, keeps useful records for GP and dietitian appointments, and protects siblings and carers from carrying the strain.
Before the Review Room: A One-Page Brief for Your Child’s EHCP Annual Meeting
Carer Support

Before the Review Room: A One-Page Brief for Your Child’s EHCP Annual Meeting

An Education, Health and Care Plan annual review is a planning conversation, not a verdict on your parenting. This guide explains how to prepare a single-page brief, ask for adjustments, and leave the meeting with actions you can actually follow.
When the Carer Cannot Carry: A Household Plan for the Days You Are Unwell
Carer Support

When the Carer Cannot Carry: A Household Plan for the Days You Are Unwell

Parent carers plan for everything except their own illness. This guide sets out a practical carer-down plan, simple scripts for asking for help, and reassurance about lowering standards while you recover.
A Steady Handover: Equipping Grandparents to Care with Confidence
Carer Support

A Steady Handover: Equipping Grandparents to Care with Confidence

A thoughtful handover can turn willing grandparent help into a calm, confident day of care. This guide explains how to create a simple one-page reference, agree expectations kindly, and rehearse the visit before the real one.
When the Chair Feels Too Loud: Planning a Haircut That Works for Your Child
Child Wellbeing

When the Chair Feels Too Loud: Planning a Haircut That Works for Your Child

For some children, a routine haircut is not routine at all: the clippers, the cape and the unfamiliar hands can overwhelm the senses. This guide offers UK parent carers a calm, step-by-step approach, from choosing between a home cut and a salon to knowing what to do when a cut has to be paused and tried again another day.
Beyond the PDF: Making Your Council’s Local Offer Work for Your Family
Carer Support

Beyond the PDF: Making Your Council’s Local Offer Work for Your Family

The Local Offer should be a map of support, not another source of exhaustion. This guide explains how parent carers can read council listings critically, verify what is genuinely available, and ask the right questions before relying on a service.
The Appointment That Vanished: Reclaiming a Cancelled Clinic Day
Carer Support

The Appointment That Vanished: Reclaiming a Cancelled Clinic Day

A short-notice clinic cancellation can unravel a carefully built morning and leave a child anxious and a parent carer out of pocket. This guide offers a calm, practical way to reset the day, record what happened and prepare for future NHS appointments without turning family life into a fortress of contingency plans.
Before the Doorbell Rings: A Christmas Boundaries Plan for Parent Carers
Carer Support

Before the Doorbell Rings: A Christmas Boundaries Plan for Parent Carers

Christmas visits can bring both warmth and strain when relatives misunderstand a child’s sensory, routine or communication needs. This guide offers gentle wording for setting boundaries, a practical plan for leaving early, and reassurance for the guilt that often follows.
Before the Fever: A Household Continuity Plan for Parent Carers
Carer Support

Before the Fever: A Household Continuity Plan for Parent Carers

When illness or exhaustion forces a parent carer to stop, the whole household can falter — not because anyone is careless, but because too much knowledge lives in one head. This guide sets out a calm, practical continuity plan: a one-page handover, medication notes, school and appointment arrangements, and small preparations that protect the family when the main carer needs to rest.
Beyond the Contact List: A Parent Carer’s Guide to Emergency School Collections
Carer Support

Beyond the Contact List: A Parent Carer’s Guide to Emergency School Collections

When the school office rings at short notice, panic is not a plan. This guide sets out a simple, repeatable emergency collection protocol for parent carers — from authorised collectors and a small pickup pouch to agreed scripts for school, work and siblings.
Room for the Carer: Preparing for a Parent Carer’s Assessment
Carer Support

Room for the Carer: Preparing for a Parent Carer’s Assessment

A carer’s assessment is not an audition for the role of parent carer, nor a test of whether you are coping well enough. It is a planning conversation about what would help your family keep going, and you are entitled to a place within it.
The Hall, the Lights and the Exit Sign: A Family Plan for December Performances
Carer Support

The Hall, the Lights and the Exit Sign: A Family Plan for December Performances

School performances can be joyful and difficult in equal measure. This plan helps families of children with additional needs agree quiet exits, prepare for sensory demands and manage relatives’ expectations while keeping connection at the centre of December.
The Review Letter Arrives: Organising Disability Benefit Checks Without Giving Up Your Weekend
Carer Support

The Review Letter Arrives: Organising Disability Benefit Checks Without Giving Up Your Weekend

A disability benefit review can feel like an examination of your family rather than a routine administrative task. This guide offers a calmer, practical way to prepare for DLA or PIP reviews, document care needs honestly, and protect your energy while the form is on the table.
Carer Support

The Kindness Gap: Turning 'Anything I Can Do?' into a School Run, a Shop or an Hour of Quiet

Vague offers of help are usually sincere, but they can leave parent carers unsure how to respond. This guide offers gentle scripts and realistic examples for turning kind words into practical support without over-explaining or feeling guilty.
A Calmer Handover: Building a Hospital Passport for A&E Visits with an Additional-Needs Child
Child Wellbeing

A Calmer Handover: Building a Hospital Passport for A&E Visits with an Additional-Needs Child

An unplanned trip to A&E can leave parent carers trying to explain years of specialist knowledge in a crowded corridor. A hospital passport offers a calm, practical way to hand over the essentials about communication, sensory needs, medication and routines.
The Child Who Is Not the Appointment: Supporting Siblings When Care Takes Up the Room
Child Wellbeing

The Child Who Is Not the Appointment: Supporting Siblings When Care Takes Up the Room

When one child needs additional support, brothers and sisters often adapt so smoothly that their own needs slip out of view. This piece looks at the quieter pressures on siblings in UK families, and offers practical, unpressured ways to keep them in the picture — without adding another job to the list.
Short Breaks Are Prevention, Not a Prize: Rethinking Respite for Parent Carers
Carer Support

Short Breaks Are Prevention, Not a Prize: Rethinking Respite for Parent Carers

Respite is still too often framed in the UK as something a parent carer earns by reaching breaking point. This opinion piece argues that short breaks belong in ordinary family planning — and offers practical preparation, plus scripts for raising the subject with family, schools and local services.
Ten Quiet Resets for Parent Carers Who Cannot Step Outside
Carer Support

Ten Quiet Resets for Parent Carers Who Cannot Step Outside

When leaving the house is not an option, regulation has to happen in the small spaces between caring tasks. These ten micro-resets are low-cost, brief and adaptable for different ages, needs and energy levels, not a cure for stress but a way to loosen its grip.
When Sunday Evening Tightens: Anticipatory Anxiety in Children and Parents
Child Wellbeing

When Sunday Evening Tightens: Anticipatory Anxiety in Children and Parents

Sunday-night dread can settle in the body long before Monday morning arrives. This article explores why transitions and uncertainty feel threatening for children and parents alike, and how families can ease the knot together with predictable routines, worry windows and gentle school communication.