When Chatterboy was born, we insisted on buying everything new, despite offers of useful stuff from quite a few people. Nothing but the best for our boy! we thought. Luckily, our friends were more sensible, and many of Chatterboy’s pieces of equipment have been used by many of them. TheContinue Reading
Today’s book review is Why TV Is Good for Kids : Raising 21st Century Children, by Catharine Lumby and Duncan Fine (who incidentally are married to each other with two small children). Despite the title, its not just about TV. Its a series of chapters (in some cases rants) aboutContinue Reading
In AFR Boss magazine last week, there was an article about the federal Australian public service (sorry, it’s not on the website), and how it seems to have reached critical mass in terms of senior women – so much so that they have their own word – femocrats. One thirdContinue Reading
I watched Gosford Park on DVD last night. As I think Robert Altman intended, the effect of showing both upstairs and downstairs, and making the people matter, is astonishment at the amount of work that went into maintaining that between-the-wars relaxed country house lifestyle that so many great books usedContinue Reading
I’m watching a documentary about 1 year olds on the ABC, which was inspired by this study of Australian children. It’s the first part of a study that’s going to be happening every two years. It’s funny, every time I see a study like this, I’m itching to get my handsContinue Reading
When Hungry Boy was born, I was the main breadwinner of our family (as I still am). I got two months paid maternity leave, so took three months total maternity leave before going back to work. It was lovely to have two parents at home for what was a prettyContinue Reading
Today’s book review is The Third Chimpanzee: The Evolution and Future of the Human Animal, by Jared Diamond. I read this book after his other two; Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies (a worthy Pulitzer Prize winner), and Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed (notContinue Reading
I’ve just been on holiday to Far North Queensland, and was pondering what kind of place my perfect beach holiday would be. It would be a sandy beach, with warm water (25 degrees or so) – a sheltered beach at one end, surf at the other. No jellyfish, or otherContinue Reading
As all the US bloggers I read have sent their children to kindergarten, I’ve been pondering on school starting ages in different countries. There is a surprising (to me) amount of variability. According to this research paper, in Europe, the standard school starting age varies from four (Northern Ireland) toContinue Reading
In a very metaphorical, entertaining post, Stephanie West Allen at idealawg talks about whether you can ever have more than one level of work life balance at a law firm. She writes of reading of worms that live in water so scorching that it would kill other worms: What would happen ifContinue Reading