“Holidays are a mixed blessing. They’re lots of prep, and they can be a little bit stressful, but I know I look back on many of them with really fond memories. It's worth the drama!”  Find out how to prepare your child for a holiday to take the stress out of it for them, as well as for you. You’ll hear tips on how to avoid a holiday horror show with My First Five Years app founders Jennie Johnson and Alistair Bryce-Clegg, from taking the sheets from your child’s bed at home to promote better sleep to talking to your child about the sounds they might hear on an aeroplane. From car journeys to air travel, this episode is packed with hints and tips to make your journey that bit easier. For more information and tips on your child’s early years, download the My First Five Years app: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/my-first-five-years/id1567551364Jennie Johnson MBE founded the well-respected company Kids Allowed, best in class multi-award winning and top position on independent national league table for quality. Passionate about impact, high performing teams and having fun. Doing well by doing good.Alistair Bryce-Clegg has had an incredibly successful career in early years, being a headteacher for ten years as well as establishing an internationally renowned consultancy. He is recognised as a leading voice in the sector, having done a TED talk and published 25 books.

“Number one - don’t say don’t! Try and find other ways or other words to use instead of don’t, because you’re starting with a negative.”“Right, so you’re just making it easy for a child to be defiant, because you’ve immediately given them something that they now want to do?!”It’s six months since hosts Jennie Johnson and Alistair Bryce-Clegg launched the My First Five Years podcast. To celebrate we’ve put together a selection of some of the ‘best bits’ of advice from these first episodes, including how to tackle challenging behaviour, tips on helping your child get into a sleep routine and - perhaps the most important - how to be a realistic parent! For more information and tips on your child’s early years, download the My First Five Years app: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/my-first-five-years/id1567551364Jennie Johnson MBE founded the well-respected company Kids Allowed, best in class multi-award winning and top position on independent national league table for quality. Passionate about impact, high performing teams and having fun. Doing well by doing good.Alistair Bryce-Clegg has had an incredibly successful career in early years, being a headteacher for ten years as well as establishing an internationally renowned consultancy. He is recognised as a leading voice in the sector, having done a TED talk and published 25 books.

“Newborn babies are very aware of their body... What happens with disposable nappies is that brain-body connection is eroded, and so then we have the very difficult problem that parents want to use a potty and the child has a very steep learning curve to assimilate all the skills that they'll need to be able to do that effectively.”  In this potty training special, you’ll hear the latest research about when to start and how to help your child – spoiler alert, it happens much earlier than you may think! My First Five Years founders Jennie Johnson and Alistair Bryce-Clegg are joined by Rebecca Mottram, Children's Nurse and Potty Training Consultant at ERIC, the Children’s Bowel and Bladder Charity, who shares tips on when to start potty-training, the lowdown on being dry at night, and how to put your child at the centre of the process and engage them in it.For more information and tips on your child’s early years, download the My First Five Years app: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/my-first-five-years/id1567551364Jennie Johnson MBE founded the well-respected company Kids Allowed, best in class multi-award winning and top position on independent national league table for quality. Passionate about impact, high performing teams and having fun. Doing well by doing good.Alistair Bryce-Clegg has had an incredibly successful career in early years, being a headteacher for ten years as well as establishing an internationally renowned consultancy. He is recognised as a leading voice in the sector, having done a TED talk and published 23 books

“One key message that I want to get across from all of my experience working in Early Years over the past 30 years, is that by trying to push children ahead, you often set them way further back. And actually, when you hold your nerve and follow your child's lead, when they get it, they will fly with it.”  You’ll hear why writing is so much more than just putting pen to paper and how it involves everything from swinging on the monkey bars at the park to talking together, as well as top tips to make learning to write joyful and fun, with early childhood experts Alistair Bryce-Clegg and Jennie Johnson, creators of the My First Five Years app. For more information and tips on your child’s early years, download the My First Five Years app: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/my-first-five-years/id1567551364Jennie Johnson MBE founded the well-respected company Kids Allowed, best in class multi-award winning and top position on independent national league table for quality. Passionate about impact, high performing teams and having fun. Doing well by doing good.Alistair Bryce-Clegg has had an incredibly successful career in early years, being a headteacher for ten years as well as establishing an internationally renowned consultancy. He is recognised as a leading voice in the sector, having done a TED talk and published 23 books

“The term ‘sleeping through’ has so much to answer for because it suggests that some children go to bed and sleep until they wake up in the morning, and no human being sleeps like that.”  Did you know we all wake in the night multiple times, and that the so-called four-month sleep regression is actually a sleep progression? In this sleep special, you’ll hear the lowdown on children’s sleep from child sleep expert Lauren Peacock, with hosts Jennie Johnson and Alistair Bryce-Clegg. It’s packed with plenty of hints, tips and hacks to help you navigate your child’s sleep and find what works for your family.  For more information and tips on your child’s early years, download the My First Five Years app: https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/my-first-five-years/id1567551364Jennie Johnson MBE founded the well-respected company Kids Allowed, best in class multi-award winning and top position on independent national league table for quality. Passionate about impact, high performing teams and having fun. Doing well by doing good.Alistair Bryce-Clegg has had an incredibly successful career in early years, being a headteacher for ten years as well as establishing an internationally renowned consultancy. He is recognised as a leading voice in the sector, having done a TED talk and published 23 books.