A new two week lockdown was announced in Sydney last Friday and it disappointed many kids. Why do these things always seem to happen during school holidays? All the plans we'd made are out the window and once again we're forced to slow down and do nothing. Well, not...
Happy new year! I know, I'm slow with my happies this year. We've been away climbing in the (non)snowy mountains (where I achieved the unimaginable) and doing beachy things down the south coast of NSW. Matter of fact, we had so much on in the first few weeks of the...
I’ve seen a lot of articles around about ‘staying sane during school holidays at home' and I get it, I really, truly do. The holidays at home are hard work because they force us away from the everyday family routine that makes life easier for us. Holidays then have...
A week or two of lazing about doing not much at all is brilliant. Six weeks of it is ironically exhausting and definitely not the way for kids to shake off an old school year and get ready for a new one. The best way to make the most of the break is to structure the...
This year, huh? This #$%* year!!!!!!!! And we're not even located in Victoria. Oh Victorians, we feel for you. Let's hope it keeps on getting better for you, but in the meantime there are the school holidays and, let's face it, they are already a bust. How can kids...
Getting my tween and teens off screens and into other things is a well-known preoccupation of mine. I don't hate screens, I just don't love the amount of time my kids want to spend on them. Finding a bunch of card games kids love is my latest approach. I'm happy to...
It can be super-hard coming up with free things to do in the school holidays. The thing is: there are plenty of options, really. Our kids have just brainwashed us into believing that only a theme park will do. Not true! Not everything on this list is free, but there...
We've played these wonderful Minute to Win It games at parties for years. They are a riotous, screeching good time. In fact, these Minute to Win It games are loved by quiet kids and rowdy kids, both boys and girls, and in ages ranging at least from 7 to 13. Wait, make...
Trying to get your head around the school holiday and term dates each year is diabolical, isn't it? Not to mention the fact that schools refer to 'weeks' instead of actual dates like the rest of us. It did my head in, until I sorted it by creating a school calendar...
How do we juggle work and teens in the school holidays? We do it year after year and somehow it works, but every time it's daunting, isn't it? I'm not talking about fun places to take a teen. I'm talking about where they are supposed to go when we are at work. Have...
We recently published an extract from Dr Ginni Mansberg and Jo Lamble's new book The New Teen Age that really struck a chord with many readers. After reading about the impact of reduced sleep on teens, a few mums even wrote to us to say that they were now freaking...
I've called these besto scrolls because they are simply the best pesto and cheese scrolls ever. You may not have known there was a hierarchy of pesto scrolls, but there is. Let me tell you, these ones are at the top of the heap. There are quite a number of reasons for...
Teen parties are terrifying. While in most states it's actually not illegal to serve alcohol to minors in your home*, it's not what most parents want. I don't know about you, but I have zero interest in young kids getting smashed in my backyard. Which is why, despite...
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