Let’s start by putting aside the bugbear that it is even possible to “cancel” children’s author Dr Seuss, writes Kate Cantrell and Sharon Bickle As Philip Bump wrote recently in The Washington Post, No one is ‘cancelling’ Dr Seuss. The author, himself, is dead for one thing,...
Families come in all shapes and sizes, writes Jacqui Tomlin. Something is happening in our house on weekday mornings. We call it Sock Torture. Our youngest started Kindy recently, and she’s loving it, but at either end of the school day she’s tired, and how shall...
Samantha Allemann enjoyed playing with dolls for a much longer time than her peers. When I was 10 and about to go into hospital to get my tonsils removed, Mum bought me a present to soothe the pain: Gymnast Barbie. I was thrilled and made her...
The 31st anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of the Child came and went in 2020, writes Liz Allen. Yet not every Australian child is registered or has a birth certificate. As we reflect on the value and place of children, this gives us a...
It could be their superpower! Write Chloé Diskin-Holdaway and Paola Escudero Australia is a multicultural society. There are different traditions, cultures, accents and languages all over the country. The latest Census data show almost 30% of Australians speak a language other than English, or English and another...
Yang Yang shares how encouraging her daughter to ‘live bilingual’ carries on her culture. Communication has become difficult since my daughter Yolanda turned four last year. She switches to English when she feels she isn’t understood or can’t find the right Chinese word to convey her...
Why do so many schools have cupboards full of musical instruments gathering dust? Dr Alexander Crooke looks for possible answers. Musical participation in schools has been increasingly linked to a range of benefits deemed critical for today’s students. This includes fostering creativity, offering unique ways of...
My children might not get it right or even seem to want to get it right for now, writes Maria Tedeschi. But once they leave the safe haven of the family home, I need to believe that those skills that I tried so hard to...
Kids spend nearly three-quarters of their school day sitting, report Natalie Lander and Jo Salmon. Here's how to get them moving during lessons. Regular physical activity is linked to improvements in physical and mental health including anxiety and depression. It can also improve cognitive functioning such...
Students across Australia have started the new school year using pencils, pens and keyboards to learn to write. In workplaces, machines are also learning to write, so effectively that within a few years they may write better than humans, predicts Lucinda McKnight. Sometimes they already do,...
