Ann Dunham (Soetoro) Sutoro’s life is changing the course of history, yet most people have never heard of this remarkable woman. When I first met Ann in Jakarta in March 1981, I had no idea how great an impact she would have on world history and politics ... We had an immediate rapport. Ann saw me as a young person who shared her idealism and passion for solving the problems of poverty in Indonesia. Perhaps I reminded her of her son Barry, born in Hawaii in 1961, a few years younger than me, and then studying and working in the United States. Read full article
"Mummy, am I beautiful?" - "Yes, you are so beautiful!" - "Mummy, are you beautiful?" Children don’t realise how confronting, or how relevant, their questions can be. When my three-year-old daughter posed the question, "Are you beautiful?" to me, I hesitated. And I gave her the answer I knew I should give: "Yes. Yes, I am." This is a question that, once upon a time, I would have laughed at. Read full article
Some researchers have suggested that the very safe playgrounds of today are depriving children of the opportunity to challenge themselves - they say a playground is a place where children can encounter and learn to overcome fears. Yvette Vignando debates this idea with psychologist Michael Carr Gregg on The Morning Show, Channel 7 - Michael bemoans the "woosification" of children. Read full article
Are safe playgrounds depriving our children of important emotional development opportunities? By making playgrounds safer and reducing physical risk, are we increasing the risk that children will be more anxious and deprived of chances to master their physical world? The value of a safety-first playground was recently questioned in the New York Times - “Can a Playground be Too Safe?”. The writer referred to comments by Norwegian psychologist, Professor Ellen Sandseter who said that it is best for children to encounter certain physical challenges from an early age so that they learn to master them through play. Read full article
I once saw a study that showed that teenage girls’ self-esteem was linked to how represented their race was in the mainstream media. It was an American study. So Native Americans who were the most under-represented racial group in the media had the highest level of self-esteem, followed by African Americans with Caucasian teenagers at the bottom of the pile. They drew the conclusion that it was because if you see somebody of the same racial group on the front of a magazine you think that if you just lost the right amount of weight, did the right exercise, had the right clothes or wore the right make up you could look like that. Whereas, somebody of a different racial group would never be able to look like that no matter what changes they made. Read full article
Book: Raising Confident Happy Children by Anthony Gunn. What do you do when your son refuses to go to bed because of the monster in the cupboard? Or when your daughter panics before a school play? Or when the death of the family pet prompts anxiety that you're about to drop off the mortal coil? How can we possibly equip our children with all that they need to grow up confident, resilient and brave? Anthony Gunn, psychologist, author and father of a primary schooler offers forty helpful approaches, explaining common fears and setbacks and how to combat them. Read full article
Book : The Confident Child by Terri Apter believes that raising confident, motivated, and caring children is a parent's greatest challenge. Drawing on her own extensive research on children and parents, Terri Apter has created in The Confident Child, a guide based on emotional coaching. Read full article
Michael Grose is an Australian parenting educator and author. In this one hour recording, he speaks with Yvette Vignando about how to raise a resilient child; how to build your own resilience as a parent; the main ingredients of a resilient family; how to develop resourcefulness, independence and persistence in your children and how to help your children cope with change, failure or conflict. Read full article
Book:The Purpose of Boys by Michael Gurian states that purpose is vital for the success and happiness of every boy. The book reveals what it takes to best support our sons while still boys, adolescents and young men and their unique needs, weaknesses and strengths. Read full article
Book: More Secrets of Happy Children by Steve Biddulph tackles the important concerns of parents today. It is a book about putting love into action, of knowing what you are doing as a parent and why. Read full article
