As restrictions ease across Australia and we all feel The Busy reentering our lives, it's worth considering how much you really need to reboot your social life. During these months of social distancing, some of us have rejoiced in our empty calendars. Others of us...
We've all been thrown well and truly in the deep end right now. How are we supposed to support learning from home when we are, in fact, working from home ourselves? We've been doing it for a few days now and day one I. was. done. So done. But I can't be done. And you...
Chances are you're in self-isolation with the kids at home right now, or very soon will be. Confined to four walls and, if you're lucky, a garden. No excursions, no day trips, no 'phone a friend and get out of the house'. Just you, the family, and the walls slowly...
My first kid went back to school today, the other two are in tomorrow. Which reminds me - tomorrow is my new year's day for mums. Ignore the 1st January. It never works out for a mother. We try to be 'brand new' but there's no kidding ourselves: it's hard to turn over...
SPOILER ALERT:The picture above is not what happened. Sort of. I'm naturally a very untidy person, but I like neat. I learned long ago that in order to get neat, you have to do tidy. In fact, you have to do tidy again and again and again, over and over, every single...
Aaaaaaargh! Can you hear me screaming in frustration after being interrupted or the eleventy-billionth time this morning? I can't blame the kids - it's just as frustrating for them to be at home while I'm working from home. I get stabby. Hence these work from home mum...
I think our youngest had just-turned two when we first started holding family meetings. She thought it was great sport. The "older" kids (who were four and six at the time), took it very seriously indeed, which made family meetings great sport for us parents too. The...
The temptation to do absolutely nothing on Sundays is strong, I know. So instead of 'Sunday habits' you may wish to call these Saturday habits. Or even Monday habits, if you're prepared to get up nice and early on Mondays, which I am not. For me, they have always been...
Before the tiny folder Marie Kondo came on the scene, there was Leo Babauta's simplicity and decluttering tips. He's passionate about sharing decluttering tips and way back in 2008 he shared this post on his blog Zen Habits. This is how you start...
After every school day there's a sprint to the school gate as kids race to attend extracurricular activities. Most kids, most families, are committed to some kind of after school activity on most days of the week. The things is, there are so many brilliant...
We recently started a family playlist that we add to every other week. The idea of making a family playlist started as a way to fill up a few Friday nights during lockdown, but turned out to be something far more special. Everyone in our family (including my husband...
It occurred to me that so many of the books we recommend here are not Australian books. They are generally the popular 'best seller' books that parents are keen to get a review on. So, I went searching for some Australian books for teens to recommend and found this...
I’m writing this guide for my kids as they grow up and go out into the world — but it’s for anyone who wants to connect with others. To be a connected, fulfilled person, we have to be someone others want to be around. I’m writing it for my teenage self, who was shy...
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