That’s getting a bit wild, kids! Why don’t you play something quieter? How often have you found yourself saying something like this to your children as they’re rolling around on the lounge room floor? asks researcher Emily Freeman? Even if they are smiling and clearly having fun,...
Parents make mistakes, writes Cher McGillivray. So, what does ‘good enough parenting’ look like? There is a huge amount of pressure on parents today – from feeding babies the “best organic purees” to making sure older children get all the developmental opportunities they could possibly need...
Parents can often find themselves staring in bewilderment at the little human they helped to create, write Wendy Goff, Anne Rohde and Bin Wu Sometimes, this bewilderment is centred around awe and amazement. Sometimes, it is firmly entrenched in shock and embarrassment about a specific behaviour...
If you have a baby, does this mean you can’t be friends with your child-free friends anymore? writes Catherine E Wood In a high-profile article for New Yorker magazine in September, journalist Allison Davis wrote about a “slow-rolling tectonic shift that neither side notices at first...
Louise Grimmer has found some ideas from the Netherlands that might help. Even before COVID-19, social isolation and loneliness were all too common across the community. Living among millions of other people is no comfort for people in cities, where the pace of life is often...
Feeling controlled by the chaos in your home? Maintaining a tidy home is a never-ending challenge, write Jamal Abarashi and Taghreed Hikmet And tidiness goes beyond aesthetics – it contributes to a person’s mental wellbeing. So what are the best strategies for creating and maintaining order? A growing...
Researchers Tonia Gray, Jaydene Barnes and Marion Sturges write that you should stand back and avoid saying ‘be careful!’ There is ongoing concern about the impact of “helicopter parenting” on children’s growth and development. Keen to ensure the best outcomes for their children, helicopter parents tend to...
Last month, writes Arjuna Dibley, a significant victory for climate change was won behind closed doors. In 2020, Katta O’Donnell, then a 23-year-old university student in Melbourne, launched a world-leading class action lawsuit against the Commonwealth government. O’Donnell alleged that she and other investors in Australian-issued bonds...
Psychologist, Lowri Dowthwaite-Walsh, looks at why women are unhappy and four things they can do about it. Something strange is going on in women’s happiness research. Because despite having more freedom and employment opportunities than ever before, women have higher levels of anxiety and more mental...
Fewer than 1 in 5 students who are behind in Year 3 catch up and stay caught up, report researchers Olivia Groves and Lucy Lu We want all students to finish school with the literacy and numeracy skills they need to take advantage of post-school opportunities...
