Janine is mum of 2 children, who are now 10 and 12. She runs her own business helping coaches and consultants with their marketing and sales.

We spoke to Janine about:

• Whether there is such a thing as a natural born parent and Janine’s feelings on this.
• The stress of getting children out of the house - mum guilt and shouting at children!
• How taking an online parenting course when the children were around 2 and 4 changed things for Janine.
• ‘Feeling maternal’ - the expectation that everything should come naturally to parents and how we haven’t replaced the ‘village’ that helped us to raise our children.
• Having a growth mindset and how this helped Janine to develop in her parenting.
• How Janine felt that she lost her identity and that her world had shrunk when she had her children. How having her own business helped her to get her identity back.
• Three things Janine would say to herself as a new mum.

Instagram - @bespokefamily / Facebook - @bespokefamily

For information about a Bespoke Family Parent Consultation click here: https://www.bespokefamily.co.uk/parent-consultations

‘Your Guide to...’ (our downloadable webinars including behaviour, toilet training, sleep and more)

This podcast is produced by Decibelle Creative

Founder of Onle Networking (an online business network) Kelly West, talked to us about her daughter Kennedy (16) who has global development delay (she has a cognitive age of 2-3) as well as about her business which she founded 5 years ago with her husband and her older daughter.

We discussed:

• How they love people which is why the business was founded (Kelly met her husband at networking!)
• All about Kennedy the signs the family first saw in her and the challenges the family had and still face especially with the lack of support the family have received.
• The experiences Kennedy had in mainstream school and how this currently looks for the family moving forward.
• How Kennedy will never be able to live independently and how Kelly navigates this for the future, including how this and other sensitive topics (like death for example) can be communicated to Kennedy.
• A behaviour (PBS) group that Kelly attended and how helpful she found it.
• The challenges of going out and about with Kennedy and how Kelly deals with situations that arise. Using the sunflower lanyard.
• The autistic spectrum and the huge difference between the ‘severity’ of how this affects different people.
• How Kelly manages the demands of the business alongside the needs of Kennedy and how exhausting it can be day to day.
• How Kelly does (or doesn’t) look after herself...and how she is OK with that.
• The positive support networks that Kelly would recommend and how she also is very open to having conversations with people in the same kind of situation.

Kelly’s business – OnleNetworking

Linked in - @KellyWest

Instagram - @bespokefamily / Facebook - @bespokefamily

For information about a Bespoke Family Parent Consultation click here: https://www.bespokefamily.co.uk/parent-consultations

‘Your Guide to...’ (our downloadable webinars including

behaviour, toilet training, sleep and more)

This podcast is produced by Decibelle Creative

Rebecca started her business when her children were quite young (the youngest was starting school) and she wanted to ‘find her thing’.

We chatted about:

• Rebecca's background – she set up an outsourcing agency ‘Get Ahead’ in 2010 working with companies to provide Virtual Assistants (VAs).
• Having an open mind and a confidence to see where things go and how setting up a business feels like nurturing another child!
• Balancing having a family and young children when setting up a business and how Rebecca managed it.
• The challenges Rebecca faced along the way, how she tackled them and the impact this has had on the children and how they have developed.
• How Rebecca transfers what she did when setting up her business to the VAs (who Rebecca calls ‘Virtual Experts’) working in the business empowering them to also work around their families.
• Lockdown and how nothing really changed for Rebecca during that time (except for having the children at home!) and how the authenticity of working from home has been made so much easier since then.
• Work / life balance and whether there is such a thing for people running their own business.
• The joy of WhatsApp!!
• Empty Nesting, the children in your life and how that feels for Rebecca and other business owners.
• Rebecca’s proud moments and 3 tips for parents setting up their own business!

Get Ahead VA (Rebecca’s company) - https://getaheadva.com/

Get Ahead VA on Instagram - getaheadva

Instagram - @bespokefamily / Facebook - @bespokefamily

For information about a Bespoke Family Parent Consultation click here: https://www.bespokefamily.co.uk/parent-consultations

‘Your Guide to...’ (our downloadable webinars including behaviour, toilet training, sleep and more)

This podcast is produced by Decibelle Creative