When her daughter turns 10, Guillemette Perrin leaves the party planning in her hands. My eldest daughter recently hosted a party for her tenth birthday. “Double digits!” she chanted for all to hear. Clearly this was her most significant birthday to date. She spent weeks agonising over...
One simple idea had the young Christine Kininmonth utterly entranced. When I was eight, my nemesis Jenny, flanked by her posse of hangers-on, marched up to me at the school sandpit. “I’m having a sleepover birthday party,” she said, “and Mum says I have to invite...
Rebecca Chaney questions the tendency to fill children’s waking hours with structured activity. “Don’t be mean,” a friend said recently. I know she was only joking, but her words still hurt. I did feel mean, and guilty, but I wasn’t going to budge. My son wants to...
Jennifer Dudding is dumbfounded by those who have no qualms about spreading their germs around. My boys and I had been invited over for morning tea and we arrived to find the hostess carrying out a washing basket overflowing with freshly laundered clothes. She exclaimed how...
To make our wardrobes sustainable, we must cut how many new clothes we buy by 75%, report Samantha Sharpe, Monique Retamal and Taylor Brydges. If things don’t change fast, the fashion industry could use a quarter of the world’s remaining global carbon budget to keep warming under...
Carla Pascoe Leahy reviews: Mothertongues - Ceridwen Dovey and Eliza Bell (Hamish Hamilton) Mothertongues creatively responds to the question: what kind of genre and form could possibly describe a human experience that resists language? Is it possible to capture the inexpressible complexity and absurdity of motherhood? Mothering...
Peachy Keen is here! Whether you need music to calm and soothe the kids or entertain them and stimulate their early childhood development, Peachy Keen is here for you. It’s an exciting new entertainment brand featuring world-class quality children's music launching across all music streaming platforms. Peachy Keen will also be made available in immersive Spatial...
Giant tube slides and broken legs are just some of the problems, report Lisa Nicole Sharwood, David Eager and Ruth Barker Child’s play involves risk and challenge, a vital part of development. Failing, falling and picking yourself up again are crucial life lessons. But children also...
Alex Field’s stomach does somersaults when her daughter does gymnastics So often my role changes due to the varied needs of my five children. The very thought of taking on new after-school activities, or even changing the ones I have so carefully planned out, is fraught...
Find out with the new Security App! RACV and Neighbourhood Watch have taken some guesswork out of home security by developing the How Safe is My Place augmented reality app. By asking a series of questions, just like in the game of ‘I-Spy’, the new app will...
