‘I was 170th on their list’. Marg Rogers, Margaret Sims and Michelle Gossner report on the growing regions in “childcare deserts”. Imagine living in a town where three or more families are competing for a single early learning place. This is the reality for many families in...
Emphasising function over form will help to encourage a positive body image in children, writes clinical psychologist Renee Mill. Why Body Image Matters At a mums’ group late last year, Grace shared she had read the government was planning to monitor magazines for their depiction of skinny...
‘Thriving Kids’ could help secure the future of the NDIS, report Helen Dickinson, Anne Kavanagh and Catherine Smith Mark Butler, the minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), announced a new plan to “secure the future” of the NDIS. Central to this plan is...
Not every parent has family or friends close by, but there are simple ways to create the support network your children—and you—need. Why a Village Matters Parenting can feel overwhelming when you don’t have people to lean on. While some families have grandparents, neighbours and friends close...
Australian children are being robbed of their childhood, according to Barnardos Australia, as new research reveals that more than one in three children in single-parent families are living in poverty. The latest Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey shows that 36.2% of children...
As Australia navigates rising ADHD diagnoses, expanding pharmaceutical interventions, and new support frameworks like Thriving Kids, critical reflection and transparency remain essential. The Therapeutic State: When Morality Becomes Medicine Where people were once judged for simply behaving badly, psychiatry now often treats those same behaviours as medical...
Robert Spillane presents a controversial view that ADHD may be overdiagnosed and over-medicalised. When I was studying clinical psychology in the 1960s, my teachers were adamant that when it comes to children, ‘hands off’. In those halcyon days, children misbehaved; they did not suffer from...
After speaking with many parents who have lost children to suicide, here’s what Debbie Swibel wishes all parents could know. For many parents, the thought of speaking to their children about suicide sparks fear and anxiety. It feels daunting, too confronting, or not suitable for their...
Coercive control: the silent abuse harming children nationwide Barnardos Australia is warning that children across rural and regional Australia are becoming the hidden victims of coercive control — a form of domestic violence that uses intimidation, surveillance and financial restriction rather than physical assault. Although often invisible...
Lisa Burling looks at outdated myths and the new awareness of advanced wound dressings. Every parent knows the routine: a tumble in the playground, a grazed knee, and a dash to the bathroom cabinet. For generations, we’ve reached for a plaster, dabbed on some antiseptic cream,...
