How parents can use coercive control on their children

‘I was very fearful of my parents’: researcher Kate Fitz-Gibbon, shows how parents can use coercive control on their children In Australia, there is growing recognition that children and young people are not just witnesses to domestic, family and sexual violence, but victim-survivors in their own right. While we are getting better at understanding how coercive control...

EDITOR’S PICKS

Should I limit how much fruit my child eats because it contains sugar?
Parents are often told fruit is “bad” because it contains sugar, writes Nick Fuller, prompting concerns about how much fruit they should allow their child to eat. This message has been fuelled by the “sugar-free” movement, which demonises sugar with claims it’s fattening and causes...
Editor
21 August, 2025
5 phrases parents should never use with a tween
The teenage years are great, aren’t they? writes clinical psychologist Jari Evertsz Just as we feel that we’ve got the hang of managing our primary school-aged kids with all their different sporting activities, their quirky food preferences and their love of sofa cuddle-time, along comes...
Editor
14 August, 2025
Science Week 9-17 August 2025: Top Family-Friendly Events
From dinosaurs to chocolate science, rocket launches to virtual spacewalks, discover the best family science events near you this August. Australia’s biggest science festival is splashing into real schools, school-at-home, and virtual classrooms. In-person events, virtual tours, webcasts, talks, DIY experiments, quizzes, citizen science and...
Editor
07 August, 2025
Why Learning a Second Language Is a Smart Move for Kids
Virginia Prior writes that helping your child learn another language does more than expand their vocabulary – it boosts brainpower, emotional well-being, and future career prospects. From improved memory to long-term cognitive benefits, here’s why raising a bilingual child is one of the best investments...
Editor
31 July, 2025
Energy-Saving Tips for Families: How to Cut Bills and Stay Warm This Winter
Discover practical energy-saving tips for families. From heating hacks to smart laundry habits, here’s how to reduce your power bills—especially during winter. Warm Smarter, Not Harder Winter heating can be one of the biggest energy drains for households. To stay warm without blowing your budget,...
Editor
24 July, 2025
Mum-Turned-Engineer Creates Breastfeeding Monitor to Reassure New Parents
For many new parents, the biggest challenge of breastfeeding isn’t the latch—it’s the not knowing. New Aussie Invention Tracks Milk Intake in Real Time A Monash University engineer and mum has created a smart device that removes the guesswork, measuring how much milk a baby...
Editor
17 July, 2025

Celebrating Mothers

Raising a Sensitive Son: When Kindness Meets a Tough World
Kylie Ladd contemplates her son’s gentle nature and wonders how he will cope with the harshness of life. A Boyhood Shaped by Indiana Jones Yesterday I taught my nine-year-old son about the Nazis. It wasn’t planned, and it certainly wasn’t well executed, but I had...
Editor
21 August, 2025
When Motherhood Feels Like Too Much: One Mum’s Honest Midlife Reflection
Facing The Mirror: Nicole Ryan is momentarily overwhelmed by the mediocrity of motherhood. Mirror Moments and Midlife Questions Is this what a midlife crisis feels like? At 37 years old? Is this considered midlife? If 40 is the new 30, then I’m still in my...
Editor
14 August, 2025
Tooth Fairy Trouble: One Mum’s Hilarious Struggle to Keep the Magic Alive
Joanne Fedler finds the fiction of the tooth fairy hard to sustain. The First Tooth: Easy Magic The thing about lies is that they are very difficult to keep under control. They are very difficult to keep under control. They say that the best thing...
Editor
07 August, 2025
Real-Life Toilet Training: One Mum’s Surprising Lessons From the Potty Frontline
Kylie Ladd recalls the unplanned and rather fortuitous ways in which her children became toilet trained. Forget the Books—Toilet Training Doesn’t Always Go to Plan When it comes to toilet-training, less is definitely more. That is, the less time and effort you have to spend...
Editor
24 July, 2025