Daniel Donahoo argues that in idealising the concept of childhood, our culture fails to recognise the diversity and potential of children. Of course our children are amazing and wonderful. But they can also be frustrating, demanding, grubby, noisy and confronting. And they are supposed to be,...
Graphic scenes on television in recent times, showing homes crammed floor-to-ceiling with an astonishing amount of stuff is known now as a mental illness. Bronwyn Coulter explains how problems accumulated when she was growing up in a house of hoarders. I grew up in a house...
Heather Renton hopes that medical cannabis will prove to be an effective therapeutic treatment, where other medication has failed for her daughter, Rebecca. Why my 12-year-old child is involved in a medical cannabis trial Most mornings I feel like I have run a marathon before I...
Louise Jefferies ponders the reasons for her husband’s infidelity and considers its impact on their relationship. It is hard to explain the reason for my certainty, but I suddenly realised that Rick – my husband of seven years, the father of my two preschool-age children, the...
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...
Choice Magazine (January 2023) and Alison and Andrea's 'Australian Story' (ABC Feb 15th 2021 available on iView) warned parents about the dangers of the small button batteries. Each week in Australia, Choice reports 20 children end up in hospital with potential battery injuries, with two...
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...
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...
From school stabbings to nuclear weapons, how to address their fears Toddlers and preschoolers are comfortable and confident shouting “NO!” when they don’t want to do something their parents have asked them to do. But are your children comfortable saying no to other people or in...
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...
