Toy libraries across Australia are booming as more families turn to borrowing toys to save money, reduce waste and reconnect with their communities after COVID-19. Memberships at Australia’s 380-plus toy libraries have surged over the past two years, with new figures showing that over 130,000 families...
Catherine Wade looks at what parents can do during their child's 'tweenage' years The teenage years can be among the trickiest times for a parent. You have been used to being your child’s voice of reason. Then, all of a sudden, your authority is challenged by...
Sarah Hamilton examines the epidemic of parents oversharing online. If a baby takes their first steps in a quiet family room and nobody Tweets about it, did it happen? Technology has infiltrated nearly every aspect of our lives, leaving our children little chance of sliding under...
What do most people mean by “happiness”? asks Dr Caroline West and other philosophers. Is maximising pleasure and enjoyment really our ultimate aim, as some studies argue? Some influential studies show that the decision to have kids leads to greater suffering — at least for parents....
At a press conference recently, paralympian Dylan Alcott recalled the pain of being a child with a disability. He said he missed out on childhood friends, writes David Armstrong “I had no friends when I was five,” the Australian of the Year told reporters. “I even...
Thomas Britz looks at the children’s puzzle game that harbours a mathematical paradox or two Have you played the puzzle game Tangram? I remember, as a child, being fascinated by how just seven simple wooden triangles and other shapes could offer endless entertainment. Unlike LEGO, the Tangram...
The ‘right’ school for your child is probably right around the corner, writes Rosemary O’Brien. I’m at the gym, in the change rooms, after my weekly circuit-training session. Sam is there too – she does the same Thursday-evening session. She has a question for me. It’s...
Elvira Kalenjuk reports that recent data from the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) shows that many Year 9 students are writing at standards well below expected levels. Several commentators have attributed low writing achievement to illness and high rates of absenteeism because of the pandemic,...
A Senate inquiry is calling for a new ‘behaviour curriculum’ to try and tackle classroom disruptions reports researcher Erin Leif A Senate inquiry has found Australian students need specific lessons in how to behave. The inquiry, which has been looking at “increasing disruption in Australian school classrooms,”...
Sarah Cameron finds a little bit of magic goes a long way. I always envisaged a magical childhood for my kids, a time filled with the types of secrets and mysteries that punctuated my own youth. Fairies and sprites hidden in tree trunks and under toadstools;...
