MUMBAI: Showing its social conscience the BBC has announced a series in the UK s aimed at helping Britain’s parents deal with toddler grievances. These will range from their little toddlers not sleeping or eating properly to terrible tantrums.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Tanya Byron will be at the helm, giving the residents who stay in a house of terraways the professional advice that proved to be so effective when dealing with the troublesome toddlers in BBC Three’s show Little Angels.
The doors of the sanctuary will open for one month to families seeking solace. The show’s presenter Claudia Winkleman will be guiding the audience through the daily events. This production has been put together with the collaboration of an ethics committee made up of child-focussed experts. Dr. Byron is a consultant clinical psychologist and has worked in the NHS for 15 years and has a great deal of experience of working and teaching in many areas of mental health and psychology.
Tanya says, “This series gives me a unique opportunity as a practitioner to experience what happens to families once they leave the consulting room and to continue working with them. I love the thought of all the families living together, giving each other help and support.”
The BBC states that observing children’s behaviour behind two way mirrors is a long-established psychological technique for ensuring children are relaxed and natural in their play and interaction with each other. Filming in this way is actually far less invasive and intrusive, particularly for young children, than filming with cameramen, sound recordists and crew around them.
The safety and welfare of the children involved was a primary objective and consideration for the production team from the outset of this project. To this end, Dr Tanya Byron and other programme consultants were enlisted. Before the families are presented to Dr Byron for her consideration, the short-listed families are all psychologically screened by Judith Lask, a leading Family and Systemic Psychotherapist. She is a UKCP Registered Psychotherapist and the Chair of the Association for Family Therapy.
One problem that is tackled is related to sleep. Nicola is a 28 year old mother and has a 23 month son Dante. Dante will only sleep when Nicola is with him. If he is put in his own bed he will get up 10-15 times a night. Nicola has spent the last six months on the sofa in an attempt to get him to sleep on his own. Dante is also clingy, has tantrums and will not let his mother divert her attention from him. Nicola is unable to get a full-time job, because son Dante has only just started nursery.