Paula Maher tires of her daughter constantly coming to the party. “Look, Mummy! It’s an envelope, and it has my name on it! Open it, Mummy, open it!” My daughter, Kayla, stands before me, beaming excitedly, holding a pink, glittery envelope covered in fairies. Luckily, she...
The eight winners of the 2024 HESTA Excellence Awards were announced in Melbourne on August 30th. Selected from a record-breaking 400 nominations. These awards celebrate outstanding teams and individuals across Australia working in the Disability, Allied Health, Aged Care, and Community Services sectors. Among the winners are...
The Children’s Book Council of Australia (CBCA) have announced their 2024 Book of the Year Awards This year, the Shadow Judging winners were announced simultaneously. Now in its 3rd year, over 240 groups of school children (our Shadow Judges) assessed the shortlisted books and voted for...
Indigenous-led songwriting is helping to celebrate cultural knowledge, revitalise language and improve wellbeing in a remote community in the central Kimberley The benefits of music are something many of us understand intuitively. The fact that music can improve health, well-being and community has become increasingly well-documented...
We all enjoy a good party, and Ruth Wajnryb reminds us of their primary purposes. Nostalgia is a funny thing—funny-peculiar, not funny, ha-ha. Once you’re on a jaunt down memory lane, it’s easy to get carried away. Take children’s birthday parties, for instance. When I was raising...
Jane Goodall's youth-led action program inspires generations of conservationists, writes Mahima Kalla. Renowned scientist and conservationist Jane Goodall is touring Australia and New Zealand at the moment. The 90-year-old “woman who redefined man” is best known for her discovery of tool-making in chimpanzees, our closest living relatives. But...
When her daughter turns 12, Stephanie Legg-England decides that some pampering is in order. It’s not easy to run a birthday party for children if you are shy, or if your mother and sisters live too far away to help, or if you want a personal...
In the lead-up to her daughter’s fifth birthday party, Kylie Ladd discovers that politics isn’t just for grown-ups. My daughter Cameron is a party animal—a political party animal—that is, always with her eye on the numbers, ever sensitive to the ebb and flow of support among...
Denise Yearian believes that charity birthday parties can encourage children to think and act altruistically. At a time when many parents are pulling out all the stops for their children’s birthday parties, some families are hosting parties where the aim is to give gifts away. Children’s...
Good basic recipes can be rejigged to suit different occasions and ingredients, writes Roberta Muir I originally made a mango, lime and crème fraîche sorbet (more accurately called a sherbet); when I needed something to accompany a friend’s chocolate tart, I used the base recipe to...
