At the Creativity Project event in Sydney last week, Professor Sandra Jones takes the stage, followed closely by her co-presenter, author, Lincoln P. Jones. Their topic is ‘How educators can help and inspire young people and develop their creativity’ and they have travelled a journey to find those answers together. Read full post

A UK personality and businessperson – Hilary Devey – is quoted in the Daily Mail as saying: “I can’t get any women on my board because women generally put their partner and children first.’ and "There are lots of myths about why women are under-represented in the boardroom, but the excuse about a ‘glass ceiling’ is the worst. I am living proof there’s no such thing.” In my opinion, both of those latter statements are utter nonsense… Read full post

I’m very happy and optimistic about some of the changes the Federal government is proposing to teacher training. Teachers should, I believe, be more highly trained, paid and respected in our society – along with the medical profession, they are pretty much the linchpin of a successful society…If you know anything about me, you’ll know that I believe emotional intelligence education is important. So why would I baulk at the suggestion that new Australian teachers are to be tested for emotional intelligence? Read full post

March is always a hard month for me; I try to stay busy and keep focused so that my mind doesn’t have time to spend on my own thoughts. On the 15th of March this year, it will be nine years since I saw my precious baby, Marcus. I feel weird calling it an anniversary; this word makes it sound like a celebration. To me, it will always be another year since I got to kiss, hold, cuddle, talk to, touch, dream of his life, and so much more. Read full post

Recently the Huffington Post featured an article called The Upside of Autism by Jackie Morgan MacDougall. It opened with these lines: "People often talk about the difficulties associated with parenting a child with autism…" MacDougall’s article rang many bells with me. Once you’ve stared into the abyss – as I did once when Joe, my then 3-year-old son with autism, was assessed as having moderate-to-severe developmental delay – any achievement, any milestone, is celebrated with extra fervour. Read full post

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 post

…Reading new research results from the University of Illinois about the downside of parents honestly revealing their experiences with drugs and alcohol made me realise that my views on honesty and openness come with … qualification…Results of the new study involving over 550 young teens indicated that children whose parents had shared details of their own drinking, smoking and marijuana use were less likely to think drugs were bad. Read full post

This year in Australia the cervical cancer vaccine is being given to young teenage boys in Australian high schools. The vaccine has been available for girls since the program began in 2007 and the aim has been to reduce the incidence of cervical cancer. Even if you are aware of the expansion of the HPV Vaccination Program to include boys, you may be wondering why. After all, boys don’t have a cervix, right? Read full post