Have you ever seen a subject matter expert featured in a news story and thought "wow, how'd they get coverage like that?" Sometimes it's luck. Sometimes the reporter sees something that the subject matter expert has shared and follows up. But sometimes, it's because they work with a publicist like our team. Doing work as a publicist has introduced me to numerous journalists and writers, so I was thrilled to collaborate with Edward on this piece and wanted to share it here -- hopefully it offers a little different perspective on the many tributes that have already been shared about Dolly Parton: https://www.forbes.com/sites/edwardsegal/2026/08/27/dolly-partons-10-leadership-lessons-for-business-executives/

One of the things about moving countries with children and living this expat life that people don’t talk about enough is the emotional burden that the expat mum often carries for the whole family. The transition from one country to another, one culture to another, one school to another, can be enormously challenging. Not only for our children, but for us as parents too. And while one partner is off starting their new job, it’s often the mum who’s left trying to make this strange new place feel like home. All while trying to figure out how you feel about it yourself! It’s one of the reasons I started delving much more deeply into emotions and emotional regulation. I wanted to get better at understanding and managing my own emotions so that I could better support my children as they learned to understand theirs. And that’s why I created the Mood Mat. It’s a simple placemat with 16 emotions that becomes a regular feature of the family table. There are no rules. You don’t have to sit your child down for a big conversation about their feelings. You can just notice it. Point to things. Talk about how you felt today. And slowly start learning how to put words to some of the things we’re feeling on the inside. The Mood Mat is now available through my Raising Change Etsy shop and, for the moment, I’m shipping within the UK. It also comes with a series of very short videos called Mood Mat Minis, which help you introduce the Mood Mat and give you ideas for using it with your family, whatever age your children are. You can actually watch the videos on my website before you even buy a Mood Mat, and you’ll find the link to my Etsy shop there too. More videos will be included soon! 🫶🌍

Something I've noticed is how quickly parenting advice takes us to: “What should I DO?” What should I say? What strategy should I use? How do I stop the behaviour? And sometimes that's exactly what we need. But there is another step we can easily miss: Notice before you manage. What am I experiencing? What might my child be experiencing? What changed between us? Sometimes the useful information isn't only in the behaviour. It's in the whole emotional moment surrounding it. That's a big part of what I mean by Energy-Wise Parenting - learning to look beneath the visible interaction rather than only reacting to what we can see. Let's explore this together in tomorrow night's first 'Energy-Wise Live' call inside Energy-Wise Parenting Hub - Thursday Aug 27th 8pm (Syd Aust )

Can I borrow 30 minutes of your experience? I’m spending September doing some research into what international family life actually looks like today, and I’m looking for a few people who would be willing to have a 30-minute conversation with me. I’d particularly love to speak to you if, within roughly the last five years, you have: ✅ moved overseas for your own international role or assignment ✅ accompanied a partner who moved internationally for work ✅ moved as a family with some form of employer support, relocation package, allowance or relocation company I’m interested in the whole experience, from deciding to go and preparing for the move, through actually building a life overseas and, where relevant, moving again or repatriating. There’s nothing to prepare, no right or wrong answers, and I’m not selling anything. I’m simply researching how international family life and employer support work today. If this sounds like you, I’d love to hear from you. And if someone immediately springs to mind, please feel free to send them my way. Thank you! 🩷🌍

Next week in Parenting Teens our free monthly live Q & A session is running. The question is, is your question: Big or small? Serious or strange? Embarrassing or all encompassing? Personal or by proxy? All types welcomed. All questions answered by a veteran teacher and parent coach. Why wouldn't you ask one?