Why Teachers are Leaving…
The reason teachers are leaving is indicative of a society-wide problem that’s harming our children… Continue reading Why Teachers are Leaving…
Tag: Children
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Why are we are filling a bucket full of holes?
A successful ban on mobile phones in Australian schools is a start. There’s much more to be done, but are the government taking the action they need to catch up on their failures? Continue reading Why are we are filling a bucket full of holes?
Ideas to get your T(w)eens off a Screen these School Holidays
Screens, they are a neverending battle for the vast majority of parents. Thanks to 24/7 streaming, You Tube, video games, social media, ipads and phones, kids can entertain themselves for hours on end. When you were a kid, the TV got pretty boring during periods of the day, or the dial up funds ran out, or there was simply no iPads or streaming. Most of us would agree, we’d rather our kids spend less time on screens, but due to access being almost out of parents’ control, it becomes exhausting to managed. I’ve posted before about some of the things … Continue reading Ideas to get your T(w)eens off a Screen these School Holidays
Free School Holidays Printables
These printables are identical to each other except one calls for 60 minutes of non-screen activity for 30 minutes of screentime and the other is 30-for-30 (start where it is most achievable for you and your kids). Continue reading Free School Holidays Printables
Peaking for Dance Comp Season
We’re in the middle of dance competition season, but let’s face it, comps are practically year-round these days. One of my passions is ensuring dancers are adequately physically conditioned to meet the demands being placed on their growing bodies. There is much we need to do to support our dancers, as the majority of them are under 18 and do not yet have the knowledge or experience to manage this themselves. In fact, many adult dancers and regular adult humans (who are mere mortals unlike our dancers!) do not have the knowledge, experience or know-how in this regard. As parents … Continue reading Peaking for Dance Comp Season
What Parents need to know about their Kids & Vaping
That picture is disturbing, isn’t it? As a parent, it seems like there’s always something lurking around the corner to threaten our kids’ wellbeing. Kidnappers, devices, Covid, now vaping…or is it just me? I’m not even a high anxiety person so I can only imagine many others are feeling even more concerned than I am about this new epidemic. As a high school teacher, I interact daily with teens and the teen world so feel I have some information of value to share with you. Vaping has absolutely exploded over the past few years. It’s devastating to think about all … Continue reading What Parents need to know about their Kids & Vaping
So, What is School Like These Days?
If you are 30-something and are sending a child to school for the first time, it pays to know that schools are no longer filled with … Continue reading So, What is School Like These Days?
Is your child ready for school?
If you’re a parent of a 4 or 5 year old right now you are acutely aware that you have approximately 3 months left until your ‘baby’ is out in that big world of 5-days-a-week-at-school.
With mid-year intake coming back into vogue, it’s time to re-read this old post to see if your child is ready or should wait another 6 months!
Preparedness for school interests me on many fronts. I have taught this age group in schools (although presently a very happy middle school teacher!) and am a parent myself. After teaching some Foundation, I decided to put a year’s hold on my son starting school, as I saw the benefits of being emotionally ready for school. My decision paid off as he was totally ready to take on school – and in the extra year he spent with parents, grandies and childcare, he became driven to learn and master so many things. This meant he entered the big world of school with confidence.
Don’t ever hesitate to consider this, as legally a child does not need to start school until the year they are turning 6. Now, instead of going to high school when he is 11, he will be 12, and instead of attempting year 12 at age almost 17, he will be almost 18. It’s important to start thinking about this when they’re around three, before the kindergarten year, as the preschool years are such a special time that you wouldn’t want to miss it!
If your child is not ready for school physically and emotionally, it will be a hard slog in the Junior Primary years for them, you and their teachers. I hope this article helps you get your child ready and make decisions that are right for your child.
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Your Kid & Smartphones – What’s the Big Deal?
So your child or teen wants a smartphone. Well that’s easy, you’ve probably got a spare one from your last plan or can get one from someone else secondhand. It will be great for them to learn how to manage their data spending, it will be great for them to be able to communicate with you whenever you need. And they’ve been begging you for Instagram for months now.
So why not, then? What’s the big deal, everyone’s got them, right? We are a technology-centric society so it’s only natural to want one, right? Hey, they even need them nowadays, don’t they?
And so begins the slippery slope.
As you know, parenting is not easy. This is one of those decisions that you could be easily swayed on. In fact, it’s going to be pretty bloody difficult to hold any kind of a stand against giving your teenager a phone, isn’t it?
So, why not give them one?!
Let me tell you why – because it’s as dangerous as giving them alcohol or letting them drive your car. You may as well order them mental health issues on a plate, with a side serving of sexual exploitation and irreversible privacy invasion for-afters.
Go back up and read those first couple of paragraphs. See how easy that was to agree with all of those statements? See how easy it is to follow the path of least resistance? Yes, that part is easy. But dealing with the multiple, daily fallouts that occur as a result of a child having a smart phone, now that is not easy at all. Not now, and not when they are still dealing with the social, emotional and mental consequences as an adult.
Continue reading “Your Kid & Smartphones – What’s the Big Deal?”
How to Make Dance Class Count this Year
Gone are the old days of ‘and 5, 6, 7,8!’ with the teacher standing out front, shouting instructions and then a melodramatic ‘no, no NO! Start again!’, leaving the participants scratching their head in wonderment at how they can get perhaps just an ounce of the eccentric creative juices the teacher is exuding, whilst also wondering what exactly is meant by ‘no, no NO!’ as they fruitlessly rehearse over and over, never to get the moves right. Like everybody else, dance teachers must continually learn in order to stand out from the pack, and survive.
Here are 6 ways you can re-invent your dance teaching this year: Continue reading How to Make Dance Class Count this Year
