About

Welcome to Planning with Kids! I started blogging here in January 2009 and published my last blog post in December 2023. On the blog I shared tips and tricks to organising the chaos of family life. What I shared was the culmination of personal experience, research and learning from other families. Not for one minute did I think I knew all there was to know about family life and parenting! I was always learning with my kids taught me something new pretty much every day.

I am no longer publishing new content, updating old content or editing any posts on the blog. I am leaving it online as a resource for families who are looking for tips, plans and ideas on how to get organised in family life.

The Planning With Kids Philosophy

Planning With Kids is about productivity for families. Getting organised at home so you can spend more time on the fun bits of family life.

I started this blog when we had four kids in 2008 and they were aged 9, 7, 5 and 2. We went on to have another child in 2009. So the blog covers all the parenting stages, babies, toddlers, primary school and teenagers. While I am not a perfectionist I really do like having things sorted -I find mess and disorganisation stressful. Planning was and is a safety blanket for me. Planning for the known components of family life means I can cope so much better with the unknowns that family life constantly throws up at you – tantrums, sibling fighting, testy teenagers and all sorts of other fun!

You will also find my personal self development journey woven into the blog post. I was, up until June 2013 addicted to Diet Coke, but kicked that habit and am a lover of tea. At this point, I also cleaned up my diet ditching processed foods, grains, refined sugars and aim to eat a wholefoods based ideas as much as possible. My focus is on eating whole foods that nourish and allow me to perform well at the physical activities I pursue, as well as my daily life.  I brought my family along with me on this journey, but they eat certainly don’t eliminate refined sugars and grains! It is a work in progress, but we have all started eating better! You can read more about our experience with that here and here.

I was able to make these changes to my life by goal setting and working on habit setting, something which I shared tips on the blog about, as I want to help others make positive changes to their lives too.

I was late to running, starting to run regularly in 2012 but totally love it now and have so far completed nine marathons, the highlight qualifying and running the Boston Marathon in 2015 and The Great Wall of China Marathon in 2017 with my husband as our 20th wedding anniversary celebration.

If you are looking for a place to investigate the blog further, head to the Where To Start page. It will give you a taste of what I write about here and what readers have liked!

Planning With KIds


My book, Planning with Kids, was released in May 2011 by Wright Books. You can buy it and read more about it here.

Reader Emails

As noted above, I am no longer updating the website or responding to emails regarding Planning With Kids.

Is it okay to link to your blog?

Of course! I love it if you share my work – thanks.

Can I use your photos?

Yes, providing there is a link back to Planning With Kids.

What I am not!

Please note I am not a nutritionist, teacher, counsellor, child behaviour specialist nor am I perfect! All the information presented on the blog is published in good faith however, it is for information and entertainment purposes only. If you have specific issues to your family that are a worry or problem for you, please seek professional help.

Comments 32

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  2. Hi Nicole,

    I’ve just discovered your page and wanted to say how useful and interesting it is.
    I too, have a degree in Business and worked as a Project Manager for a University before children. I now have 3 boys, my oldest is 6 yrs and then I have twin boys. and I’m a SAHM.

    I love the term you used in your banner ‘organised chao’s’ – sounds just like our house!

    Thanks for taking the time in your very very busy day to keep a blog like this, I will be visiting regularly.

  3. I’ve just come over from simple mom, and I’m glad that I did. There is soo much that I want to read. We are a family of 6, so at times things feel quite chaotic…but also lots of fun!

  4. THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for your blog… i am a mother of 5 as weel (4 boys and 1 girl) and i really needed a blog like yours to give me tips on organisation!!!

  5. Congrats on being one of the top 5 blogs in the region. I can see why! And I love your name. I could really use some help in that area.

  6. Hi Nicole,

    I stumbled upon your blog from Nuffnang some time ago and thought you wrote brilliantly. Your topics are not only helpful, but inspirational (5 kids, a husband and a blog, wow!). Thank you. Also congratulations by the way for winning the Nuffnang awards.

    I’m a mom of three beautiful children, Lachlan who is 4, Lucas is 2 and Lily Jade is 2.5 months, and I’m also in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. And I write every now and then on http://www.lachinvasion.blogspot.com. I must say your latest (guest) post on behavioural strategies for boys grabbed my attention because as you can guess, my two boys are at the age where they’re driving me up the wall half the time. So I started perusing through your pages. Well done! I will be a frequent visitor from now on….

