A social enterprise providing education and information to protect and enhance the mental health of young people
It has long been acknowledged that bullying at a young age presents a problem for schools, parents and public policy makers alike. Although children spend more time with their peers than their parents, there is relatively little published research on understanding the impact of these interactions on their lives beyond school. The results of the [...]
A GENERATION of sleep-deprived teenagers is not what society needs. Blink and these exhausted, overstimulated youngsters will be adults charged with making responsible decisions, whether they're equipped to or not. Young people who don't get enough sleep miss out on major developmental milestones that enable empathy, respect, reasoning and self-control. Without the nine to 10 [...]
GrogWatch is outraged that Cricket Australia has censored the messages of the WACA sponsor Healthway to ensure alcohol sponsors aren’t upset, as reported by The Sydney Morning Herald. Not only is the alcohol industry failing to self-regulate its own ads, but its now managing to squash health messages. This is not going unnoticed and concerned parents are hitting [...]
When I was a teenager I would spend hours in my room singing into my hairbrush microphone in front of the mirror. Go on, admit it, you probably did the same. Indulging in some self-love is a fundamental right of childhood. For the kids of today the mirror has morphed into a small pixelated screen [...]
Mental health problems and substance abuse cause the most disability and poor health across the world, according to a report published in The Lancet. A team of researchers looked at the premature mortality and the years lived with a disability for more than 200 diseases in 187 countries. Professor Harvey Whiteford, from the University of [...]
I bet there’s certain things kids say that grate on you. I bet there are slang terms that, quite simply, you don’t understand. Every now and then you’ll come across a helpful list of the latest “kids speak” like this one. Go on, read it. It’s brilliant. I’ll bet if you think back, [...]
Recently, my 5 year-old son has started proclaiming, “I’m booooorrrrred.” My reaction? Good. When I was a kid I distinctly remember my gran telling me that, “Only boring people get bored.” She never really elaborated, and I’m still not too sure what she meant, but I like it. And I’ve started saying [...]
“Something we now know, from doing dozens of studies, is that emotions can either enhance or hinder your ability to learn,” Marc Brackett, a senior research scientist in psychology at Yale University, told a crowd of educators at a conference last June. “They affect our attention and our memory. If you’re very anxious about something, [...]
Last week the Queensland Government announced plans to name & shame repeat juvenile offenders. I wrote an opinion piece for the ABC in response. You can read the full article here, but in summary I oppose such actions for one main reason. It doesn’t work. The rationale for naming and shaming is [...]
With recent focus on emotional intelligence, it seems now is the perfect time to analyse whether we are doing enough in classrooms to support our children through the process of grief recovery. As an educator, I believe our Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary Institutions should be implementing (PGR) Proactive Grief Recover - addressing grief related [...]
