Diane Johnson comes to understand that asking for a little help from our friends is not a sign of failure. While raising toddler twins and a primary-school age child, all boys, I would often hear comments that made me cringe. “My mother is coming for the...
Sheree Gleeson observes her sons and their friends as they negotiate their alliances. With four boys between us, the bond between my closest friend and I sometimes gets a robust work-out. Last week, Abby phoned. “I’m sending your two home and Finn to his bedroom,” she...
Why not have some industry-leading voices connect with you? Here are some recent podcasts for all parents to check out. BabytalkExternal (ABC) - babies don't come with instruction manuals but that just means that there's a lot to learn. This podcast will share insights...
It’s corn! Crystal Abidin looks at lesson to learn from the past in the child influencer industry An American seven-year-old named Tariq went viral on the internet last month after appearing in an 85-second Instagram clip professing his love for corn. His quirky quips, including the...
Former teacher Sarah Pietrzak finds herself a little tested by her son’s reaction to the impending literacy and numeracy assessments. “Please Mum, don’t make me do it. I’m going to fail, aren’t I?” My eldest child looked at me imploringly. And in that moment I understood....
Almost 50,000 students have already signed up for the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee. That’s more than double the number of students from years 3 to 8 who took part last year, showcasing their word skills in the online national competition, run by News Corp Australia’s...
To give schools real choice about secular school chaplains, the latest change needs to go further, writes Luke Beck New federal Education Minister Jason Clare has announced a change to the National School Chaplaincy Program to allow schools to “choose” between having a religious chaplain and...
Cassandra Charlton’s daughter enjoys a close relationship with her distant cousins. My three-year-old daughter is separated from her cousins by thousands of kilometres – and sees them only once every two years when their family comes to Australia to visit us and their maternal grandparents. On...
From shopping lists to jokes on the fridge—learning how to be a confident and communicative writer is one of the most important skills students learn at school, report researchers Anabela Malpique, Deborah Pino Pasternak, Debora Valcan and Susan Ledger But NAPLAN results show a significant decline in...
Anne Woodin finds that her son’s ability to read creates good challenges for him, and difficult ones for her. When you are pregnant, you don’t think about actually having the baby for the first couple of months. During the last couple of months, it is all...
