Phew! It has been a hectic month at Tooled Up Towers, as we stay up to date with the latest research evidence and turn it into actionable tips for loving parents everywhere. I continue to deliver online talks in schools, and this always gives me food for thought. In particular, I love hearing and answering parents’ questions. They are always stimulating and inspire me to reassess my own thinking. I am hearing a great volume of questions about parental mental health and resilience. Some parents are struggling to manage their own feelings of worry, anger and frustration. Others are concerned about rising anxiety in their children and teens. My response has been to create a simple Tooled Up resource that encourages dialogue around ‘controllables’ versus things we cannot control. In doing so, we nurture our own mental toughness and that of our children. The pandemic has caused a rise in children feeling a bit wobbly about going to school. In response, I have created a set of ‘wobble’ resources; designed to really get to the bottom of how a child is feeling about every aspect of the school day. I have also added an ‘Anxiety Manifesto’ to the Tooled Up library, which gives families an idea of the general tone that we need to adopt when helping children to navigate nerves.

I am proud of the fact that Tooled Up resources are derived from the latest research evidence and don’t remain static. In the last month, we have updated 4 resources in response to changing advice. It is hard to choose a favourite resource out of the 161 that are now on the site. However, if pushed, I’d suggest the new video clip on “Visual Metaphors to Promote Resilience” is awesome! You won’t find content like that on Google!