Research shows that the first years of a child’s life may be the optimal window for establishing healthy eating behaviours. Like all child development, learning to eat is a skill that takes time and practice. As parents, there are a number of things you can do...
In Australia, on any given day, about 43,000 children have a parent in prison and there is no formal system to support them, wrotes Catherine Flynn. We have to use the word “about”, as there is no official process to identify this group of children. There...
Lisa Johnson wavers about giving straight answers to kids’ curly questions. “Mummy, what does ‘rape’ mean?” Five simple words, one short question, but when coming out of the mouth of a chirpy eight-year-old boy, quite disturbing. So disturbing, in fact, that my friend, the mother of...
Shankari Chandran draws the positives from potential negatives. On 18 October 2003 at precisely 8.24pm, I unreservedly loved my mother-in-law (who I call Mum). At 8.25pm, I handed our newborn daughter to her, and as Mum tenderly cuddled her, I felt an uncomfortable tingling sensation. I...
It might be child’s play, but play is also a great parenting tool....
And why those conversations are important. By Nicole Racine, Camille Mori and Sheri Madigan, University of Calgary The early months of 2022 have already included several distressing world events. From the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, to protests against vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions, to the Russian invasion...
‘We get the raw deal out of almost everything’ Lucas Walsh, Beatriz Gallo Cordoba, Blake Cutler, Cathy Waite and Masha Mikola look at the Australian Youth Barometer Young people today are coming of age in the middle of a global pandemic, soaring house prices, an unpromising job...
Recent discoveries about brain development have gone some way towards unlocking the mysteries of the teenage mind, writes Dr Tom Whelan. The word puberty is derived from the Latin ‘pubescere’ which means ‘to grow hairy’. As such, it accurately signifies the beginnings of that strange and...
Mother Emily Shepard leads the way for kids losing their sight and hearing to a little-known genetic condition with no cure. “Why would you want to know?” I’d asked our ophthalmologist when she thought my son, Louis, then three, might lose his sight. He’d been diagnosed with...
Researchers, Christopher Mayes, Deana Leahy and Kristen Lyons ask "Has selling ‘good bugs not drugs’ for kids’ health gone too far?" Does your child have a “gut-friendly” lunchbox? It’s Healthy Lunchbox Week, a back-to-school initiative of Nutrition Australia. School lunches are essential for long-term child health...
