A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
A South Australian study has linked bullying to mental and psychosomatic health problems including headaches, anxiety and abdominal pain. The study of over 2,800 adults found that nearly 20% reported having experienced bullying at school, and those who reported being bullied reported poorer physical and mental health then those who had not been bullied. The [...]
Police in capital cities around Australia and New Zealand are tonight preparing for a weekend of high-visibility policing aimed at reducing alcohol fuelled violence. The two day blitz titled Operation Unite will start tonight at 6pm, and will focus on tackling alcohol fuelled crime and anti-social behaviour, especially violence. Thousands of extra police will be [...]
Prominent Australian author and speaker Melinda Tankard Reist recently published a collection of essays on the topics of the sexualisation of girls in Australia. This important book features articles from author Steve Biddulph, Playschool presenter Noni Hazlehurst and Generation Next speaker Julie Gale. We strongly recommend this book and invite you to leave your comments [...]
Australia seems to be in the grip of a teen binge drinking Ebola. The contagion slips insidiously from family to family, school to school, suburb to suburb. You can't see it or smell it but it burrows in to teenage psyches and then roars into life. The public health doctors have no cure. They've thrown [...]
45 leading academics, doctors and psychologists from around the world have signed a research paper detailing how pictures of airbrushed (digitally enhanced) models in advertisements can cause serious harm to viewers. The report titled "The Impact of Media Images on Body Image and Behaviours: A Summary of the Scientific Evidence" summarises the research of the [...]
Helga Dittmar (2007) In this study, 87 girls aged 16-19 were asked to either watch music videos or listen to music for 10 minutes. The group who watched the music videos exhibited a significant increase in body dissatisfaction. A key piece of advice parents should take from this study is to minimise your child's exposure [...]
Our kids trust us to instil in them values and ethics that will help them navigate the difficult terrain of school, friendship and, later, personal and professional relationships. Values that will help them turn out to be well-rounded, functional human beings. To do this, they need to know that material goods, like fashion, do not [...]
This month's death of 2 experienced sailors highlights the dangers inherent in yachting and the sheer insanity and utter inadvisability of Jessica Watson's bid to sail solo around the world. Many experienced yachties have added their voice to a growing chorus of experts, which includes Queensland's Maritime Safety Bureau, saying that 16 years old is too [...]
I often get asked questions like ‘what can I do?’ about the sexualisation of children. I think the key to change is collective grass-roots action so here are just a few ideas that may help you start your own local campaign: Ask your local video store manager to move the ‘adult only' section away from [...]
A Melbourne business marketing 'make-up parties' to girls as young as four has been slammed for sexualising children. The business offers to 'makeover' children with blush, eye liner, eye shadow and nail-paint. Kids Free 2B Kids founder and Generation Next speaker Julie Gale described the business as harming to children. "Parents need to wake up. [...]
