Parenting (Page 3)

Effort – more important than ability?

On: March 23, 2007

Phantom Scribbler and Laid Off Dad had thoughtful comments on this article from the New York Times on how you should praise your children – how it is much more effective to praise a child for putting effort in, than for being intrinsically smart. I recently found a fuller article on the sameContinue Reading

Grading

On: January 29, 2007

In: Education, Parenting

We’ve just registered Chatterboy for his first soccer season – he’ll be in the Under 6s. We thought long and hard about it, as we’re not sure he’s going to enjoy it at the beginning, but think it’s really important to learn a social sport that you can continue throughoutContinue Reading

Funding pre-schools

On: January 4, 2007

In: Economics, Education, Parenting

There have been a couple of articles (probably because it is the silly season) recently about the unaffordability of pre-schools in NSW, compared with other Australian states. The vast majority of pre-schools in NSW cost about $30 a day, with most children going for the year before school, for twoContinue Reading

Walking in the rain

On: December 24, 2006

In: Life, Parenting

One of our favourite weekend excursions is to walk across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and take the ferry home. It’s been a while, so we did it again today, even though rain was threatening. So picture us – three adults, with three small boys. They’d been cooped up a bit inContinue Reading

Sharing

On: October 22, 2006

In: Parenting

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

Childhood longitudinal study

On: October 12, 2006

In: Parenting

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

School starting age

On: September 27, 2006

In: Education, Parenting

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

Affluence

On: September 10, 2006

In: Life, Parenting

I was talking to a colleague the other day about his children. They’re in their teens. He said that the single biggest issue he and his wife argue about is how to deal with their affluence. Not only is the whole of society enormously richer than we were thirty yearsContinue Reading

History

On: September 5, 2006

In: Life, Parenting

I was born (in the UK) a few days before the Israeli six-day war broke out and my mother was born (in London) a few days after the retreat from Dunkirk. So we’ve got a bit of history, in our family. Chatterboy was born here in Australia on September 13, 2001. Although it didn’t feel asContinue Reading

Gender pressures

On: August 15, 2006

In: Feminism, Parenting

C has just started reading chapter books. Before I started frequenting parenting blogs (and my children were well before pre-reading), I didn’t think of that as a milestone – I certainly don’t remember that milestone in my own life. But now, the fact that C can disappear for half anContinue Reading