UNICEF Animation Explaining Children's Rights
UNICEF Australia has just released a short animation for children, their parents and teachers, to learn about child rights. The animation follows brother and sister, Jack and Ruby, and puts child rights into context using themes like bullying, poverty and the respect for another’s culture and beliefs. Read full article
The Internet is Changing the Way Our Kids Access Music
As our kids get older and start to dictate the sort of music they want to hear, the bands they want to see, or the music they want to play themselves, I think we are going to see some radically different musical directions being taken in the future. Now, my 15-year-old doesn’t really listen to the radio, or buy CDs. Read full article
Infant and Early Childhood Social and Emotional Wellbeing Conference 2013
Infant and Early Childhood Social and Emotional Wellbeing Conference 2013 - in Canberrra, starting on 30th October 2013. Described as a "call to action", the program promises to be participative, innovative, stimulating, thought-provoking and enriching. Posing the questions: What vision do we want for our future? and Where should we be focussing our attention and efforts?, the conference will focus on what we can do to ensure that children thrive. Read full article
Parent Article for Primary School Newsletters
We have developed a quality parent-communication tool for schools in the form of an A4 one-page article for parents that can be easily inserted into your regular school newsletter. As parents are the first and enduring educators of their children, there is great reciprocal value for a school when it shares new ideas and research with families. See details and a sample. Read full article
Free Talk in Sydney - 'What is Good Education for Girls AND Boys?'
Santa Sabina College Principal and Gender Education Expert, Dr Maree Herrett invites you to a free talk about gender relations in education. Read full article
The Family Meal - is Work and Life Stress Affecting It?
Managing work‐life stress has become an increasing challenge for parents. All too often, stress from the work day spills over into family time and this can adversely impact the physical and emotional health of family members. Parents report that not being able to balance work/life stress is a major barrier to shared family dinners or family mealtimes. These simple tips will help parents to create enjoyable family dinners. Read full article
Let's Read - The Australian Government's Call to Families of Young Children
A National Early Literacy Campaign launched this week in Australia aims to see all Australian children gain the foundation skills for language, literacy, and ultimately, learning success. Let’s Read is an Australian Government initiative developed by Royal Children’s Hospital’s Centre for Community Child Health, to be implemented by Murdoch Children’s Research Institute and The Smith Family. The campaign delivers this important message - reading with children aged 0-5years is probably the single-most important activity parents can do with their children to enhance their child’s future ability to read and write. Read full article
Australia Gets a B Minus on Report Card - Health and Wellbeing of Young Australians
This morning at Parliament House Canberra, Ms Elaine Henry OAM, Chairperson of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) launched ARACY's second Report Card on the Wellbeing of Young Australians. Describing Australia as "middle of the road" when it comes to children's health and wellbeing in Australia, the Report Card identifies areas of concern in areas such as child poverty, infant mortality, and youth participation in education and employment. Speaking at the launch, Dr Norman Swan, also a board member of ARACY highglighted income inequality and early childhood education as significant areas of deficit in Australia's policy and practice. Read full article
Do Children Know that Seeking Asylum in Australia is Legal?
This is a story about reading aloud to our 11 year old. I guess it's also a story reflecting my family's history; I'm acutely aware from my Nana's stories, of the terror of escaping from a country in which you are persecuted. And it's a story about helping children digest media...Last week, I was reading this beautifully illustrated book to our Mr 11 Read full article
Bernard Gaynor Wouldn't Let a Gay Person Teach His Kids and He's Not Afraid to Say It
And he is right about the fear factor- there is nothing much to be afraid of – it’s generally safe and in most cases legal to express your views in Australia, no matter how offensive they are to other people...However, I would be afraid and ashamed to live in a country where most people were not offended by Ms Corbett’s equating the protection and granting of rights to gay and lesbian people with granting rights to paedophiles. Read full article
