Top scribe and charity volunteer Adrian Mead has been in touch, wanting Bang2writer Parents to know about Parentline, a charity which gives online and telephone support to parents who need it:

“We all know how tough it is to get time, space and inspiration to be creative but add childcare to the mix and franlkly I’m just amazed you get anything done! Recently I’ve been volunteering for PARENTLINE, a great organisation that supports anyone who cares for, or has concerns about a child. If you are needing somewhere to get info, support or a place to vent your frustrations or concerns I can highly recommend them.”

You can get in touch with Scotland’s Parentline, here.

As everyone knows, I’m a parent and I’ve actually used the English version of Parentline, then called Parentline Plus but now called Family Lives in the past several times, especially when my Male Spawn was going through a particularly evil phase about two years ago that seemed to last forever. Like Adrian then I can recommend them totally – I was never judged, told I should pull myself together or “crack down” on the Male Spawn… Instead they worked very hard with me (in my case, via email… I was too upset to use the phone) to establish possible causes for the bad behaviour and come up with lots of potential solutions. It is no word of a lie to say they helped save my sanity, since there were many times I felt I was going around in circles and hitting a brick wall simultaneously, as I’m sure MANY parents feel sometimes!!

So don’t suffer in silence… You don’t need to!! Being a parent is so rewarding, but it’s also HARD and it only gets HARDER as they get older. Get in touch with Parentline or Family Lives and take the first steps to dealing with any problems, issues or concerns you have with your family.