Should we cocoon our children from bad news?
Dreamworld has dominated the news cycle for the past week. Children are not normally interested in the news. They complain about how ‘boring’ it is when we wish to listen to it or watch it. But ...
5 Ways to Make Family Life More Fun
For many of us, fun stopped becoming spontaneous and automatic around the time that we decided we had to be responsible adults. But if we want our families to be happier, we need to find ways to make ...
7 Things to Say to Boost Your Child’s Self Esteem
Self-esteem means liking who you are, and feeling like you’re “ok”. Having high levels of self-esteem is correlated with better outcomes in life – especially for our children. Kids with high ...
How to Banish Tech and Make Mealtimes Matter
Meal time matters. It’s a widely acknowledged fact. Researchers have found that families that eat their meals together have children who are 35% less likely to engage in disordered eating, 24% ...
Should our young children have boyfriends or girlfriends at school?
In August, 2016, a 10-year- old girls’ letter to her teacher went viral after she implored the school to let students have boyfriends and girlfriends. During the previous term, staff had spoken to ...
The most powerful words we can say to our children
Is a person’s success the product of good genes? Or can success be learned? Dr Justin Coulson examines the growth mindset, and explores the ways in which it can alter your child’s life – ...
Can your children be taught to succeed at school?
Research shows that children who are expected to succeed at school, do just that. But how much is too much? And is there a point when high expectations have the opposite effect? Did you know that ...
18 ways to a more resilient child
In 2014 Andrew Fuller, one of Australia’s well-known child and adolescent psychologists, ran a study about resilience with approximately 16000 Aussie youth. The children who were most resilient ...
My favourite discipline strategy
The 'gentle reminder' is my number one discipline strategy for getting children's attention and getting things done. My friend Wally was talking with Jared, his neighbour, in Jared’s garage. ...
Why don’t parents like playing with their kids?
Playing games, even when we do not feel like it, can build our children’s wellbeing, and make our family feel fun.
I had just returned from a long bike ride with my friend, Dave. It was a hot ...