Kids
NAPLAN testing is scheduled this week (from May 15 to 17) in schools around the country. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment, and Reporting Authority (ACARA), as well as proponents of NAPLAN, make three central claims extolling the usefulness of this high-stakes test.
First, they claim NAPLAN will tell us that the tests are important to assess the quality of teaching in our children’s schools. Second, they will assure us that the tests can diagnose academic issues our children may be struggling with. Third, they will confirm that the purpose of NAPLAN is to maintain Australia’s high levels of literacy and numeracy in comparison to other countries in the world.
ACARA and the proponents of NAPLAN (including our education ministers) will not tell you that there almost a complete lack of evidence to support those three claims.
Continue reading "NAPLAN? Na, not a great curriculum plan" »
holiday noun 1. (often plural) a period in which a break is taken from work or studies for rest, travel or recreation.
“See,” I said to my daughter, stabbing a finger at the dictionary, as we sat in our rented beach house after she’d woken me at 5.47am with “an itchy bite”. (Thanks, whoever left the yellowing Pocket Oxford next to the Scrabble.) “Darling, a holiday is a rest and that means not waking so early.”
Ten years I’ve been doing this ‘holiday with kids’ schtick, which isn’t actually a holiday but simply a relocation of our domestic chaos. Minus entertainment (Wii, Foxtel, Textas) and essentials (highchair, the forgotten teddy).
Continue reading "When the kids take charge, Mummy gets to complain" »
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Samira says:
not to burst your blbube, Lisa, but I check out your blog from time to time, and now I’ve seen Monica’s photo. Better make sure the card is something exceptional! Read more »
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Discipline Needed! says:
The solution is simple. Always take the kids to holiday destinations where they do not know where they are and how to get home. Then Just leave the kids at the holiday destination and go home silently without their knowledge! Read more »
Nothing on this earth would entice me to have a baby at home.
Call me old fashioned, but I’m all for the protective womb of expert physicians and latest technology in a crisp white hospital environment. The risks are simply too great; the act of childbirth too unpredictable; the potential loss too devastating to contemplate.
And tragically, in South Australia we’re hearing all too much about risk becoming reality.
Continue reading "The real miracle of pregnancy isn’t childbirth" »
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Arcadia says:
There’s a problem of logic in Lainie’s article here: first she says the risks are too great to convince her to choose homebirth, then later she points out the risks are the same. Well, which is it? Or are you perhaps saying the risks are too great to ever attempt… Read more »
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Joanne Bennett says:
What is this “superhero feeling” referred to just because someone gives birth the way women have been doing it (without choice) for hundreds of thousands of years? If you want to feel like a superhero, perhaps you should see a psychologist and put off parenting until you have your insecurities… Read more »
Hello, my name is Emma Jane and I am A Very Bad Mother. Not because I neglect my four-year-old daughter – but apparently because I don’t neglect her enough.
If you have offspring, you’ll know that being called a “helicopter parent” is the insult du decade.
It implies that you hover over your kids like a whopping great Black Hawk, and has been blamed for everything from childhood obesity to weird new European balloon laws.
Continue reading "Neglect, not helicopter parenting, damages kids" »
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jessica says:
point Read more »
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SD says:
And how many kids died in car crashes? Let’s ban cars. Read more »
The statistics are shocking. One in four Aussie teenagers between the ages of 16-24 suffers from a mental or behavioural disorder; 6500 children are using anti-depressants. And that’s just a snapshot of the For Kids’ Sake study.
But the study, commissioned by The Australian Christian Lobby and led by Professor Parkinson of University of Sydney, is wrong to blame the modern family.
The research that was unveiled yesterday was fully funded by the Vos Foundation, a Tasmanian construction company that says it’s “committed to biblical values”. It makes some significant and simplistic assumptions about modern society and the explanations for its so-called “breakdown”.
Continue reading "For kids’ sake don’t blame the modern family" »
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Janessa says:
Articles like these put the consumer in the driver seat-very imoprtant. Read more »
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NESLIHAN KUROSAWA says:
Hi Lucy, May be the actual problem lies in the fact that the young generation these days, might confuse the idea of having fun & relaxing, by doing everything in excess, which can be very deceiving. Most young kids simply want to be acknowledged & supported by their loved ones!! … Read more »
One of The Punch’s team members has had a very bad week. Their youngest kid wrecked their fancy schmancy $1500 Apple Mac - their home computer, not their work one - and it is beyond repair.
The little rascal in question is four years old, and shouldn’t have been on the computer by himself in the first place. Kids today, huh?
So let’s cut to the chase. Should the kid be disciplined? And if so, how? No lollies forever? A good hard smack? A stern talking to?
