When Mummy Is the Favourite
Our daughter has turned fiercely Mum-favourite. “No, Mummy do it” is now the refrain that echoes through our corridors. Here are a few strategies I used to help win back my daughter's heart.
Skip Something This Morning?
'Fess up -- did you skip breakfast this morning? If so (whether it was a pure mistake and your cereal’s still sitting on your bench going soggy, or you make a point of skipping what’s been hailed the most important meal of the day), you’re not alone. More than half ...
Organic Parenting
Have you heard of snowplough or lawnmower parents? They’re the ones who push all the obstacles out of the way of their children. Isn’t that a good thing? We don’t want our children to endure unnecessary hardship. We want the best for our kids -- and we want to help ...
What Pixar Taught Me About Dreams
We all have dreams: to start a business… volunteer in a third-world country… write a book… Dreams are important. And then God answered: Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run. – Habakkuk 2:2 (The Message) ...
How to Raise Generous Kids
If I wasn’t there when she said it, I wouldn’t have believed it. When my boss asked his 7-year-old daughter what she’d like for her birthday, she said she didn’t want any gifts. Could everyone make a donation to the Leukaemia Foundation instead? Excuse me? After a lengthy conversation, she ...
Why It’s Okay For Your Child to Fail
Focus on Effort, Not Outcome Do you get excited when your children get everything right? Or do you get excited when your children make mistakes and feel like what they’re doing is hard? Studies show that when we praise or reward kids for being brilliant, they get caught up in ...
3 Things That Determine Your Family’s Culture
The culture of your family will be based on 3 things: What you allow What you don’t allow What you demonstrate/how you live your life I know what you’re thinking: that is way too simple, and way too obvious. Yes! Just the way I like things. At least when things ...
Discover Your Child’s Strengths
Some of the most fascinating research being done right now to help kids be positive and resilient deals with the idea of strengths. Do you know what your children’s strengths are? Can you name them? Take a minute and think about that. Do you ever talk with your children about ...
5 Scientifically Proven Reasons to Get Outside
A recent visit to our local park turned into a day of exploring a previously undiscovered (by us) bush track along the river, complete with swimming holes, waterfalls and a ‘wibbly wobbly’ bridge. Once we started meandering, just couldn’t stop! We soon had to leave the pram wedged between bushes ...
Who Determines Your Culture?
Ahhh… reminiscing. Remember when your first child was born, and you held that precious bundle of possibility? Remember the emotions that welled up inside, the pride and joy of this beautiful new life? The thoughts that passed through your mind that you really weren’t sure what to do, because this ...
Culture: Constantly Talked About – Not Often Thought About
It’s become one of the major focuses for business in the last few years. Sports teams are constantly talking about it and whenever there are issues in society, it becomes a major focus. So what about the family? The basic building block of a strong society? It’s interesting that the ...
Get the Fast Food Facts
It might seem harmless -- a quick drive-through on the run home to pick up a cheap meal that satisfies hordes of hungry tummies and delays dirty dishes for another night. Yes, it might be fast and convenient -- but the truth is, takeaway food can come at a huge ...
My Journey From a Teacher to a Homeschooling Parent
Homeschooling has enriched this family's life, reducing stress and creating room for personal flourishing. My name is Heidi; my husband Ben and I are currently on a homeschool journey with our three children aged 7, 10 and 12. I am a qualified teacher and I was teaching casually at the ...
My Children Have Two Mums
One twin wakes up from his afternoon nap and is inconsolable. He doesn’t want his bottle or pillow pet. A cuddle does nothing. As I work through all the possibilities, I keep my cool, constantly just trying to find a way to help my son through this moment. Things eventually ...
Father’s Day Chocolate Plane Craft
This Father’s Day Chocolate Plane Craft is easy for kids to make as an edible gift for Dad! Am I the only one who sometimes struggles to find the right gift for Father’s Day? Whether it’s for my dad or my husband, they both like practical gifts, but sometimes I ...
The Unsurprise
‘Shhhhh,’ I whispered. ‘Don’t spoil the surprise.’ ‘Okay.’ He whispered back, conspiratorially, as we tucked hubby’s Father’s Day present away in the storage room. ‘Remember, it’s our secret, okay? Don’t spoil the surprise.’ I continued, shutting the door. Only to hear his excited footsteps on the stairs before I’d even ...
Choices
I was driving to a playdate with the two-year-old twins in the car, having just dropped off my four-year-old at kindy, when ka-klunk! Something was wrong with the back passenger-side wheel. I knew it was looking dodgy beforehand, so suspected it had gone flat. But I wasn’t really sure. After ...
Let’s Stick Together
“For an increasing number of long-term marriages, it’s no longer a case of ‘until death do us part,’ it’s a matter of until the children depart from the family nest,” writes Rachel Browne in a Sydney Morning Herald article, “Parents wait until children go, then do the same thing.” Suddenly ...
The Most Powerful Movie Moment of All Time… In My Opinion
It’s one of the most powerful movie moments in history -- in my opinion. Not because of special effects, cinematography, eloquent scripting or romantic fervour. It happened deep within the ruins of the World Trade Centre, during the 2006 Olive Stone movie of the same name. Sergeant John McLoughlin is ...
Sugar-Sweet Kids Urged to Cut Back
Whether it fizzes, gives you wings or opens happiness -- the truth is, it’s packed with sugar and it could be causing serious health problems in children. Figures show 1 in 6 Queensland kids are drinking at least one sugar-sweetened beverage daily. That’s not limited to soft drink either -- ...
Never, Never Never, Never Give In
It’s the middle of Winter. It’s cold. The TV is jampacked full of all your favourite shows. It’s cold. The aroma of lasagne or hot chocolate wafts through the house. Did I mention it’s cold? This is when you have to make a choice: dressing gown and comfort food… or ...
Victory for Mothers and Fathers
Believe it or not, any victory for mothers is also a victory for fathers, and ultimately for children. Sall Dover, a new young mother, after protesting on Twitter about the forced use of the Orwellian phrase "birthing parent", has scored a victory for motherhood. It takes a man and a ...
Boys and Internet Pornography
A concerned mother reflects on how she can best protect her young sons from the lure of internet pornography. I don’t have a blueprint for this brave new online world, where just typing ‘breastfeeding’ into a search engine produces a minefield of lurid possibilities. Steve Biddulph, author of Raising Boys ...
The Best Me I Can Be
All right, all right… I admit it… I’m a perfectionist. I take pride in a job well done. I’m a mum, I’m a wife, I’m a worker, a house cleaner, a seamstress, a medic, a teacher -- the list is a mile long. And somewhere in amongst all of these ...
Families – Don’t Open the Door to Secondhand Smoke
Shield your children from the malign effects of tobacco smoke, which can infiltrate all corners of a family home. The stats are shocking. Almost one Queenslander a day will die from inhaling tobacco smoke this year, without ever having smoked a cigarette in their life. The effects of secondhand smoke ...
Top 5 Things I’ve Learnt Since Becoming a Mum
Being a mum can be a challenging role, but we parents have been entrusted with the vital task of raising the next generation, and it is totally worth it. Here are 5 life lessons about parenting and family life. 1. Tomorrow is a New Day! Cue little red-haired, ringlet-topped Annie ...
About
The Daily Dad is a blog for writers to share interesting insights, news, and stories, to encourage dads and their families. The opinions of the various writers are not necessarily the opinion of Dads4Kids. Please do your own research and come to your own conclusions. We welcome feedback and if you would like to submit an article for the Daily Dad, please contact the editor at info@dads4kids.org.au
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