In no way does this list of 37 essential life skills for adulting cover all of the skills you need to manage as an adult in the world. It covers what I …
Spelling rules: doubling consonants
We have been working on spelling at our house recently and I will openly admit that I was not aware of any of these spelling rules about doubling consonants! I have learnt …
Talking with teenagers
While this post is called talking with teenagers it really should be called listening to and reading teenagers! In the PWK survey, the topic of teenagers was a prominent answer to the …
The stages of play and tips for playing with your child
This is a brilliant guest post by Kobie Bloomfield who is a paediatric speech therapist who specialises in childhood language development and most recently founder of the brilliant start-up ToyCycle. Kobie founded …
How to support your teenagers
As a parent, supporting our teenagers can be a challenging task. Teenagers are wonderful but they also come with a big dose of attitude, they know pretty much everything, they can be …
Supporting your VCE student in a COVID interrupted year
Our daughter is our third child to work her way through the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE). VCE is the certificate that the majority of students in Victoria receive on satisfactory completion …
7 truths about growing independent kids
Many reader questions I receive focus on getting kids to do more for themselves or more around the house. These are both activities that help kids grow their independence and are something …
Reader questions – teenagers
Today’s post answers reader questions on the topic of parenting issues. You can read previous answers to readers’ questions here. As I noted last week, when answering reader questions I try to offer …
Reader questions – parenting issues
Today’s post answers reader questions on the topic of parenting issues. You can read previous answers to readers’ questions here. When answering reader questions I try to offer up as many helpful tips …
Adjusting to a new stage
Late January our youngest started secondary school. For those of you who have been reading this blog since the beginning, you might even remember his arrival. He came along a year into …
Tips on how to cope with fussy eaters in the family
Before I share the tips that have worked with our family for fussy eaters or kids who are just going through a stage of fussy eating, I need to note that I …
Is my child ready for school after this COVID-19 interrupted year?
Determining whether your child is ready for school can be a very stressful and challenging decision. With our kids, we have made our decision based on each individual child as opposed to …
Helping your child with mental health issues – one parent’s story
Having a child with mental health issues is a huge challenge for any parent. There is no manual or guide book to take you step by step through what you will need …
Book review – The Modern Parent – Raising a Great Kid in the Digital World
I sincerely wish I had The Modern Parent – Raising a Great Kid in the Digital World available to me to read about seven years ago. Our eldest child was 13 then …
5 tips for starting school – Foundation or Prep year
In Victoria the first year at primary school is now known as the Foundation year. When our five kids first started school it was known as Prep, but regardless of what it …
Christmas gift ideas for older teenagers
Older teenagers can be a hard to buy for group if you don’t want to buy them some sort of gift card or give them money. These things are of course great …
VCE subject selection – info and tips for parents
If you didn’t study yourself under the VCE structure (I didn’t!) there can be quite a bit to learn as a parent of a child going into years 11 and 12. To …
Engaging and Encouraging Reluctant Readers
I feel super lucky to be able to publish this guest post today from Megan Daley. Megan is the amazing lady behind the excellent website Children’s Books Daily. Megan is a highly …