Banning the Mummy Mafia and their Squealing Children
In an article in the Sydney Morning Herald called Leave Home Without Them, Fenella Souter enters the debate on whether restaurant and café owners should be allowed to ban children from their premises. But rather than discussing the pros and cons of this emotive area, Souter employs a sarcastic and superior tone to ascribe feelings of “parental entitlement” to mothers during their so-called “mandatory public sharing” of the “difficult years of child-rearing.” The author smirks at mums who dare to enter cafes with their young children; these mothers are part of the “mummy mafia” and are living a “sophisticated” (insert sarcasm font) and “consumerist” way of life. Read full article
Parenting Trap. Does Your Child's Past Behaviour Predict Future Behaviour?
You may have heard of the phrase “past behaviour predicts future behaviour” - it’s often referred to in the context of job interviews, or in guessing how customers are likely to behave in response to a marketing idea. But do we use this assumption too much when we are parenting or teaching our children? What do you think? I have no basis for asking this question other than my own experience as a parent – and I think I have made this mistake many times. You know … you assume your son or daughter or your student will like or not like something, or will behave or react in a certain way … because that’s how they reacted last time? Read full article
Triple P Parenting Course - Best Thing I've Done
How did it get so hard? Where did we go wrong? Did I answer my parents back at 3? Surely not. Was I negotiating each time my mother asked me to do something? ...In short, we've been taken to a place we never knew existed. Before kids, I negotiated deals with my eyes closed, confidently presented to a room full of buyers, hosted VIP international client dinners and now, here I am, debating with our daughter...Never one to ask for help, I finally surrendered after another shocking bedtime debating match and turned to my husband and said, “Enough is enough, we need help”. And there it was... Read full article
