http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/parents/ Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +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/parents-who-wish-their-child-had-never-been-born/ How would you feel if you found out that your mere existence is such a burden on your parents they want $10 million compensation? It’s not clear whether 11-year-old Keeden, who has severe brain damage after a rare genetic condition caused a massive stroke, will ever understand what his parents are doing. Debbie and Lawrence Waller are suing their IVF specialist for “wrongful birth”, claiming he breached his duty of care by failing to take proper care that Lawrence’s genetic blood clotting condition would not be passed on. They say they love Keeden, but wouldn’t have gone ahead with the birth if they’d known because of his suffering. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/parents-who-wish-their-child-had-never-been-born/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/parents-who-wish-their-child-had-never-been-born/#item7654 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Once upon a time, home births were the only option, and mothers and babies frequently died. Things have changed dramatically since then. Home births are much safer, and much, much rarer. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show in 2009 just 0.3 per cent of women had a planned home birth – a total of 863 births. Two babies died. But home births are still the source of simmering tension; the powerful Australian Medical Association is dead set against them, a very vocal lobby group is angry at recent changes that make them harder, and parents are left to choose between conflicting views and seemingly conflicting evidence. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/home-births-are-prone-to-many-complications/ Once upon a time, home births were the only option, and mothers and babies frequently died. Things have changed dramatically since then. Home births are much safer, and much, much rarer. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show in 2009 just 0.3 per cent of women had a planned home birth – a total of 863 births. Two babies died. But home births are still the source of simmering tension; the powerful Australian Medical Association is dead set against them, a very vocal lobby group is angry at recent changes that make them harder, and parents are left to choose between conflicting views and seemingly conflicting evidence. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/home-births-are-prone-to-many-complications/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/home-births-are-prone-to-many-complications/#item7642 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Once upon a time, home births were the only option, and mothers and babies frequently died. Things have changed dramatically since then. Home births are much safer, and much, much rarer. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show in 2009 just 0.3 per cent of women had a planned home birth – a total of 863 births. Two babies died. But home births are still the source of simmering tension; the powerful Australian Medical Association is dead set against them, a very vocal lobby group is angry at recent changes that make them harder, and parents are left to choose between conflicting views and seemingly conflicting evidence. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-worry-theyre-taking-good-care-of-your-children/ Imagine you are the harried working parent of a bustling four-year-old child - unless of course you’re actually in the zone right now, experiencing all those many wonders first hand. Next year’s the big one. School, and potentially a 13-year stretch of study, social integration, with hopefully some fun and a few of life’s lessons in the mix. As you’re dropping them off at the local pre-school before zooming off to work, it is time to wonder how much do they really need to learn right now. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-worry-theyre-taking-good-care-of-your-children/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-worry-theyre-taking-good-care-of-your-children/#item7567 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Once upon a time, home births were the only option, and mothers and babies frequently died. Things have changed dramatically since then. Home births are much safer, and much, much rarer. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show in 2009 just 0.3 per cent of women had a planned home birth – a total of 863 births. Two babies died. But home births are still the source of simmering tension; the powerful Australian Medical Association is dead set against them, a very vocal lobby group is angry at recent changes that make them harder, and parents are left to choose between conflicting views and seemingly conflicting evidence. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-sugarcoat-it-if-your-child-is-obese-its-your-fault/ A storm of controversy has been brewing in the US. Actually, it’s probably more accurate to say the storm has been dipped in oil and deep fried.  Twice. At the centre of the controversy is a series of ads aimed at tackling the growing obesity crisis in American children. In one of the ads (above) a young girl stares forlornly into the camera and says: “I don’t like going to school because all the other kids pick on me. It hurts my feelings.” Another opens with the statistic that 75 per cent of parents of overweight children ignore the problem growing before their very eyes. It’s followed by a scene in which an obese boy sits facing his equally obese mother and asks, “Mum, why am I fat?”. The silence that follows his question is deafening. