Research results were released this week from the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health indicating that between about 20% and 30% of five year olds in Australia have a television in their bedroom. I was surprised. Although the study was focused on obesity in younger children, it is the figure about televisions in bedrooms that really amazes me...If you were considering putting your old television in your child’s room, here are my 8 reasons for why you should instead donate it to charity: Read full post

When you are new to a place, for that first little while you get to really see it, as if you are looking through the eyes of a child. Soon the sight of a squirrel pausing to nimbly pick up an acorn with its tiny squirrel paws will become something I have seen a hundred times before. But for now it is a novelty. “Squirrel!” the children squeal every time one makes a brave dash across the street or jumps from one tree branch to another. The Canadians seem bemused by our enthusiasm. Read full post

Michaela Flanagan’s daughter, Ciara, was diagnosed with a childhood cancer called neuroblastoma when she was just 12 weeks old. Ciara was immediately put on an aggressive treatment regimen and underwent two strenuous operations and eight bouts of powerful chemotherapy. Throughout her first 12 months of life, Ciara spent half of it in hospital… Read full post

My youngest child recently celebrated his first birthday. Being the third child he has always had to fit in with the schedule of the other two as well as us, so naturally his first birthday was shared with the big soccer presentation day. It was a very busy day, kick-started with balloons and present opening ...as I always do on my kids' birthdays reflected on his birth – the order of events, how I felt when he was born, etc. But I also found myself revisiting feelings of being very thankful that he was here with us, because my pregnancy with him hit some bumps along the way. At the beginning of it, I honestly thought he was gone. Read full post

I travelled to India in 2010 with other volunteers working with global not-for-profit, Room to Read, in order to find out more about their programs on the ground. Room to Read helps students in Asia and Africa learn to read and write, and helps girls finish school. I don’t think I was prepared for the impact of meeting a young girl from a small village in the middle of the Rajasthan desert. Read full post

This is a conversation my mother and I had last week. What started as a conversation about the current economic climate in Greece, soon turned into reflection for my mother who was born in rural Greece in 1935. As a small child she would walk to primary school with her older brother. Read full post

As we stand up for International Day of the Girl Child, October 11, I have decided it’s time to celebrate that often dreaded period of a girl's development: her teen years. I want to inject a new word into that conversation around parenting girls. Read full post

Maree’s husband, Allan, died earlier this year after battling brain cancer, throwing her world into turmoil and disrupting the lives of her two young daughters as they struggled to cope with the fear and devastation of losing their father, and the uncertainty this meant for their future. Read full post

Late last year, I was sitting in a pizzeria in Balmain having dinner with my then 14-year-old. The restaurant was full with most of the tables taken up with families, not a great surprise on an early Saturday night. However, as I looked around the room, I noticed a pretty astounding thing. Apart from our table, every single child in the restaurant – and I mean every single child – was playing on some smartphone, tablet or games device. And these were children of all ages, from kids in prams and high chairs to older teenagers. Read full post