Celebrating Families

Celebrating Families by Helen Sanderson and Maye Taylor

A new parenting book takes the best ideas from person-centred planning and cleverly combines them with the current revival in crafting to help families improve positive communication with their children. And the authors promise there’ll be no mention of the naughty step.

Celebrating Families by Helen Sanderson and Maye Taylor (HSA Press) presents parents with simple techniques for exploring their family relationships and then working together to explore and record their observations in creative and memorable ways.

Practical, crafty activities detailed in the book include making a family serving dish which records what the family loves about each other, creating a one-page profile with your child, making a memory quilt and filling a picture frame with Fimo images of your child’s favourite things.

Each of the nine chapters is based on stories told by real families and features children aged from three months to 16 years-old. The book introduces stories from real life families of all shapes and sizes, including single parent families, mixed-race couples and families with disabled children.

Author Helen Sanderson is a PhD psychologist and the government’s official advisor on person centred planning, but says she has written the book as a parent and a professional.

“In my professional life I have learned may techniques for exploring relationships and improving communication through person-centred planning,” she said.

“As a mother of three, I found myself introducing these into my own family life and realised that they could be useful for every family.”

Co-author Maye Taylor, also a PhD psychologist and parent added: “As a parent you have a definite place: in the wrong. Not only will your children tell you that, but so will the experts.

“This is a kind of warts-and-all book which celebrates the family without a single mention of the naughty step or time out!

“It is published in the spirit of ‘this worked for us, we hope it’ll work for you’”.