Lavinia Day reports personal space seemed to be missing with some of the younger kids in her child's class and her daughter's friends come just a bit too close too often! As adults, we feel uncomfortable when someone we are talking to stands too close. I...
Deanne O’Keefe was given full-time care of her grandson nine days after his birth. His mother, Deanne’s second-eldest daughter, was schizophrenic, an alcoholic and addicted to heroin. Deanne had little contact with her daughter in the years that followed, but she did find out that a...
Arriving across our desk this month have been quite a few new books for the 0-5 age group of which our favourites are reviewed. As we know reading to preschoolers is always very revealing, when you are reviewing picture books. They either love them and engage...
Meredith Martin explains that you know you’re alive with five. A recent visit to the GP left me bemused. Our usual doctor was booked out, so we saw another. The appointment was for my son, not me, and yet the doctor launched into a series of...
Motherhood can be a thankless role, writes Kate Wattus, so it’s lucky that priceless moments come along every so often. Do you remember what it was like before Annouk was born?” I asked my six year old recently. “Yeah. I could read in bed with my lamp...
Rosalyn Sandwell wishes she knew what she was in for when she had children – or does she? My biological clock was once so loud I half expected a cuckoo to stick its head out every hour and say ‘Baby time!’ Then the day I found...
Everyone assumes she wants children, but Erin Stewart is still contemplating the question. For no apparent reason, I am pressured into talking and thinking about kids. Granted, I am in a long-term relationship, but it doesn’t explain people’s curiosity. It’s surprising how often the topic of...
While her high expectations for her son have not come to fruition, Kathie Karapalidis realises he is doing just fine. Getting back into the school routine is daunting. There’s the morning ritual that, quite frankly, had its day last year, and the bedtime routine, which creeps...
Kylie Ladd considers the true colours of childhood competition. I’m not sure that 'The Declaration of Independence' got it right: all men aren’t created equal, at least when it comes to chasey or lunchboxes or even colouring in. If they were, they would all win the...
Elspeth Ives explains to her five-year-old employer why she chooses to stay home with him and his siblings. “When did you decide you didn’t want to be anything, Mum?” my five-year-old son asked me on the way home from school. My very purpose and many everyday tasks...
