Who the Hell is Jimmy? Your Teenager's Friend?
Most parents manage the tween years in this wonderful haze of parenthood. Cut to the onset of adolescence, and you realise that you’ve duped yourself into a false sense of security. You’ve had all these years thinking that the child growing in your family - this happy, communicative child, the one that makes you cards for those special occasions - would grow into an insightful teenager... 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
Happiness is Contagious in a Family
I guess we all know that if we feel happy, some of this good mood rubs off on our children. You've also probably noticed how quickly your bad mood spreads through the family home on those inevitable 'off' days. Harvard Medical School researcher, Dr Nicholas Christakis, has researched the spread of indicated a link between how we're feeling and how happy (or not) our social networks are. Read full article
Parents Should Not Pay Children for Chores - My Opinionated Opinion
I expect our three boys to contribute in small ways to making our household work. Like every other family, sometimes our children complain about chores and other times they just get on and do them. We've made sure that the chores are only a few and that they are fairly distributed, and we don't expect too much of the youngest one. We've also decided to give our children pocket money from when they are in Year 4 in primary school. The last thing I ever want to hear when I ask one of our boys to do something (like wash the car or empty the dishwasher) is "How much will you give me for it?". Read full article
Enid Blyton Did Not Keep Kids in Sight at All Times
Our house is a funny old place. One of the reasons we bought it was that it had a secret passage. This so appealed to my Enid Blyton sense of childhood that we spent a lot more money than we could comfortably afford. As we sat down to yet another dinner of spag.bol. the other night, I realised there were a couple of extra kids at the table that did not belong to me, one of whom I had never seen before. Read full article
9 Sanity Savers for Parenting and Loving Teenagers
Last year your daughter was so sweet, suddenly she has an “attitude.” Two months ago your son was your best bud, now he treats you like you’re totally “uncool.” Welcome to the world of parenting a teenager. Throw out any of those child-rearing manuals you’ve used in the past. To survive this age group and come out sane you need a whole new parenting perspective. Read full article
Different Parenting Styles - Does It Matter?
It’s been one of those interminable days of constant negotiation with your children over the tiniest details, about treats, attention, manners, tv. Then in waltzes your partner, and throws it all to the wind. It’s indulgence time....It’s the source of resentment and countless arguments, and can range from minor squabbles to major breakdowns where relatives will suddenly find themselves out of the children’s lives. But this clash about the right way to parent is all about the “grown ups”. What about the children? How do differing styles, especially between partners and within the family group, affect children? Read full article
I'm Not a Helicopter Parent
I’m not a helicopter mother. No way. I don’t trust those helicopter mothers that hover around their children getting involved in everything that they do, pretending they’re not looking and then suddenly swooping in and fussing about something or other. ...I’m more of an A380 mother. Read full article
Experiences Matter, Not Things
A wise man I know often reminds me, "Experiences matter, not things." This is, however, a wise man who has never seen the true devastation that is often wrought in our home by The Ninja aged seven, and his brother The Bird, aged 8. Very smart and funny little boys who provide me with no end of entertainment, love, cuddles, kisses, fights and farts. Not necessarily in that order. The house is a mess, constantly, because we believe in Doing Things and Going Places. Read full article
From Here to Paternity
Book: What does it mean to become a father? Reporter and feature writer, Sacha Molitorisz chronicles the first year of paternity including sex during and after pregnancy, post-natal depression in men and jealousy fathers can feel towards their babies. Through extensive research and interviews he also investigates the hush-hush aspects of becoming a dad. The book also provides a revealing history of fatherhood and explores the rites and rituals of fatherhood in other cultures. Read full article
