'I WANT TO GET KIDS TALKING ABOUT THEIR EMOTIONS'

TV PRESENTER AND AUTHOR KATIE PIPER ON HER LATEST BOOK, WORK-LIFE BALANCE AND KEEPING HEALTHY

- NICOLA FAHEY 

She’s long been looked up to as bravery and positivity personified – and now, Katie Piper is on a mission to help members of the new generation find their inner courage. The Loose Women presenter and best-selling author has just released her first children’s book, All You Need, with her daughters Belle, eight, and Penelope, five, acting as editors.

“They helped me write the book and they rejected the first draft,” says Katie, 39. “They were like, ‘No, mummy, we want to change it – we want it to be more about bravery.’ I said, ‘OK, you’re the target audience so I’m listening.’ They were like consultants throughout the whole process.”

Katie has written 13 non-fiction books but her new venture follows the character Teeny Mouse on a fun but nerve-racking journey, demonstrating with positive affirmations how all you need is courage and a little bit of faith to try new things, no matter how scary they feel. It stems from her own parenting journey, part of which has been reading daily affirmations to her children, who she shares with husband Richard James Sutton, since before they were even born.

“It’s something I’ve always done – even while I was pregnant,” she says. “It’s always been part of my daily life. As we all know, unfortunately, when we get to a certain age we start affirming negative things, like, ‘I’m not going to be good at this,’ ‘They’re not going to like me’ and ‘I don’t belong here.’