Our household is emerging from two weeks of my four-year-old having almost daily meltdowns and defying every single thing we say. It all came to a head on Saturday night when I felt on the verge of roaring in my daughter’s face like a wild beast. I removed myself from the situation so that that didn’t happen (although I did yell at her on a previous occasion), but it all felt awful. I was tired and done with the lot of it.

The following day I bought the book How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen: A survival guide to life with children ages 2–7 by Joanna Faber & Julie King.