Thea van de Mortel looks at how to tell if your COVID test can detect Omicron You’ve tested negative for COVID using a rapid antigen test (RAT), but are a close contact of a positive family member and have symptoms. So you might be wondering...

Rebecca Chaney faces the quandary of whether or not to send her daughter to school next year. I’m watching my child in the preschool playground. I have just kissed her goodbye for the day. She runs to her teacher and gives her a hug. The teacher...

Do they get it? Asks Rachael Sharman. And where’s the line? We all lie to our kids. Some lies – telling them their artwork is wonderful, or that Wiggles band-aids are infused with anaesthetic – benefit the child. Others are just a bit of fun. Shutterstock Take the...

Lisa Lintern’s feels buoyant as she watches her son overcome his fears at the pool. Let’s be honest; we all secretly want our children to be ‘best’ at something. It’s a natural urge even the most level headed of us fights to suppress. Why else did I...

The proportion of children who are obese and overweight in Australia has plateaued, writes Tim Olds, but we should be wary of the latest Health and Wellbeing report Rising life expectancy is one of the great success stories. If you were born in 1870, you’d expect...

Jennifer McCann and Miaobing (Jazzmin) Zheng report that misleading food labels contribute to babies and toddlers eating too much sugar. Australian infants and toddlers are eating unhealthy amounts of sugar. This is mostly because the products marketed and sold by the processed food industry are high...

Michael Nagel looks at the effects of on-screen violence on young people’s brains. One of the questions that parents ask psychologists and educators is whether or not video games and television are ‘bad’ for children? In a rampantly advancing technological society, it seems that almost everyone...

Josephine Barbaro and Marie Camin suggest the earlier the better With better awareness and acceptance, approximately one out of every 50 children is receiving an autism diagnosis. More and more families are deciding when to share this information with their child. Some parents worry that doing...

  Dr Sam Tormey explains the first-aid skills needed to treat common injuries in children. Just in time for the summer holidays! Contrary to popular belief, things that go bump in the night are not usually monsters, burglars or ghosts. They are usually toddlers jumping off the...

 No wonder you don’t feel like sex, write researchers Emily Harris and Sari van Anders A man sits on the couch, watching TV. His partner, a woman, prepares dinner, while mentally ticking off her to-do list. That includes returning her partner’s shirts she’d ordered online for...