Parents Should Not Pay Children for Chores - My Opinionated Opinion
I expect our three boys to contribute in small ways to making our household work. Like every other family, sometimes our children complain about chores and other times they just get on and do them. We've made sure that the chores are only a few and that they are fairly distributed, and we don't expect too much of the youngest one. We've also decided to give our children pocket money from when they are in Year 4 in primary school. The last thing I ever want to hear when I ask one of our boys to do something (like wash the car or empty the dishwasher) is "How much will you give me for it?". Read full article
Super Mum Multi-Tasks with Two Week Old Twins
We were going to Ipswich to see the much anticipated Play School concert. A 10am start would normally be a reasonable time of day for me. A forty-minute commute would be easy. The persistent rain would have been annoying but not unwelcome. The four block walk from the nearest car park to the venue would have been slightly tiresome but manageable. But there is one small detail – actually, two small details - I have neglected to mention. I gave birth to identical twins just over two weeks ago. And yes, vying for the role of Superwoman (look out Megan Gale) I decided to take all three of my boys to the concert. Read full article
Family Rewards for Persistence with Music Practice
Music is a big part of life in our family. From when the children were tiny there was a often music playing in some form - either in the background, or big and loud on a Friday afternoon waiting for Dad to come home We would dance around the house to the beat of Sergio Mendes or ACDC. Eclectic tastes here, you see...They were singing “Get on down, I’m a sex machine” from a very early age. (Reading this, I find it a little disturbing.) So it’s not surprising that they now all play instruments and sing. Read full article
Travelling With Children - Empathy for the Parent Please
By Sophie Lee: When parents discuss the relative horrors of long haul flights on which their young children accompany them, I can only murmur sympathetically. You see, my in-laws, bless ‘em, live on the other side of the world, which entails an annual commitment to twenty-four hours (or, as I prefer to think of it, 1440 very long minutes) of claustrophobic hell at high altitude, and there’s no amount of hot nuts that can make those minutes go by any faster Read full article
My Opinion - Ethics Education in NSW Schools
In the New South Wales public school system, parents are asked to select an SRE (Special Religious Education) class for their child to attend for up to one hour each week. Each class focuses on one religion. Parents and children who are not religious or whose faith is not represented by the classes offered at their school can opt out of the classes. My view is that this presents a problem ... Read full article
The World's Worst Mother
I'm sitting down to write with the tears of guilt still wet on my cheeks and the sinking stone of fear still filling my stomach. This afternoon the unimaginable happened. My husband and eldest son were out, so my two-year-old twins and I decided to pay our lovely neighbours a visit. We walked through the gate between our one-acre properties and hopped, skipped and jumped our way down to the house. The boys had a wonderful hour playing in the neighbour's yard while I chatted with my neighbour and her daughter. Read full article
Yadavindra Public School, Patiala, India
My last visit to a school in India was to Yadavindra Public School. It was with some surprise that when researching for this post, I realised that the impressively-sized stadium that is part of the school, was built for the proposed 1938 Commonwealth Games - which ultimately, were held in my home town - Sydney. I'm glad I didn't know that at the time; I might have felt the need to apologise! Read full article
Do Kids Need Facilitation or Direction? Homework and Baby Echidnas
Can’t spare much time to write today. I have four assignments due: a chapter of maths to complete, an essay on why skateboarding is not a waste of time and a novel to finish reading before Monday. Did I say I? I meant we (and not the royal one either). Read full article
Love, Children and the Joy of Literacy
I spend time reading with and to my son. Together we have climbed a faraway tree, we have fought with wizards and dragons, we have visited secret gardens and dived with dolphins and whales. Read full article
Educating our Children for Long-Lasting Fulfilment
When it comes to bringing up our children most of us would agree we want them to be happy. So the way we educate and raise them should reflect this. Of course when we say we want our kids to be happy we mean we want them to enjoy a holistic sense of wellbeing. Critical to this will be their ability to lead a life which is congruent with their values, priorities and passions. Read full article
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