    Cheers,
    Grace

  7. Hi Nicole, i cam across your site whilst researching ideas for my birthday site. I was so impressed with your organising tips, I spent the evenning reading it instead of getting some work done!
    As a working Mum of 2, there’s loads of personally interesting stuff on here.
    I’ve put a link on my site to yours, as I think it will be of great use to my readers!
    http://www.great-happy-birthday-ideas.com/birthday-ideas-links.html
    I hope that’s OK

    Many thanks

    Sophie

  8. Hi, I have just found your blog. I love it. I too have 5 children, with the same age groups except the 1st one who is 17 not 11.
    Thank you for starting this blog.

  9. Hiyya Nicole!

    I know this may sounds a bit overdramatic, but I seriously wanted to cry when I came across your blog because it was like an answer to my prayers. Particularly the meal/menu planning section. Thank you for the info you put here and sharing your tips!

    Take care!

  10. Hi Nicole,

    As with the others I love this blog! I’ve got a big interest in kid nutrition and am really interested in your meal planning ideas (sometimes it all just gets a bit hard!)

    I’ve just got the one toddler and I’m documenting my nutritional research on my blog Crouching Child, Hidden Vegies – http://www.crouchingchild.blogspot.com

    I’m so impressed that you find the time with five kids!

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  12. Hi Nicole,
    I was at MOPS this morning when you spoke at Crossway where I am a mentor mum. I thought your talk was great and the handouts were excellent. I particularly loved your insights into relationships, family atmosphere etc.
    You are doing a great job running such an excellent parenting site.
    I was curious about which Kinder your son goes to. I am lunch time reliever at a kinder in your area and wondered if it was the same one (which I’m not naming here for obvious security -lol)
    I have six children (5g 1b) and two grandchildren – we have a little bit in common!
    Blessings,
    Nancy

  13. Hi Nicole,
    I am soo excited to find your website. I only have 3 young children but am frustrated that I feel constantly disorganised. I have a feeling your generous sharing of parenting tips is going to help me greatly. And to know you have 5 children and can do all this is very inspirational!
    I have to say I am even more excited that your melbourne based like myself – there are lots of american websites out there – but your recipes are far more representative of the healthy meals we like to eat – and I know I’m going to be able to easily find the ingredients!!
    Thanks Again!
    Tracy

  14. Love the website! It’s great to seed an Australian website about kids/parenting instead of the usual American ones.

    Cheers

  15. hi nicole i send u an email, i have a little bit frustrations of my 2 girls i wish i could receive ur reply..Ive seen u in the TV show “circle” & am trying to purchase your book..am pretty sure i will love it and i could learn more any motivation towards dealing with our kids…thanks a lot! more power

  16. Heya Nicole… i stumbled upon your blog today and it’s bringing me SO much joy! You are my hero!! Thanks so much for sharing all your ideas… I can’t wait to get started implementing them.. xx

  17. Hi,
    I found your book at BigW just yesterday & I am halfway through.
    We have 5 children too from 10 to 4. So we too are in chaos.
    I only bought your book because the blurb on the back says you have 5 children – I wouldn’t have bought if you’d had had fewer. I figured we must be in same mess.
    It’s a fab book. I would have never thought of writing one. Good job!

  18. I too have 5 kids, 3 boys and 2 girls – about to embark on a number 6 hoping for a girl as I stupidly gave away all my boy things lol.
    Stumbled across your site today and will follow from now on. I often get asked the same/similar questions of how do you do it etc. Two of my boys have ASD, and my eldest daughter is Coeliac also so that makes life interesting!
    I just do what works, remain flexible, adjust for each child as they’re not clones and to stay organised and limit fighting I assigned each of them a colour and most things in our house are colour coded so everyone knows who left the towel on the floor, which shoe box to find their shoes, which plate is theirs on the table etc. From the ASD and food allergy perspective it has been my most successful idea ever and I couldn’t survive without it.
    I highly recommend family meetings tailored to ages of course and I’ve found letting them know what’s happening and giving them a voice has been so helpful in alleviating anxieties and the old kid motto “it’s not fair!”
    Mine are B13, B10, G9, B7 and G3.
    Looking forward to browsing around the site for more nuggets 🙂

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  19. Dear Nicole,
    Thankyou for your website – love your menu planner, recipes, ideas. I am an aussie mum from Melbourne who has been living in eastern Scotland for nearly 2 years now. It’s always refreshing to pop back onto your website, see some references to Oz which make me feel a little ‘at home’ again!
    The seven news bit on colours & flavours was very interesting; how is the campaign going with the food producers? It is so much easier to purchase colour, flavour & preservative free packaged food here for the kids (and adults!) in the UK – the choices are immense & I so strongly support the need for this in Australia…..
    Keep up the wonderful work & blogs! Thanks! Must order your book especially if number 3 child comes along soon!!
    From
    Kerryn in bonnie windy scotland!x

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