This is something of an experimental post, so please be kind in your comments! I’d love your help to hone it. I’ve been working on it for months, so it’s time to let it out into the world and get your help. Thanks! Sexism in kids’ TV and movies I’m thoroughly, wretchedly ambivalent about children’s television and […]
The teachers choosing the song list for my primary schools in the 1980s were clearly a bunch of ex-hippies. We had psychadelia, folk songs and lots of Beatles, and certainly nothing written for children (unless the thoroughly depressing Puff the Magic Dragon counts?) And lots of protest songs. A friend and I (we grew up in […]
There’s a longstanding joke among the residents of Nebraska. The Midwesterners claim that if you don’t like the weather, you only need to wait 10 minutes. In a state where you can experience the joy of snow and 80 degree weather within a 24 hour period, you can understand where this position originates. A positive […]
It’s a great pleasure to welcome Sumitha Bhandarkar here today, the creator of afineparent.com. Sumitha created the fantastic infographic below, based on Dr Laura Markham’s new book, Peaceful Parent, Happy Siblings, and joins us to share some thoughts about raising loving siblings. Welcome, Sumitha! “Having one child makes you a parent; having two, you are a referee.” […]
Bill English announced in yesterday’s Budget that ‘work readiness’ obligations would increase for parents who receive welfare benefits and have young children. Currently, most parents are obliged to actively seek 15 hours of paid work – and accept any ‘suitable’ job – when their youngest child turns five years old (despite the legal age of […]
Rest like an All Black: take a sabbatical Richie McCaw, the All Black captain some call the best rugby player ever, has a plan for winning the next World Cup. It has included a long holiday from rugby. What a wise and counter-cultural choice. In a society that is not only getting busier, but feeling prouder of […]
If I’m brilliant and amazing, my Mum has a lot to do with it. Here are six ways she has been a brilliant and amazing mother to me and my sisters, things I want to do for my kids, too. 1. My Mum is brilliant and amazing. She stayed at home with us for years. Every day that […]
We’re in a tricky patch, just now, at our house. The kind most parents of little kids will recognise: this is a solidarity post with all of y’all. Our three-year-old delight, SBJ, is in the middle of a pretty intense, fragile time of life, and he’s (therefore) not the only one. For the first time, I feel like […]
Welcome! This is a reworking of an earlier post, from March 2013 (just so I’m not soliciting undue sympathy: I’m fine now!). Being a woman equals being in community. The same might feel true for men (I hope it does), but I can’t write that blog post, being in possession, as I am, of two […]
It seems that Jamie Oliver – cheeky television chef with the ‘beestung lips’ and the Essex accent – and I aren’t on the same page when it comes to our attitude to children. To put the differences between us starkly and bluntly, I’m not into assault, or punishment, or treating children as lesser humans. I […]