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 no warning...
On their semi-rural property, Lisa Burling’s sons rise at dawn to feed the goats and collect eggs. They’ve gone from city living with no connection to the natural world, to life in-tune with the seasons, and for Lisa, as a single parent, it’s been an...
How can I help – without making it worse? Celia Harris and Penny Van Bergen have some suggestions. As school gets back, parents and teachers might each be faced with the familiar chorus of “I can’t find my school jumper” and “I left my hat at...
Susan Macciocca finds common ground with other parents while chatting at the park. The playground: a rare space for connection We avoid making contact with strangers in our society. On the bus, we avert our gaze. In the lift, we stare blankly at the walls rather than...
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 on it...
Labubu plushies aren’t just toys, reports Ming Gao. They’re a brand new frontier for Chinese soft power One of the most sought-after items of 2025 isn’t a designer handbag or the latest tech gadget. It’s a plush elf with a snaggle-toothed grin. Labubu (拉布布) is a global...
Jennifer Dudding reflects on the competitive undercurrent of modern-day children's parties. The Cake That Broke Me My legs were aching, pins and needles creeping through the soles of my feet, and my upper arms were starting to seize up. I felt elation and exhaustion in equal measure,...
What does it mean? The challenge could be finding quality care, writes Victoria Whitington One of the Albanese government’s headline election policies was a “three-day guarantee” for childcare. From January 5 2026, all eligible Australian families will be able to access at least three days of subsidised...
Here’s how you can help, report researchers Andrew J. Martin, Oscar Yau, Paul Ginns and Rebecca J. Collie As educational psychology researchers, we are very interested in how students deal with setbacks and challenges in their schooling. Research has found resilient students tend to have more positive...
Will it work? asks Jessica Kaufman and Julie Leask Last week, the Australian government announced a new National Immunisation Strategy for 2025–30. This strategy sets out the government’s priorities for improving vaccine uptake for children, adolescents and adults over the next five years. It comes at an...
