Parenting
It was that world-renowned paediatrician of the sixties, Dr Benjamin Spock, who first coined the phrase, ‘parents, you know more than you think you do’! It’s a message parent educators and family therapists, Steve and Shaaron...
Paul and Louise * tried for two years to become pregnant. Escalating tension as each month went by finally turned to joy when a test confirmed the long awaited pregnancy. Then came the shock of a miscarriage. Louise was inconsolable...
I love a sunburnt country, A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges, Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons, I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me
My Country - Dorothy Mackellar...
The time has come to look beyond nap times and nappies and consider your return to paid work. How do you navigate through the post-baby job maze and decide what’s best for you and your family?
Welcoming workplaces
Returning to your previous...
Making little adults out of little kids seems to be the latest pot of gold for fashion designers cashing in on the ‘tweens’ – the years between age 8 to 14. Annette Binger reports on how body image in young people is being...
Is your first born a little miss bossy boots? Ever wondered why one of your kids can wrap you around their little finger with just a cheeky smile? Do you constantly clash with one of your offspring? Fact, fallacy or pop culture hype, there are those...
It is wonderful spending time with your children while they are little but there are probably times when you miss the exciting, challenging world of work. Eventually the time comes and you return to the workplace.
You may find that there are new...
I don’t speak technology. I don’t understand the language, I don’t get how things that are supposed to make our lives easier make mine so much more complicated. Basically, I struggle with anything that has more than one button....
Nurturing and encouraging the spirit of giving in your child is one of the greatest gifts you can give them. Giving isn’t just about digging deep for a cause – it’s offering a much-loved toy to a needy child, it’s giving of...
‘Mum, if I wash the car will you give me money?’ ‘No darling, you should help around the house without expecting payment. After all, you live here too.’ Sound familiar? Sally Morrell looks at ways that parents can...
Small children want to be part of your world. For them, work is every bit as much fun as play if they are given the chance to do it. The best way to encourage your child to try new skills is to demonstrate precisely and slowly in simple ways that he...
A better start
Under the Australian Government’s new Better Start for Children with Disability (Better Start) initiative, children aged under six years who have been diagnosed with moderate or greater sight or hearing impairments including...
Can a family of five stay at a five-star resort on a less than five-star budget? Actually, it’s really a 3 ½ – 4 ½ star resort and in fact is winner of the 2001 Queensland Tourism awards for its category of...
‘We’re gonna crash, we’re gonna crash, we’re gonna crash!’ Josh is bouncing gaily on his bed at the news that we’re going to Bali – his first time in a plane and his first holiday overseas. ‘We have...
It’s a connected world. Australia is well known as a nation of early adopters when it comes to communication gadgets and tools, and recent research by Telstra with 1250 parents of school aged children confirms this trend.
Mobile...
We introduced Dr Louise Porter in our last issue to help parents with one of their biggest worries – using effective discipline to teach children how to manage their emotions and gain self control. Her guidance approach is an alternative to...
Growing up in a large family in the seventies, holidays were always at a premium, taken once a year after Christmas and always at various beach ‘shacks’ (and they were shacks) in the south of Adelaide. And they were major logistical...
By Gill Canning
Are you part of a close-knit group of friends? Perhaps your circle is one you’ve belonged to since school or university, or does it centre around your workplace? Maybe you’re one of those lucky people who met their best...
I think it was the curly grey hair and the pastel print dresses that put me off the idea of being a grandmother. Years ago my children agreed that I could be a jeans wearing grandmother instead. I felt I could cope well with the biscuit making and...
Heart-to-heart bonding with your child is one of life’s great joys. To help you really connect with your child, here are NAPCAN’s top ten tips on how to build a stronger relationship.
1. Really pay attention to what...
Here is a detailed outline of ASG’s recommended steps to smart shopping to save on back-to-school costs.
Preparing children for back-to-school can prove a challenge for many families, with back-to-school expenses often coinciding with the...
