Support Networks

People say that it takes a village to raise a child. You don’t live in a village, so according to people you’re screwed. Lucky for you people don’t always know what they’re talking about and sometimes they just say things that they’ve heard other people say. Parents have been successfully (and not so successfully) raising children without villages since the industrial revolution (about 250 years ago in case you were wondering). You don’t need a village with a butcher, baker and electric torch maker – but you do need other adults to help you raise your kids. You can’t do it alone and you probably can’t do it with just one other person either. You need help. 

Kids TV

The thing about kids TV is that it can deliver the greatest of what TV can be and it can also be the single most mind numbing experience parenting can throw at you. Bad kids TV sucks! Luckily, there’s some great stuff out there and you can enjoy it too. But before we think too much about which TV is best, lets go back a step. 

Should your kid watch TV?

Many parents worry about their kids watching TV. Just like everything else that you can worry about as a parent, there are good reasons to be a little bit worried but some people take it way too far. Your child will grow up in a world full of screens

Father’s Day

What would I like for Fathers’ Day? I’d like to be treated like a real parent all the time, by everybody. Certainly, it’s not a social problem as big as racism or as urgent as domestic violence, but today seems like a good day to talk about it.

Most dads have had the experience: “Oh, you’re babysitting your kids,” says the lady at work. “Aww, it’s nice to see a dad taking the children out,” says a stranger in line at the bakery.

Sharing

Sharing is when other kids have to let you play with their toys. Sharing is not when other kids play with your toys, that’s stealing.

Ha ha ha, adults laugh. Now let’s replace some words.

The Olden Days

The worst thing about the olden days is that you were alive when they happened. You weren’t just alive, you were driving and going out at night. The olden days are any time before the birth of whichever kid is talking. For kids born today, the olden days aren’t before computers or the internet. They aren’t even before home ADSL and WiFi that let you watch YouTube in bed. Nope, the olden days are before smartphones with quad-core processors were given away with a 12 month phone plan. John Howard is a historical figure now, so are Steve Waugh, Mark Waugh and Jeff the Purple Wiggle.

Advice About Advice

Yep, that’s right, we’re about to give you some advice about getting parenting advice. Somebody with an arts degree would probably call this meta-advice, but we don’t need to use fancy words here. Our advice is:

Listen to the advice you get.

Go with the advice that works.

You get a lot of advice when people learn that you’re a parent. It seems like everybody has an opinion about children. It seems that way because it’s true. No matter if people have raised 11 children singlehandedly on a farm in outback WA or

First Kid-Free Night

The first night out without kids is a HUGE deal for new parent couples. Not all new parents are couples. This article is about people who are.

One of the greatest ways other people can help new parents is to look after the kid while the baby-shocked parents go out and do something that isn’t kid related. The first time this happens can be a bit like the first time you did the special dance that made the kid: scary but amazing! VERY often the parents will feel really uncomfortable about leaving the baby with another person – even their own parents.

“What if he needs a….. I dunno biscuit?”