Essentially, one system is all about reason and logic (the human system), one is about emotional reaction (the chimp system) and one is based on established beliefs. These systems are constantly vying for attention and, biologically, the chimp – the animal instinct we’re born with – has the upper hand. Everything we do at Flourished Minds revolves around supporting children and young people to be their absolute best. We don’t look at our friends and like them for what they achieve, Steve says, we like them for who they are. We should measure our own success in the same way. Are you a positive person who can motivate others? Are you kind? Do you have integrity? If you are measuring success against your values – rather than what car you own or how much you earn – then building self-esteem is in your own hands. 6. Spend ten minutes every day reflecting on whether you’re meeting your values Anxiety UK has a zero tolerance to abuse of any form. Messages with such content will not receive a response and your use of this service will be terminated if you use content that violates our zero tolerance policy. Furthermore, where relevant, details of any abusive message will be given to the police. Try to become aware of any negative words your child might say. As adults, we can get used to hearing and thus ignoring self-deprecating and negative comments. However, actively listening out for the negative words your child uses can be so helpful in recognising where their inner chimp shows up. It could be words such as:

The Model offers a simplified way of understanding our two thinking brains and how we can learn to use them to the best of our ability. A mind management model is not pure scientific fact or a hypothesis. It's like she needs a timetable of events for each day to know what's happening and when. If she's left with a relative for example, which doesn't happen that often, she will worry about what time she's being collected and will get really anxious if plans change at the last minute.

Books by Professor Steve Peters

My son has suddenly become very sensitive and is taking things that other people say very much to heart, even when there is no malice intended, it’s as though he has lost all perspective and he thinks everyone is against him now.

I bought a couple of books and we talked the worry through at 'worry time' only and that has really seemed to helped with the whole gymnastic sessions, however she also will not stay on her own in the car.One particularly interesting experience was talking about the habit of sharing. Peters presents this as our human wanting to share and our chimp not wanting to share. My son pointed out that actually he and his chimp and were in agreement that they didn’t want to share. I don’t know how common this would be but I’d tend to agree with my son that my system 2 by default (especially when I was younger) doesn’t particularly want to share.

On a practical point, it might be worth restricting the amount of fluid he is drinking a few hours prior to going to bed. This might help to cut down the frequent loo trips. My Hidden Chimp Helping Children to Understand and Manage Their Emotions, Thinking and Behaviour With Ten Helpful HabitsI realise that it is likely that it may not work quite as well with every child. The book could have been written with my son in mind so if it was going to work for anyone it was going to work for him. In addition to the examples, there are exercises throughout the book, for instance listing times where you’ve acted in a way that you wish you hadn’t. These help with applying the lessons and to building commitment to act on the lessons. Section 1 - Chimp model In that, Professor Steve Peters explains the struggle that takes place within people's minds, often sabotaging their own happiness and success. To help do this, Professor Steve Peters developed The Chimp Model which consolidates complex neuroscience into an easy-to-understand model.