Whether it be managing the unexpected behaviours of teenagers, a chronic disability, an acute illness, or mental health issues, Benison O'Reilly explores why teenagers get into trouble even with supportive parenting. Read full post

Is your inner critic getting you down? You know: that little voice in the back of your head constantly telling you what a lousy parent you are. Every parent has one. It’s a stream of thoughts making up an endless real-time commentary on what you are thinking and doing, continuously pointing out and cataloging you deficiencies and weaknesses...So what do you do if your inner critic is getting out of hand? Read full post

A study by researchers at New York University, Yale’s School of Medicine, and Fordham University suggests that one reason why adolescents tolerate situations where the outcome is uncertain is that they have a higher level of comfort with “the ambiguous”. And this result could help in suggesting new ways for parents and teachers to talk to teenagers about risk. What do you think? Read full post

Late last year, I was sitting in a pizzeria in Balmain having dinner with my then 14-year-old. The restaurant was full with most of the tables taken up with families, not a great surprise on an early Saturday night. However, as I looked around the room, I noticed a pretty astounding thing. Apart from our table, every single child in the restaurant – and I mean every single child – was playing on some smartphone, tablet or games device. And these were children of all ages, from kids in prams and high chairs to older teenagers. Read full post

Maree’s husband, Allan, died earlier this year after battling brain cancer, throwing her world into turmoil and disrupting the lives of her two young daughters as they struggled to cope with the fear and devastation of losing their father, and the uncertainty this meant for their future. Read full post

As we stand up for International Day of the Girl Child, October 11, I have decided it’s time to celebrate that often dreaded period of a girl's development: her teen years. I want to inject a new word into that conversation around parenting girls. Read full post

This is a conversation my mother and I had last week. What started as a conversation about the current economic climate in Greece, soon turned into reflection for my mother who was born in rural Greece in 1935. As a small child she would walk to primary school with her older brother. Read full post

I travelled to India in 2010 with other volunteers working with global not-for-profit, Room to Read, in order to find out more about their programs on the ground. Room to Read helps students in Asia and Africa learn to read and write, and helps girls finish school. I don’t think I was prepared for the impact of meeting a young girl from a small village in the middle of the Rajasthan desert. Read full post