Georgia, Jill May and Karen

Karen and Georgia outside UBS in Finsbury Avenue, London WC2

Sibling rivalry can be particularly frustrating for working parents. After a long day at the office, no-one wants to come home to find their children whinging and bickering. When time is short, parents need quick, effective strategies to stop fights and stop resentment building up. This was our brief for a well attended lunchtime talk at the UBS headquarters in London, with more staffers linked in from the office in Curzon St .

We were invited by Jill May, the head of Cross Business Development, an old friend who manages to combine her demanding job with raising six delightful children. She has boundless energy and is extremely well-organised, and perhaps it’s not surprising that she was a huge inspiration for the Sorted Parent when we were writing our first book!

We discussed four good ways to stop an argument. Then we showed how a variety of different approaches can reduce sibling rivalry long term, by making children feel less competitive. This was our second talk at UBS and it was an absolute pleasure to be back. Thank you Jill for inviting us.

Left to right: Georgia, Lyn Hobbs, Robena BiBi – parent volunteer, Karen

From the outside, Bowes looks like an ordinary red brick state primary school. But a delightful surprise awaited us on the inside. Full of plants and pictures, the school was buzzing with energy, and Lyn Hobbs, the Parent Support Advisor, was truly inspiring.

With the help of some Lottery money, Lyn has spent a year focussing on healthy eating, organising talks and taking families out on expeditions. Inviting us to speak to the parents about encouraging their children to eat better was the finale of her efforts. She went out of her way to make the talk enjoyable for everybody. It was held in a room called The Meadow, and as parents arrived Lyn played soothing music, and offered an array of lovely fresh fruit, including grapes, strawberries and plums. A lively discussion followed and we left feeling enthused by our wonderful audience.

Georgia and Karen in Brighton

“Sibling rivalry can start the day your second baby is born. So what do you do when your toddler pokes the little one’s face, or demands you put her in the dustbin?  And when you’re already overstretched, how can you make sure that both children get the love and attention as they need? We addressed these and other sibling rivalry issues at the Brighton Baby Expo on Sunday.

The huge exhibition space was packed with a seething mass of pushchairs, every possible stall you could imagine and punctuated by very noisy parent/toddler singalongs, with tambourines and maracas.

Outside the Baby show, Brighton itself seemed blessedly quiet. With England playing Germany in the world cup on television, the streets were almost deserted. It was the perfect opportunity to see the Brighton Pavilion, the flamboyant masterpiece built by the Prince Regent (later George IV). As the eldest of George III’s fifteen children, he almost certainly knew a thing or two about sibling rivalry.”

I spent a wonderful afternoon at Citigroup Plaza, Citi’s headquarters in London. Nearly a hundred bankers attended my talk, and it was broadcast to listeners in their offices all around Europe.

The most amazing thing was the view from the conference room. I was a little concerned I’d find it distracting, but luckily the blinds were closed during the talk so the audience could see the PowerPoint presentation.

I was also very impressed by the people themselves and their level of interest in the talk; truly a group of devoted parents.

We gave our world premiere talk to teenagers at St Paul’s Girls’ School in London. As Karen’s daughter is there, she knows it well, but for Georgia it was a blast from the past, as she is an old Paulina (and couldn’t believe how much has changed).

We had great fun, because the sixth form were so interactive and enthusiastic. The girls really enjoyed thinking about what types of parents they have and how they can communicate better with them.

Afterwards we had lunch with the High Mistress, Ms Farr, and five current Paulinas. It was a great opportunity to hear about their families and their views on family life.

The school is looking absolutely fabulous after a series of recent renovations, and it was a real pleasure to be there.

If you’re ever invited to Merchant Taylors’ School in Liverpool, we suggest you accept! As it’s a big school, we gave two talks on Seven Simple Ways to be a Better Parent, one just after lunch and one in the evening.

We were treated like queens for a day by the lovely PTA Chair, Joanne Powell and the Head of the girls’ school, Mrs. Robinson (whom we met at the GSA conference last year).

Between talks, we were able to take in a bit of culture. We went to Sefton to see Anthony Gormley’s Another Place – a series of 100 cast-iron, life size figures spread along the beach. Then we went to see Richard Wilson’s Turning the Place Over, which turns a cut-out of the side of a building in Liverpool’s city centre inside out, and then the fabulous Walker Art Gallery.

It was a great day altogether. Thank you so much Merchant Taylors’ for inviting us.

We were invited to Jersey to talk to 350 prep school heads at the Independent Associated Prep Schools Conference (IAPS), on managing parents.

The idea of talking to a huge hall, full of prep school heads was daunting, but they were all so incredibly kind and welcoming that we enjoyed ourselves enormously.

The requests for us to speak at prep schools have been flowing in ever since. A big thank you to the head teachers who have already booked us for their schools – we’re looking forward to seeing you again. And thank you to Larraine Curzon for organising such a wonderful event.

There was a small miracle at our talk at the Daylesford Farmshop in Gloucestershire in June. We were all in a Pavilion, originally designed for the Chelsea Flower show, in the middle of the sensational kitchen garden. The talk was about encouraging children to enjoy healthy food, and one mother had brought her three year old, who had always flatly refused to touch vegetables. To her astonishment, after a few minutes, this child was tucking into Daylesford crudités, and wandering round the garden clearly fascinated by the herbs and vegetables.

Here’s an updated list of all our autumn 2009 talks, workshops, signings and special events. We’ll also be selling signed copies of our books at a discounted price.

Saturday, 19 September, 2009 2pm tbc

Celebrating 30 Years of Women at Magdalen

Magdalen College

Oxford, OX1 4AU

Title: 7 Simple Ways to be a Better Parent

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Thursday 24th September, 2009, 2.30pm

IAPS Conference (Independent Association of Prep Schools)

Plenary speech

Hotel de France, St Helier, Jersey, Channel Islands, JE17XP

Title: Leading Parents: Power and Persuasion – How to get Parents on Your Side in Challenging Times

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Wednesday, 7 October, 2009

Merchant Taylors’ School

Crosby, Liverpool, L23

2 talks, afternoon and evening, times TBA

Title: 7 Simple Ways to be a Better Parent

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Friday, 16 October, 2009 , 11.20am

St Paul’s Girls’ School

Brook Green

London W6 7BS

Title: How to Manage Your Relationship with Your Parents

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Friday, 13 November, 2009, 1-2pm

Boutique de Noel

Kensington Town Hall

Hornton St.

Kensington W8 7NX

Title: Managing Your Children During the stresses of Christmas – 7 Simple Solutions

Please join us. All are welcome, so come with friends!

There is an entry fee into the event at the Town Hall in aid of the Junior League of London, but our talk is free.

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Tuesday, 17 November, 2009, 12.30-1.30

Citibank

33 Canada Sq, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5LB

Title: 7 Simple Ways to be a Better Parent

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We had a fantastic weekend at the Oxfordshire Children’s Food Festival, 28-29th June 2009. We were the comperes of the Q and A tent, which was shaped like a tepee, with straw bales for seating. This is our hot tip for next year. Take your children, to this fantastic free event, full of brilliant things to see and do. Children were making their own bicycle-powered smoothies, taste-testing chocolate, decorating biscuits, meeting real farm animals and learning about ecology. For adults there were cookery demonstrations from luminaries like Annabel Karmel and Sam Stern the teenage chef, fascinating seminars on keeping pigs and chickens, and first hand-information about baby-led weaning, gluten intolerance and how to get fussy toddlers excited about good food.

It was such a pleasure to introduce so many enthusiastic, entertaining speakers.

Hope to see you there next year, see the Northmoor Trust website for details.