Today’s parents expect a trouble-free pregnancy and delivery, yet that doesn’t always happen. A moving account by Bruce Atherton of his first-born’s story.
Let me say from the outset that my wife, Kate, and I realise there is...
In a sexed up world of in-your-face images, how and when do parents talk to their kids about sex in a kid-friendly way? I dropped in on a friend unexpectedly for a quick coffee and was pounced on at the door. ‘I was just going to ring you. I...
Little Artists Handmade
by Carly Schwerdt,
Viking rrp $39.95
For parents who worry about the amount of time even young children spend glued to a computer screen, this book is the answer. One of the reasons children love computers so...
“Never regularly do for a child what a child can do for him or herself.” - Maurice Balson.
Helping children to develop routine habits of self-management in the mornings may not be the monumental task that it first appears. Some...
What is Marte Meo? (from Latin : ‘on one’s own strength’)
Marte Meo was devised in Holland by specialist educator Maria Aarts more than twenty years ago. As a form of therapy for babies, children and adolescents it has become the...
How to take back the power and lose the guilt……
You’ve just tidied your 10-year-olds bedroom, whipped up two batches of cookies for the school fete, bathed the dog, wrestled with sticky paper to cover your teenagers’ school...
Our family has a pastime of ‘looking at houses’ – a phrase that, for our children at least, conjures up hideous visions of hours of boredom in the car – each house inspected holding the potential to uproot everything they...
Society is quick to judge sole parents, especially women raising boys. But what do boys themselves say.
If you read enough research and listen to enough social commentators, then you’ll probably believe children who do not live with both...
It is a rare child who never experiences any fear about sleeping alone, bedtime, the dark or imaginary monsters. Most kids will need some help navigating their way through childhood and the issues around sleeping.
Monsters and other scary beings...
The difference between an ordinary holiday and a great one can come down to good planning. Kate Atherton looks at the logistics of making a family holiday unforgettable for all the right reasons.
There’s nothing better than a memorable family...
If you are eligible for the Paid Parental Leave scheme, make sure that you talk with your employer about your leave intentions, so that you have a smooth transition from work to receiving the Government’s Parental Leave Pay.
Start the...
The Australian Government will deliver Australia’s first national Paid Parental Leave scheme from 1 January 2011. It is fully government-funded and will help employers retain valuable and skilled staff.
The scheme will provide up to 18 weeks...
“You should only have as many kids as car windows”, said Irma Bombeck. Failing that, parenting courses are often the next best option.
The screaming is enough to drive you insane. You've made it to the check-out, just barely. All...
Why it makes sense to pay more attention to one of your biggest investments outside the family home.
Australians on the whole are fairly uninterested in their super. For many, retirement is just too far into the future, and they are far more pre-...
When times are tight, it’s tempting to look at the family budget and zero in on the outgoings that have no immediate obvious benefit – in particular insurance payments. Insurance though is just that, a hedge against the unforeseen...
Is the child care you use quality care?
In recent years the number of children attending care outside their home has increased dramatically. The Australian Bureau of Statistics records that in 2008 (the most recent figures available) 750,000...
Every child is an artist.
The problem is how to remain an artist.
- Pablo Picasso
The arts (music, drama, art) and children’s play are powerful avenues for children to express creativity and imagination. Everyone is creative. Being...
There were three in the bed and the little one said ‘Roll over, roll over’, and mum said ‘Get back in your own bed!’ In your dreams, Mum. It’s 4 o’clock in the morning and the little one is just not budging! So...
The Child Support Agency is responsible for the Australian Government’s Child Support Scheme, supporting separated parents to transfer payments for the benefit of their children. There are many parent support resources about issues related to...
On Mother’s Day, Australia for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency’s charity in Australia, launched a Safe Mother & Baby Appeal with special lifesaving gift packages that can be bought and sent to women in refugee camps around the...
The books are covered, the shoes are scuffed and the novelty of their new teacher and classmates has worn off. Sally Morrell talks about staying on track once the school year has kicked off.
