Working Mothers or Working Parents - Language is Powerful
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 article
How to Silence the Parent's Inner Critic
Is your inner critic getting you down? You know: that little voice in the back of your head constantly telling you what a lousy parent you are. Every parent has one. It’s a stream of thoughts making up an endless real-time commentary on what you are thinking and doing, continuously pointing out and cataloging you deficiencies and weaknesses...So what do you do if your inner critic is getting out of hand? Read full article
Is Your Dad this Cool? Sending a Toy Train into Space
On Aug 24th 2012 Ron Fugelseth, Creative Director at Oxygen Productions Inc sent his son's favourite train 'Stanley' to space in a weather balloon with a HD camera and an old cell phone for GPS. He was recovered 27 miles away in a corn field and they filmed some great footage of the trip. This video documents the journey from liftoff to landing. Spotted by Carol Duncan - the video, not the train. Read full article
Study Finds Children are Learning Persistence from Fathers
Can your children stick with a task? Can they finish a project? Can they set a goal and complete it? Researchers from Brigham Young University in Utah, United States, asked parents about their children’s persistence and found that fathers who use an authoritative parenting style are more likely to raise teenagers with a motivated and persistent approach to achieving their goals. Read full article
Dads Get the Good Gigs at School
So I’m strolling into the school yesterday as all the buses are arriving back from the MCG Sports Museum tour. I had volunteered to go, as I do with most excursions (except those involving animals, yawn) but didn’t give it a second thought when I hadn’t heard back from the school. Off go the kids and, from what I can see, a few dads and one mum helper. Unspiritually, this is what I thought: “Geezus, I volunteer to do canteen duty, classroom help, Father’s Day stall, athletics carnivals and when something actually right up my alley appears a DAD gets chosen to go???” Read full article
Time Alone with Fathers Boosts Teens' Self Esteem
Dads, men, male mentors, uncles, grandfathers are so important in the lives of children. Increasingly, research confirms what most of us already thought: men who spend focused time with their children make a valuable contribution to their kids’ happiness and psychological health. And the father effect is important for teenagers too...this research showed that teens who spent more one on one time with their fathers had higher levels of general self-worth, and higher levels of social competence. Read full article
How My Husband Raised a Good Man
I’m just about to reveal myself as an appalling hypocrite. I think I can justify myself, however. You may recall that in my last outing for happychild I expressed my discomfiture at the idea of parents monitoring their kids’ Facebook accounts. (Not everyone agreed with me I have to add.) Yet only the other day I found myself reading my eldest son’s private correspondence without his knowledge. Read full article
I Don't Have a Favourite Child - If I Did, I Wouldn't Tell You
The old chestnut - having a favourite child - was up for discussion today on Mornings on Channel 9. Journalist Paul Chai read Jeffrey Kluger's book The Sibling Bond and wrote an article admitting that while he loves both his kids, he finds one easier to relate to and easier to bond with. I had a chat about this with Paul and Mornings hosts David Campbell and Sonia Kluger. Depending on what you read, 100 %, 95%, 70%, 65% or 23% of parents admit to having a favourite child ... Read full article
I Thought I Was Prepared for Parenting
No matter how much you try to prepare for motherhood, you really won’t know how you feel about it until you experience it. No matter how many books you read, you will never find that elusive recipe for how to look after your brand new baby, let alone a toddler, pre-schooler or teenager. I thought I was prepared. I had read the books and spent a great deal of my childhood and adolescence in the company of babies and young children. The reality was nothing like the books. Read full article
Why Stay at Home Mums Might be More Depressed - New Poll
A Gallup poll in the United States of over 60,000 women found that mothers who stay at home with their kids, when compared with working mums, experience - more worry: 41% compared to 34%; and - more depression: 28% compared to 17%, as well as slightly more anger, stress and sadness.Today, I discussed this in more detail on Channel 9 show, Mornings. View the short video here and join the discussion: What do you think about these figures? Do you think as a society we need to get better at valuing parents who stay at home? Read full article
