http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/jayne-kearney/ Jayne Kearney was six when she first heard that ‘in the future’ you could send stories via the computer to people on other computers who would publish them. Since then that’s all she has wanted to do. While waiting for the interwebs to take off, Jayne kicked it old school - getting a degree in Communications, teaching Writing and Media Studies and having a couple of kids. And it was the kids who gave her a start in proper writing and computer-based delivery. After a little freelancing Jayne became a weekly ‘blogger’ for parenting site Web Child - a gig that lasted for over a year. She is now editor of Sunny Days Magazine <http://www.sunnydaysmagazine.com.au>, a regional parenting publication. Sometimes she even likes to write about stuff that isn’t parenting. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Sat, 26 May 2012 20:00:40 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/festivus-for-the-rest-of-us/ At this time of year – what with all that tinsel distracting us – it’s easy to lose sight of another important celebration. That’s right - hands up if you haven’t yet erected your aluminium pole for Festivus? Like most tragic Gen X-ers I have a ridiculous amount of Seinfeld trivia stored in my head. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jayne Kearney) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/festivus-for-the-rest-of-us/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/festivus-for-the-rest-of-us/#item4755 Thu, 23 Dec 2010 19:50:48 +0000 Jayne Kearney | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-julia-had-kids-would-they-be-screwed-up/ So our new Prime Minister is a working woman with no kids. What of it? Just as Gillard’s de-facto status brings into the public forum discussions about the institution of marriage, (and if you missed Bettina Arndt’s extraordinary polemic yesterday, it’s here), so too her choice to be child-free shifts the focus to working mothers. Unfortunately, the discourse surrounding the working mother/child-free woman debate has - as these kinds of discussions often do - the potential to degenerate into a polarised argument. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jayne Kearney) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-julia-had-kids-would-they-be-screwed-up/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/if-julia-had-kids-would-they-be-screwed-up/#item3432 Tue, 29 Jun 2010 19:50:49 +0000 Jayne Kearney | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/boring-unsexy-wouldnt-you-rather-watch-masterchef/ As all the cool kids got themselves in a lather over last night’s budget I noticed a distinct void in the chatter.  Where were the mums and dads? Turns out that lots of them were watching Masterchef (possibly the people’s new opium) - studiously avoiding the budget telecast. Political apathy seemed to be the flavour of the day, plated up and served with a side of Couldn’t Give a Shit. Was it the fault of the no-frills budget? Or have we lost faith in a government which once seemed to promise so much? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jayne Kearney) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/boring-unsexy-wouldnt-you-rather-watch-masterchef/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/boring-unsexy-wouldnt-you-rather-watch-masterchef/#item3053 Tue, 11 May 2010 21:01:48 +0000 Jayne Kearney | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/victoms-are-not-to-blamed-for-violence-against-women/ ‘Violence against women’ are three particularly distressing words. Words that should never go together. I’d like to think we all agree. Turns out, maybe not. A recent study indicates that, “one in four people think women falsify or exaggerate claims of rape and domestic violence”. That’s too many people blaming the victims for my liking. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jayne Kearney) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/victoms-are-not-to-blamed-for-violence-against-women/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/victoms-are-not-to-blamed-for-violence-against-women/#item2796 Wed, 14 Apr 2010 19:35:33 +0000 Jayne Kearney | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-does-myschool-do-for-non-academic-kids/ I don’t know what my nine-year-old daughter wants to be when she grows up. She’s a sensitive, quiet kid who seems to spend a large portion of her time in a dreamland of her own creation. She’s not an academic terrier in the Hermione Granger mould like I was. She isn’t the bookworm I hoped she’d be, and a recent tussle with the seven times tables almost caused me to drop the supportive parent ball altogether. So what will all this that mean for her in the current My Schoo , NAPLAN  Australian Curriculum? Being a child of Australian education circa 2010 I worry that she might never get the chance to discover her passion or talents if they lie beyond the scope of traditional education. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jayne Kearney) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-does-myschool-do-for-non-academic-kids/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-does-myschool-do-for-non-academic-kids/#item2609 Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:45:26 +0000 Jayne Kearney | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/tweet-and-be-damned/ Ten days before Christmas a toddler drowned in a backyard pool somewhere in the US. It was tragic yet unremarkable among other all-too-familiar stories except for one detail: his mother tweeted his death. You can read the story and other opinions about the tragic drowning here and here. This week Twitter was once more buzzing as the bizarre death of Johnson & Johnson heiress, Casey Johnson, was announced via the tweets of her fiancée, television personality Tila Tequila. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jayne Kearney) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/tweet-and-be-damned/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/tweet-and-be-damned/#item2104 Sun, 10 Jan 2010 19:35:46 +0000 Jayne Kearney | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-mad-men-changed-my-life/ Maybe it’s because free-to-air TV programming in this country is ludicrous, but I have only just gotten around to watching the first two seasons of a critically acclaimed US TV series I had been longing to scratch off my ‘To Watch’ list. Ironically, Mad Men - the show set in the un-pc world of Madison Avenue circa 1960 - did more for my own personal consciousness raising than Gloria Steinem ever did. Falling into this fictional world really rocked mine. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jayne Kearney) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-mad-men-changed-my-life/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/how-mad-men-changed-my-life/#item1942 Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:55:15 +0000 Jayne Kearney | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/should-kids-bet-on-the-cup/ At the risk of being kicked out of the country I am going to ask whose kids had a little flutter on the Melbourne Cup today? I heard a radio announcer talking about her spend for the day - which was just fine - until she tacked on at the end, “and the kids have a little $10 bet each.” Okay – let’s forget for a minute that it is illegal for persons under 18 to gamble and think just a bit about the oft documented impact of problem gambling on Australian society. $18 billion a year in losses and seven people affected by each person with a gambling problem. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jayne Kearney) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/should-kids-bet-on-the-cup/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/should-kids-bet-on-the-cup/#item1634 Tue, 03 Nov 2009 01:10:19 +0000 Jayne Kearney | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-new-40-i-want-the-old-one-back/ I teetered into my 40th birthday earlier this year. Fabulous heels? Check. Spectacular dress? Check. Girls Night Out? Cocktails? Dancing? Check. Check. Check. I’m nothing if not a walking cliché. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Jayne Kearney) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-new-40-i-want-the-old-one-back/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-new-40-i-want-the-old-one-back/#item1515 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:35:25 +0000 Jayne Kearney | Author bios | The Punch