Born in the North of England, I completed a B.Sc. and M.Sc. at the London School of Economics and then a PhD at the Institute of Education (University of London). My PhD thesis was a study of Sibling Rivalry and its Socialisation.

After working as a Senior Lecturer at Middlesex University in Child Development and Psychology, I became a management trainer specialising in personal and interpersonal skills, such as negotiation, listening and constructive feedback. These skills proved so useful when dealing with my own young family, that I was encouraged to move into the area of parenting skills.

In  2001, I founded the parenting website Raisingkids.co.uk. The site grew rapidly to over 1.5million page impressions per month. Raisingkids was sold to The Walt Disney Company in 2009 and unfortunately closed a year later.

I have been quoted extensively in the press and on television and radio on a wide variety of issues relating to family life. I am a very experienced broadcaster and over the years I have done numerous radio tours on topics ranging from the relaunch of The Dandy, the importance of play, family eating and travelling habits and variety of educational topics.

I have worked as a consultant on family matters with a wide variety of companies. Click the links for examples of leaflets and webcasting.