05 Apr April Issue Of CHILD Magazines
Say hello to our April issue of CHILD magazines. In this issue we take a look at what you wish you learnt at school, fostering a child and families with twins, plus much more.
“They should teach this in school.” That’s what I think every time I hit up against a problem I can’t solve, or a skill-set I developed on my own, or an easy way of doing something that I only learned after years of doing it the hard way.
In Jenna Templeton’s Back to Basics story in this issue, our readers share the many things they wish they’d learned at school – but never did. Maybe we should all share these ideas with our kids’ schools! They could start a new subject called Life 101.
What are some of the things you wish school had taught you? A quick survey of our office got these replies to that question. Lana wished she’d been taught car mechanics; a variety of more exotic languages than French and Italian; and that she’d had more guidance on how to apply for jobs. Eliza would have liked to know practical stuff like how do I register a car? How do banks work? How do shares work? Daisy would have liked a class called ‘How to Buy a House 101’. For me, it was shorthand; the in’s and out’s of electricity (does this TV need surge protecting? What does ‘earthing’ mean?); and how to store every veg under the sun so it doesn’t go off.
But it’s just everyday stuff we need to know. In my day, smoking in the toilets got you expelled, but our children are facing far more dangerous temptations and threats. Drugs, sexually transmitted diseases, online gambling and more can way-lay them. That prompted Melbourne journalist Eileen Berry to write a series of Parent Guides to navigate us through their world. The first four – Drugs 101, Sex 101, Social Media 101 and Mental Health 101 – are a no-holds-barred look at the stories, substances and stats behind each topic. Titles on gambling, money, resilience and body image are on the way. See our story about Eileen’s guides in our ‘Learn’ section in this issue. Unflinching, real but non-sensationalist, I don’t think any of us can afford not to read them.
We also take a look at families with multiples and twins and what life is like after a cancer diagnosis for a two year old?
Were you thinking about fostering a child? We share all you need to know about fostering in our story; Go Forth and Foster.
A big thanks to our cover kid Valentina for featuring on the cover of our April issue.
Words by Natalie Ritchie // Cover Photography by Michelle Young // Still-Life Styling + Photography by Jenna Templeton // Jacket from Sunny + Finn.