This year you promised the school year would be different...
The law of unintended consequences, often cited but rarely defined, is that actions of people—and especially of government—always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended - The Concise Encyclopaedia of Economics.
When...
Read the papers, online websites or watch TV and every other week there seems to be ongoing controversy about family law – dissatisfaction with a court decision or various interest groups criticising the law.
Current changes to family law were...
The first overhaul of Australia’s child support system in two decades has been two years in the making for 4000 agency staff, so when it is implemented from July 1, 2008, there are likely to be a few sighs of relief.
At least that’s what...
The biggest changes to the Family Law Act since the 70’s have now been in force for twelve months. The weekend dad of the past, if he chooses, can now have an increased presence in the lives of his children.
Family law solicitor Paul Cahill...
Smart parenting, safer kids
The current generation of parents grew up in a time that they reminisce about as having greater freedom than they allow their own children. It’s ironic really – as in other ways children today have been...
The school year for 2011 is just about over, and one group of Australian children have had a taste of the next 13 years! Those children are the group aged five years who have been involved in transition to school days. Starting primary school is an...
Parenting children is difficult enough. Raising a child with a progressive, life-threatening illness can have a devastating impact on a family. Messy rooms and belated bedtimes take a backseat to concerns over medical costs, hospital procedures and...
Have parents really become clueless wimps who allow children to ride roughshod over them and dominate household affairs? Annette Binger polls the parenting experts.
If you’ve watched reality shows like Super Nanny or Nanny 911 you’d be...
By Gill Canning
When Angela Hardy stood up to accept the Rising Star Award at the 2011 Australian Family Child Care Awards on April 29 in Sydney, she was so overcome with emotion that words failed her.
It took the 23-year-old centre director of...
Homework is a regular part of most school-aged children’s lives for many years. Some love it and look for more; others dissolve into tears at the mere thought of it. Whichever way your child approaches their homework, your involvement as a...
Would you send your klutzy colleague to the naughty corner for spilling their coffee again? Or say, ‘Good boy, you can have a biscuit now that you’ve eaten your lunch?’ It sounds ridiculous but adults say and do this to children...
How many times have we heard it before? A loving, well meaning parent buys the latest whiz bang toy for their young child’s birthday – designed to improve gross motor skills, develop their cognitive ability and increase their artistic...
Would you like to get your kids to willingly cooperate?
Stop the daily battles?
Teach your kids valuable life skills?
There are so many things we must get our children to do and so many things me must stop them from doing! Get up. Get dressed. Don...
At various stages growing up my sisters and I had guinea pigs, ducks, fish, mice, cats and a dog. I’m sure there was a school holiday or two spent minding the classroom rabbit and gerbil too. We witnessed life and death, experienced...
A husband was watching his wife prepare a leg of lamb one day. She used a meat-saw to cut off several inches from the shank bone. When she finished, he asked, ‘Now, that is interesting, you cutting off the shank bone that way. Does it make it...
Why kids lie
By Gill Canning
Nobody wants their child to lie but the truth is, just about every kid will tell porkies at some stage or another. So, what are the best and easiest ways to deal with it?
When do they start...
March celebrates International Women’s Day and is Australian Women’s History Month
The global theme for 2012 is Connecting Girls, Inspiring Futures. The United Nation’s 2012 theme is Empower Rural Women – End Hunger and...
Stress – the modern definition represented by the mother trying to combine working and little children. Because, as sure as God made little green apples, the day you absolutely have to be on the job, is the day your darling comes to you and...
There’s more to being a dad than earning an income, isn’t there? These days, dads have choices as Archimede Fusillo explains.
When you’re a so-called ‘modern dad’ the parameters of just what being a dad means have...
“You’re not my mummy – I’m not going to do what you say!” Four-year-old Brooke pouted with hands on hips, before prancing into her bedroom and slamming the door. At her wits end over another angry outburst, her...