Continue reading "Friday’s dilemma: Kid wrecks computer, how to punish?" »
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Reg says:
Hang about, there is a very important hurdle at 2 to 2.5, a child is in the process of becoming self-aware and it’s a very new field to both child and single-child parents. Strewth some aren’t even aware of the difficulty with their second child. This is NOT the time… Read more »
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Reg says:
Enough of this namby-pamby stuff, I’ve raised six as well Heather and even WORSE, four of them were girls. Boys are SO much easier but I confess, I may been responsible for my own hardship. Here’s the list, don’t regard any of them as punishment, regard then as opportunities. http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/skills/4281414 Read more »
Gee, doesn’t Elle Macpherson look fabulous. Still so lean and tall, with her trademark tousled blonde-tipped locks falling all over her shoulders.
“She looks a woman half her age,” fawned a Daily Mail reporter over recent pictures of the supermodel, wearing a cowboy hat and swaggering through the streets of Rio.
You’ll not catch me disagreeing, Elle’s definitely still got it. But there’s a reason she has so much time to primp and preen.
Continue reading "Hey, Supermum. Spend a bit of real time with the kids!" »
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A Good Dad says:
Anyone in the public is open to scrutiny - it’s the choice of the famous that they willingly make. You should harden up princess Johnnie - methinks this article hit a raw nerve Mr Stay at Work Dad. My friend is the same , he pretends to work late nights… Read more »
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kateinlondon says:
@Amy Stuart - as someone who has to do the 24 flight with three kids several times a year, if I could afford it, I would TOTALLY be flying up the front while they were down the back. Read more »
On Monday, yet another young driver appeared in yet another court room to be punished for his role in the death of yet another innocent teenager. The victim in this case was 16 year old T.J. Hutchesson of Bathurst.
The name of the accused can’t be reported. In a sense the names don’t matter: for those of us looking on, this is just another episode in a long and tragic storybook of life destroyed far too young.
In a statement appearing in The Sydney Morning Herald, mother Rachael Hutchesson did not shy away from identifying the problem: boredom and booze. This is a known issue in regional Australia, and yet there is a real paucity of frankness when it comes to solutions.
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Ray Ban 3183 says:
r eyes as glasses oakley well as cover up glare. When scouting for the proper sunglasses for your deal with always make sure you try these people about within the retailer. You need to be sure they fit and also feel at ease in your encounter. Browse the Sunlight cup… Read more »
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Flip says:
Ah, i see. Well that’s not too tcirky at all!” Read more »
Rise up, parents, and rub your kids’ faces in a bit of dirt.
Let them eat snails, and snot, and have their cheese sandwiches without washing their hands.
Because your hyper-vigilant cleanliness could, literally, be killing them.
Continue reading "Hygiene hypothesis: let children eat dirt" »
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Jess says:
Lee, that doesn’t disprove the theory at all. Your personal experience with YOUR children doesn’t just wipe away scientific findings. No one says that this will be the case for EVERY child, but there is a large enough correlation between the two to take a deeper look. Read more »
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MattW says:
Couldn’t agree with you more Rose, on all points. Let kids be kids - run around and have fun. Yes they’ll get dirty, they’ll hurt themselves now and then, they’ll break some things…. but in the end they’ll be healthier, happier and well adjusted Read more »
I’m lucky that only two of my work colleagues have school age children attending a Public School.
So only about four times a year will they accost me at my desk with boxes of Freddo Frogs and other assorted chocolates.
And only four times a year will I have to tell them to piss off because I’m not buying.
Continue reading "Fundraising chocolate will be the death of me" »
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Buffy says:
I’m not weary of charities begging for dollars… I understand, as you do, that there are some areas where the government can’t or won’t allocate the funds. I am weary of the cheer number of organisations our there begging for dollars. There seems to be three or more organisations set… Read more »
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Buffy says:
Beth, the “street husslers” get $50 per sign up, and no retainer, and no ongoing payment. Generally from every 200 people they approach they will get 1 sign up, so they have to hassle a lot of people to get their rent paid. And if the person that signs up… Read more »
I have always been a great communicator. Sometimes excessively so.
My first report card – in kindy - said “Josie talks too much.” I am known to like a good chat.
I even studied “Communications” at uni and my job demands constant interaction with people.
Continue reading "Communication shutdown to promote understanding" »
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agxqpmh says:
2Nksnl xyebzybqacxl, ogwhrsdsenre, [link=http://jugxtxghbnlq.com/]jugxtxghbnlq[/link], http://mkbotvwygnes.com/ Read more »
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ronnielo o. encarnacion says:
its about time we have this kind of project….whose main purpose is to increase the level of awareness about children with special needs specially those with autism. conratulations and more power to the men and women of communication shutdown and the likes of josie gagliano, may your tribe increse…. Read more »
My kids love playing in parks – I think every kid does.
Swings, slides and see-saws can sometimes be a God-send for parents who need a break.
Tell the kids to go off and play and if you’re lucky, there could be five minutes of freedom in it for you too.
Continue reading "Kids, swings, parks and needles don’t mix" »
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Akansha says:
Well, I hate to make your headache even worse, but there’s also the pseact that our Federal and all of our state prison systems are bursting at the seams with inmates, nearly all of those state prison budgets are hurting, and not only is this creating a dangerous situation for… Read more »
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James1 says:
Since when did we use the word liberal to describe progressive politics in this country? That is the real outrage here… Read more »
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