A note from school prompts a hair-raising experience for Sandy Leen and her family. When the note came home from school advising that there was an outbreak of head lice in my son’s class, I was intrigued. The note instructed me to stop everything and proceed...
The roller-coaster ride of parenting becomes more challenging when Amanda McLeod is diagnosed with bipolar disorder. I lost friends and colleagues who found it difficult to deal with my highs, lows and erratic behaviour. After 12 months of trying to conceive, I was overjoyed when the pregnancy...
When Karen Eriksen’s son began refusing almost all food at the age of two, it would take five years and several specialists to establish what the problem was. My child lives on air alone. You might think I am exaggerating, but I’m not really. My seven...
Even self-professed exercise junkie MJ Ong struggles to keep up her regimen with a baby in tow. I’m not your average postgraduate student. On the first day of my doctorate course I was eight weeks pregnant. Ironically, my research is on pregnancy and exercise. I was...
Laughter is a powerful tool to accentuate positivity, create happiness and infuse optimism to bring about hope and propensity for life and living. ...
We take a look at commonly misunderstood behaviours affecting classroom learning and debunk the stigma they carry. It took Kylie and Phil a long time to find the courage to tell people about their boys’ diagnoses. Ben, now 10, was diagnosed with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder...
When someone your child loves has died or is dying, Di McKissock O.A.M from A Friend’s Place, provides this advice. 1) Make sure your child has access to truthful information in age-appropriate language. 2) Assure your child that no questions are taboo, and that you will find...
The struggle most parents face lies in accepting their children for who they are, and this is often amplified if their child is seen as ‘different’ in some way. The rewards of acceptance however, may be greater than you could imagine. It was only much later...
Kate Southam looks at the role parents can play in identifying and developing their children’s instinctive talents and abilities beyond the school curriculum. Louise and John first noticed there was something different about their daughter when she was five and wanted to learn to read. They...
Five seconds of distraction is all it takes for Claire Hewitt’s toddler daughter to get into deep trouble. This morning I didn’t know how many seconds it would take a 24-month-old to drown. Laden with towels, outfits, drink bottles, snacks, phone, nappies, wallet, keys – the...
