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;...
After a dramatic year in which Elizabeth Reed introduced her son to all manner of sporting pursuits, he made it quite clear he wanted to write his own script. Ten years ago we had our first child, a son. Obviously he would enjoy sport; all boys...
Annie's ice cream pudding Prep time: 15 minutes plus four hours freezing Cook time: nil Serves: 6-8 Ingredients 4 cups (1 litre] good quality vanilla ice cream 1 cup (125g) frozen raspberries 1 Cup (140g) Vienna (toffee) almonds roughly chopped 1 cup (80g) roughly chopped chocolate coated honeycomb Mixed berries and apricot coulis to...
Kris Bordessa’s sons have a tendency towards truncation in their communication The bright, bold colours of billboards and street signs intrigued my oldest son, Brad, long before he could read. “What does that say, Mum?” he’d ask from the back seat as we whizzed down the...
Fiona Adams bids Father Christmas a fond farewell. “Mum, please tell me Santa is real,” begged my 10 year old. Lana had just found out at school that “The Tooth Fairy is really your mum and dad”. She was devastated, and I silently cursed the child...
‘What am I supposed to do about all this really bad stuff?’ Phoebe Quinn and Katitza Marinkovic Chavez report that many young people feel anxious, powerless, sad and angry about climate change. Although there are some great resources on children’s eco-anxiety and climate distress, the vast majority...
– and a place for kids to escape their mollycoddling parents, writes Sanné Mestrom Imagine this: a heap of colourful plastic buckets stacked on top of each other to form a climbable bridge, monolithic bluestone boulders holding up a contorted slide, a pile of concrete demolition...
Get them to join a choir, orchestra or band! Write researchers Dr William James Baker, Anne-Marie Forbes and Dr Kim McLeod One of the most important qualities for a young person to develop is resilience. This involves their ability to overcome adversity. Resilience is perhaps more important now...
While her daughter’s trip to Peru did not faze Michelle Lawford, the prospect of having no contact with her well and truly did. At six o’clock in the morning we drove our 14-year-old daughter to the airport, where she would fly off for the adventure of...
Real dirt, no fake grass and low traffic – say Anne-Marie Morrissey and Deborah Moore Choosing a childcare centre for your child can be a challenging process. To start with, choices may be limited if there are not many childcare centres in the area where you live...
