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Lifestyle
Mental Load: Behind The Superwoman Myth
In The Superwoman Myth: Can Contemporary Women Have It All Now? The authors ask, Who knows when the family is low on toilet paper, does the birthday and Christmas shopping and juggles child care in your house? These are all examples of mental load, and in most households, it’s usually handled by one person. Is that person you?
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Lifestyle
6 ways to manage parental favouritism
When only one parent can put a child to bed or soothe them during the night it can be a drain on both parents. However, parental favouritism has nothing to do with being loved less and actually comes down to the child’s developing cognitive ability.
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Lifestyle
Navigating parenting as an introvert
Parenting is inherently messy and noisy. With a young family, how do introvert parents, who crave alone, quiet time to recharge their batteries away from an over-stimulating environment, find the opportunity for important and valuable alone time?
Lifestyle
Sleep problems aren’t just for babies
Poor sleep can affect a person’s quality of life, so what does this mean for parents who are regularly up at night? Dr Bei Bei, a senior lecturer and clinical psychologist looks at the consequences of poor sleep for parents and how to get better sleep.
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Lifestyle
Birth order: A guide to personality traits
Why is it that despite being from the same family, growing up with the same parents, the same rules and values, children can turn out to be so different? Understanding birth order can help parents to better understand, manage and motivate a child.
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Lifestyle
Parents – tough on ourselves and others
Why do parents feel so criticised – by others, and themselves? For many adults, a surprise is the degree to which others have opinions about our parenting. Professor Marc de Rosnay says there’s one other critic parents should be aware of: themselves.
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Lifestyle
Parent connections with early learning
We all know the importance of strong, positive relationships between families and educators, but the ability to stay connected has been challenged during COVID-19. It’s a challenge that early learning centres across Australia have had to overcome.
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Lifestyle
Transitioning in and out of childcare
Time away from early learning can happen for many reasons. Perhaps a long family holiday, or a family illness. So what happens if, when your child is settled and enjoying the interactions with educators and friends, suddenly you need to take a break?
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Lifestyle
How to choose an early learning centre
It’s understandable that families can be anxious about making the right decision about early learning and care for their little ones. Early childhood professional Dr Lesley Jones guides parents on what to look for in a high quality early learning centre.
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Lifestyle
Australia: The best place to be a parent?
How can we make Australia a better place to be a parent and what would that look like? Economists and researchers have compared Australian policies, business practices and community support with international best practice. Their report pulls no punches.
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Lifestyle
Cost of raising a family
How much does it really cost to raise your family? According to research, the costs of raising children are rising much faster than our wages, which means setting a budget and being realistic about our spending is essential.
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Lifestyle
A better start for Australian children
Children are starting school developmentally vulnerable and parents are scrambling for work/life balance. The Starting Better report by the The Centre for Policy and Development outlines a 10-year plan to ensure all children have what they need to thrive.
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Snapshot of Australian Families
Parent’s emotions are quite a contrast. The two words parents felt best described family life over the previous three months were happy 49% (↓ from 54%) and stressed 39% (↑ from 36%).
31.8% of families only eat breakfast together on weekends. However 11% (↓ from 12%) of families never eat breakfast together.
39% (↓ from 40%) of parents have struggled to meet essential expenses like food, mortgage/rent, utility bills, child care or important medical care over the past 12 months.
64% (↓ from 66%) of parents are happy in their role as a parent “most of the time”. Sadly however, 1.7% (↑ from 1.5%) are unhappy “most of the time”.