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...
Sonja Walker’s minute-by-minute planning means that her parties pass muster with all the troops. Navigating the Birthday Party Minefield Birthday parties can be a minefield for unsuspecting parents. Who should be invited and who shouldn’t be invited? How many kids is too many? How long should it last?...
It was a close-run thing, but his son’s fifth-birthday party ended up being a treasured event, writes Daniel Prokop. The Pressure of the First Real Party When my wife, Beth, and I celebrated five years of being parents, we received the official thumbs up from our son,...
There is a growing number of ‘super-sized’ schools. Does the number of students matter? asks Emma Rowe Recently, The Sydney Morning Herald reported one of Sydney’s top public high schools had more than 2,000 students for the first time, thanks to the booming population in the...
Why Kids Today Learn So Differently From Us “The young people of today love luxury; they have bad manners; they scoff at authority… lack respect for their elders…” Whether or not these words came from Socrates, they’ve long been used to reassure parents: every generation complains about...
From “Why do people die?” to “Do bees have knees?”, children’s questions can catch us off guard — especially when we're tired or unsure ourselves, writes Dr Susan White But research shows that how we respond is more important than having all the answers. The truth about...
