A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
"There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats its children.” Nelson Mandela A new report released in Canberra on 15 March by the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) entitled The Wellbeing of Young Australians, puts Australia’s youth on the middle to lower end [...]
So Christmas is over and many young people will now be the proud owners of some sort of new technology. It is important to set boundaries around the use of new technology such as iPhones, iPads computers and internet access. This gives peace of mind to both parents and teenagers as both feel they are [...]
Worldwide 793 million people still cannot read In countries such as Kenya, Nepal and America children are getting together and discovering the world of the written word. For many of them it is opening new doors, not only to the joy of reading but it is also building within themselves a sense of self worth, [...]
Steve Biddulph, author of Raising Boys and Generation Next speaker talks about the importance of giving boys different bonding experiences as they grow. He says that boys experience 3 main developmental stages as they go through life: 0-6 years old: bonding with mum and learning to love A recent study published in the journal [...]
Media is everywhere. Increasingly children are directly targeted and marketed to by media and advertising who are projecting images that are age inappropriate. The sexualisation of children by the media can be seen in adult style clothing for young girls, sexual references on clothing for boys and girls, music videos, billboards and magazines. Melinda Tankard [...]
97% of children play video games* 2% are addicted The recent story of an Adelaide mother who is struggling with her 17 year old son’s addiction to the online fantasy game Runescape probably rang alarm bells with many parents who suspect or know their teenager is in front of a screen far too often and [...]
70% of smokers say they want to quit. Most smokers start when they are teenagers. Tobacco is addictive, out of the 3 million smokers in Australia, 70% want to quite but find the habit very hard to kick even though they are aware of the health risks. Saturday 1 December 2012, saw a new turning [...]
It seems that for boys ‘risk taking’ is all part of growing up and is needed to test their skills, strengths, weaknesses and independence in the world. Andrew Fuller, child psychologist and Generation Next speaker, says "We have a world that sanitises away risk, so that means risk becomes even more alluring. Boys are going [...]
48% of women have experienced physical violence 34% of women have experienced sexual violence* 14% of young women aged 12 to 20 have experienced rape or sexual assault** Join over 60,00 Australians, including many celebrities like Rove, Keith Urban and Andrew O’Keefe and take an oath to end violence against women. It is important to [...]
Over 80% of adolescents have used alcohol by the time they are 14 years of age.* The National Health and Medical Research Council recommends that young people under the age of 15 do not drink any alcohol at all, and that until the age of 18 years the consumption of alcohol should be delayed as [...]
