The measure that matters isn’t how many friends they have, it is whether at least one of them leaves them better than they found them.

You say your child is very sensitive, the teacher notes it down, and nothing happens. You have handed over a label, and you can’t do anything with a label on a Tuesday at eleven.

Noise-cancelling headphones do work, but there is small print. The difference lies in whether they are used as a tool or as armour.

They had a wonderful day, they are exhausted, and it is half past ten and they are still tossing and turning. Almost always it means they haven’t been able to close the day.

There aren’t two groups, there are three. And the third one changes the way you look at your child a good deal.

Almost every calm corner ends up full of toys and unused. The difference comes down to four details.

What calms an overwhelmed child isn’t your words, it is your state. And there is a fairly concrete explanation for that.

It isn’t that they don’t want to leave the park. It is that they can’t jump from one thing to another without warning.

They are on the floor with a sock in their hand saying it hurts, and you look at their foot and there is nothing there. You are both right.

The party went well, and ten minutes after getting home they are crying on the floor over a juice. You haven’t missed anything: what you are seeing is not the juice.