A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
Parents need to lead by example in teaching their children financial literacy, according to a Brisbane academic. It comes after a survey of high school students from around the country found most were confused about credit cards and how to calculate repayments and interest rates. There is growing concern that increasing moves toward a tap-and-go cashless society [...]
Many Australian parents worry about their children having too much screen time, but perhaps they should look a little closer to home. If the six- and seven-year-olds of Manor Lakes College, west of Melbourne, are anything to go by, many children feel "sad", "ignored" and "angry" about their parents' mobile phone use. "When my dad's [...]
When you grew up, there were no iPads, Google phones, Facebook or Snapchat, and you never had to worry about your digital identity or blue light. But fast-forward to 2017 and you're now responsible for raising a child whose life will revolve around digital technology, and who will have to be tech-smart, tech-savvy, and tech-safe [...]
The self-quieting approach has long been presented as a powerful alternative to punishment and time-out. It is an approach that encourages kids to look within to find their own solutions to their problems. Self-quieting has also been referred to as time-in or positive time-out. The approach is based on the argument that kids learn more [...]
If you’re raising kids today, it can be easy to focus on the negative. And it’s no wonder: Thanks to the 24-hour news cycle, social media, cell phone notifications — and even sources you wouldn’t expect, like Instagram and YouTube — kids are immersed in doom and gloom. Consider their world: The suicide rate is up, cyberbullying is rampant, the [...]
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that children and teens should be "physically active for at least 60 minutes per day," although they stress that it doesn't have to be 60 minutes of continuous activity. As most parents know, along with a healthy diet, regular exercise is the best way to lose weight and prevent childhood obesity. Regular exercise [...]
Too much exposure, especially in boys, may stunt social development. Brains at every age, especially developing ones, adapt to the environment in which they find themselves. What worries a growing number of advocates are the potential risks of heavy screen exposure, including, they believe, the hastening of autism in the young and attention deficit–hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in older children. Dangers [...]
These days it seems like children prefer to sit in front of screens rather than engage with old-fashioned print. Here are a few easy and effective ways you can encourage kids to pick up a book and read. Reading enriches our lives in so many ways, from its ability to reduce stress and help us relax to [...]
As a school counselor, one of the most frequently asked category of questions I receive centers around ‘how do I handle my child’s anger?’ The question is almost always spoken by parents in a voice burdened with shame and embarrassment—as if anger in childhoodwas a bad thing or that any ‘good’ parent would know how to keep their kids perpetually [...]
At any given time, you’ll find four or more parenting books on my Amazon wish list, a few by my nightstand, and an email inbox chock full of insightful parenting theories and approaches. Granted, child development is my career, but I speak with plenty of parents in my practice who find themselves in similar circumstances. [...]