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-sugarcoat-it-if-your-child-is-obese-its-your-fault/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/dont-sugarcoat-it-if-your-child-is-obese-its-your-fault/#item7492 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Once upon a time, home births were the only option, and mothers and babies frequently died. Things have changed dramatically since then. Home births are much safer, and much, much rarer. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show in 2009 just 0.3 per cent of women had a planned home birth – a total of 863 births. Two babies died. But home births are still the source of simmering tension; the powerful Australian Medical Association is dead set against them, a very vocal lobby group is angry at recent changes that make them harder, and parents are left to choose between conflicting views and seemingly conflicting evidence. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/grey-nomads-choosing-bordeaux-over-play-doh/ She checks what the time is in their far-flung time zone and then looks into the distance. It is so long since they have been back in this city, back at home. What exotic locale are they exploring today? Who are they spending time with? Are they safe?  These could well be the musings of a parent surveying a nest emptied of backpacking children. But they are in fact the reflections of a child, a middle-aged child left in the wake of the fastest growing class of traveller – The Silver Mobility.  The Silver Mobility are superannuated, silver-haired (underneath) and they’ve got very itchy feet.  It’s not only pneumonia that hits seniors hardest - wanderlust is just as bad.  The Silver Mobility sweated it out for over 40 years. They sent more of us than ever to private schools, supported more of us than ever through tertiary education, funded unprecedented material comfort, and then they waited for us to move out. And then they waited some more for the ones that moved out, and then moved back, to move out again. But finally, we’re gone. Which means it’s time to dust off the suitcase, fill a few prescriptions for Brufen and Lipitor and get the hell out of there. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/grey-nomads-choosing-bordeaux-over-play-doh/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/grey-nomads-choosing-bordeaux-over-play-doh/#item7207 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Once upon a time, home births were the only option, and mothers and babies frequently died. Things have changed dramatically since then. Home births are much safer, and much, much rarer. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show in 2009 just 0.3 per cent of women had a planned home birth – a total of 863 births. Two babies died. But home births are still the source of simmering tension; the powerful Australian Medical Association is dead set against them, a very vocal lobby group is angry at recent changes that make them harder, and parents are left to choose between conflicting views and seemingly conflicting evidence. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/im-sorry-but-society-doesnt-owe-you-a-child/ There is no ‘right’ to have a child. This seems a callous thing to say, but wrapping any conversation about children up in cuddly pink fleece-lined jumpsuits doesn’t help what has to be a serious policy debate. While it must be devastating for couples who, for whatever reason, are unable to conceive, there are limits to society’s obligations to help them. Like most controversial health decisions, this is a tale of clashing rights and finite resources. Last year the Federal Government made changes to the Medicare Safety Net, effectively capping the amount they would pay out for assisted reproductive treatments. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/im-sorry-but-society-doesnt-owe-you-a-child/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/im-sorry-but-society-doesnt-owe-you-a-child/#item7049 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Once upon a time, home births were the only option, and mothers and babies frequently died. Things have changed dramatically since then. Home births are much safer, and much, much rarer. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show in 2009 just 0.3 per cent of women had a planned home birth – a total of 863 births. Two babies died. But home births are still the source of simmering tension; the powerful Australian Medical Association is dead set against them, a very vocal lobby group is angry at recent changes that make them harder, and parents are left to choose between conflicting views and seemingly conflicting evidence. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-is-it-too-late-to-procreate/ Ninety-four year old actress Zsa Zsa Gabor’s ninth husband, Prince Frederik von Anhalt, reportedly wants her to have a baby using his sperm, a donor egg and a surrogate mother. Yes, he does. He visited a Beverley Hills fertility clinic for sperm analysis and blood work.  There have been no reports of him also having his head read; however, Gabor’s daughter, 64-year-old Francesca Hilton (a product of Gabor’s second marriage to hotel magnate, Conrad Hilton) has denounced the story as the latest in a string of wild publicity stunts by her seventh step-father. And while the Gabor-Anhalts gallivant around celebrity baby clinics (if gallivanting is possible when you are just shy of a century, with a partially-amputated leg), my friend – a single mum of two young children – has announced that she has successfully battled cancer at the age of 38.  Facing her own mortality, she had to put in place a plan for the care of her children, which involved her parents and her sisters.  feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-is-it-too-late-to-procreate/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/when-is-it-too-late-to-procreate/#item5643 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Once upon a time, home births were the only option, and mothers and babies frequently died. Things have changed dramatically since then. Home births are much safer, and much, much rarer. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show in 2009 just 0.3 per cent of women had a planned home birth – a total of 863 births. Two babies died. But home births are still the source of simmering tension; the powerful Australian Medical Association is dead set against them, a very vocal lobby group is angry at recent changes that make them harder, and parents are left to choose between conflicting views and seemingly conflicting evidence. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/families-have-dined-out-on-the-public-long-enough/ If the internet is to be believed — and I see no good reason why we shouldn’t believe everything we read on the internet — Facebook has become essential to staging a revolution. As the Web 2.0 (or are we up to 3.0?) commentators keep telling us, if you’re planning on toppling a dictatorial regime, then best first spruce up your Facebook profile. But we in the West who already inhabit the sunny uplands of democracy haven’t been slouches when it comes to using Facebook to effect large scale social change. A case in point: I recently came across a Facebook group set up to fight the good fight against noisy children in restaurants. I hadn’t previously noticed this scourge, but apparently restaurants across the nation have been overrun by parents. Even worse, these parents, many of whom would have you believe are responsible and upstanding members of society, have been thoughtlessly taking their children along with them. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/families-have-dined-out-on-the-public-long-enough/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/families-have-dined-out-on-the-public-long-enough/#item5299 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Once upon a time, home births were the only option, and mothers and babies frequently died. Things have changed dramatically since then. Home births are much safer, and much, much rarer. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show in 2009 just 0.3 per cent of women had a planned home birth – a total of 863 births. Two babies died. But home births are still the source of simmering tension; the powerful Australian Medical Association is dead set against them, a very vocal lobby group is angry at recent changes that make them harder, and parents are left to choose between conflicting views and seemingly conflicting evidence. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/fathers-officially-not-as-crap-as-mothers-say/ ‘Delighted when hubby hung his first load of washing on the line,’ noted a Facebook friend. ‘Less delighted when I realised he didn’t use pegs.’  A domino run of comments followed, with women chortling over the guy who didn’t turn the iron on but flattened a shirt with it anyway, and the time a friend bet someone a bottle of Moet her partner wouldn’t notice if she didn’t wash his clothes for ten days. As far as short cuts resulting in more work go, the non-use of pegs is right up there with the least thought-through of ideas.  My 12-year-old did the same thing with her sister’s Pumpkin Patch bikini recently (last seen in the dog’s mouth, as he belted gleefully behind the pittosporum hedge). feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/fathers-officially-not-as-crap-as-mothers-say/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/fathers-officially-not-as-crap-as-mothers-say/#item5073 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Once upon a time, home births were the only option, and mothers and babies frequently died. Things have changed dramatically since then. Home births are much safer, and much, much rarer. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show in 2009 just 0.3 per cent of women had a planned home birth – a total of 863 births. Two babies died. But home births are still the source of simmering tension; the powerful Australian Medical Association is dead set against them, a very vocal lobby group is angry at recent changes that make them harder, and parents are left to choose between conflicting views and seemingly conflicting evidence. http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Parents-play-role-in-raunch-culture/ Seen at the local pool: two bikini-clad girls – around 14 - simulating a sex act in the toddler pool, then pole dancing under the toadstool fountain while their delighted boyfriends recorded (and possibly distributed) the footage on their mobile phones.  It wouldn’t have happened back in the day, and that’s not just because we didn’t have the technology for it.  Am I wearing rose-coloured glasses, or were most early-teen girls in the 80s too scared of the Grim Reaper, and just too generally innocent, to put much more than a toe in the water (with a boy or a girl) - let alone cavort around in it in broad daylight like amateur porn stars, then plaster the evidence as far and wide as technology would allow (which wasn’t very far). feedback@thepunch.com.au (Tory Shepherd) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Parents-play-role-in-raunch-culture/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Parents-play-role-in-raunch-culture/#item4963 Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:45:28 +0000 Once upon a time, home births were the only option, and mothers and babies frequently died. Things have changed dramatically since then. Home births are much safer, and much, much rarer. The latest Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics show in 2009 just 0.3 per cent of women had a planned home birth – a total of 863 births. Two babies died. But home births are still the source of simmering tension; the powerful Australian Medical Association is dead set against them, a very vocal lobby group is angry at recent changes that make them harder, and parents are left to choose between conflicting views and seemingly conflicting evidence.