Parenting and Children's Books
Gwyneth's ingredients for the good life
Elaine Lipworth Gwyneth Paltrow talks to Elaine Lipworth about the health scare that prompted her latest cookbook, her young family, and why she has scaled back her acting career.
Turning children in to readers
AMY GRAY With the Children's Book Festival underway this weekend, we find out what books famous authors read to their own children.
Mother of boys tells of lessons learned
Lisa Salmon Hannah Evans is a MOB three times over. And as a MOB - Mother of Boys - she has come to the conclusion that bringing up boys "is like dealing with dogs".
Books to chase kids' worries away
Stephanie Owen Reeder delves into picture books that deal with childhood fear.
Inspiring books for girls
AMY GRAY With Christmas around the corner, there are a host of present types we all dread for our girls but there is one gift that gives more than the others.
How not to be the perfect mother
Sandy Smith Put away your Gina Ford and Dr Spock - there's a sh*tty mum side to us all.
JK Rowling leaves 'Door ajar' for Potter world
Robert Dex JK Rowling has left "the door ajar" for a return to the world of Harry Potter but said there would be no more books about the young wizard.
Stories that go 'bump' in the night
LINDA MORRIS One night, while drawing the curtains on her apartment windows, Deborah Abela saw her one and only ghost. In the pitch black, kneeling on her bed, she saw a face. Her beloved but frail nanna had died five or so years before but there she was, younger and watchful.
Harry Potter banned by Christian school
Alison Branley Medowie Christian School has defended a decision to ban witches and warlocks from its annual book week parade and the Harry Potter series from the school library.
A childhood full of books
CYNTHIA BANHAM What a perplexing time to become a new parent. The latest popular books on the subject say that unless you are French you probably are bringing up your child to be a lazy, selfish brat.
Top five tips to get your child reading
Whether your children are just starting to engage with books or you're struggling to find a book to interest your older child Dymocks has some tips on how to foster a love for reading in your kids.
Finding her way through the fog
KATIE CARLIN There are some stories that stay with you long after you finish reading them. They are usually the ones that make you stop and take stock of your life. My Life in a Pea Soup by Lisa Nops is one such story.
Discovery and adventure in your own backyard
KATIE CARLIN Do you have an inquisitive nature lover in your household? Well the Australian Backyard Naturalist is the book for them. Full of interesting facts, stories and projects to help kids learn and engage with the animals, birds and insects living in their own backyard.
Building bonds that won't break
Emily Anderson Many a parent has lamented the fact that children don't arrive with manuals but building a relationship with your child that encourages, secures and guides them in the right direction is possible.
'Wild Things' writer dies at 83
Maurice Sendak didn't think of himself as a children's author, but as an author who told the truth about childhood.
Top EK reads
Today is national Drop Everything and Read (D.E.A.R) day and to celebrate the Essential Kids team took a trip down memory lane to bring you our favourite childhood books.
Girls have been hungry for this revolutionary heroine
Dannielle Miller If sales of the books and early movie tickets for the new teen fiction series The Hunger Games are anything to go by, it seems teen girls are starved for a heroine with real fire.
The rules of attachment
Carmen Michael A new book has criticised hands-on parenting techniques, but are they simply a rational response to a rapidly changing and competitive world?
Cool characters
Stay in the good books
FRANCES ATKINSON We up some summer children's titles from top Australian and international talent.
I should be so plucky
Stephanie Peatling No damsels in distress, the adventurous girls in children's books inspired the first flush of feminism in Stephanie Peatling.
Welcome to your child’s brain
LAKSHMI SINGH The authors of a new book "Welcome To Your Child’s Brain – From in Utero to Uni" have one message for parents who wallow in guilt about their style of parenting - “Take a deep breath and relax.” Fretting over small aspects of parenting or over scheduling kids with activities aimed to “improve” them will not necessarily make them more successful.
Super tips to uncover your supermum persona
KATIE CARLIN For everyone who feels their supermum title is hanging by a thread, that is to assume it ever existed in the first place, there is still hope.
Down time
Why lazy parents make happy families
A new book advocates hands-off parenting for the entire family's sake.
For kids or not for kids - that is the question
Carolyn Webb The winner of one of Australia's top children's book awards says her book is not for young children.
Children's book awards controversial results
The Children's Book Council of Australia has sparked controversy in the past for its choices in the Book of the Year Awards.
Cartoon families are driving me to distraction
ANDREW DADDO The car in front of me has two kids, a dog, cat, tennis-playing mum and surfing dad. It's a cute-looking family in a cartoonish kind of way.
Lunch with Andy Griffiths
Lindy Percival He might write like a ratbag, but the fart jokes and food fights are all in his imagination.
Your mother, yourself
Alyssa McDonald Is it our own flaws that we hate most in our mums and daughters?
Children's literature not just kid's stuff
Linda Morris Eight years ago, Random House Australia sent a 12-year-old schoolboy a manuscript from a new name in children's fiction. The publishing house wanted feedback for The Ranger's Apprentice.
Publishers tap into the experience of youth
Linda Morris Young reviewers are helping shape book covers and even marketing campaigns.
Setting your child up on the right reading path
Jo-Anne Dooner Introducing early reading skills at home is vital!
Kylie Orr's blog
Parenting with a hangover: someone get me a bucket
Kylie Orr I’ve been pregnant and/or breastfeeding since Adam was a boy, so I struggle to remember the last time I overindulged with alcohol. The memories of hangovers, however, stick like barnacles on my brain.
Kylie Orr's blog
Ever get sick of saying “no”?
Kylie Orr Let's face it: "No" is convenient. It is fast. It is less disruptive to what I am in the middle of and deceivingly simpler than making a well thought-out decision. I often wonder if my kids will grow up thinking I was "Captain No" closely followed by the Fun Police.
Kylie Orr's blog
Would you pack up and move overseas?
Kylie Orr A friend of mine has just accepted a job in the UK. He is bundling up his wife and two young children and taking the plunge. Another friend is off to Kenya with her husband and three young boys.
Kylie Orr's blog
You couldn't pay me enough to be a celebrity mum
Kylie Orr Would you like to be a celebrity mum? Do you empathise with the caged bird existence they lead?
Kylie Orr's blog
Pocket money or slave labour?
Kylie Orr The opportunities to teach our children the value of money through pocket money seem too important to ignore; how to save, smart expenditure, living within their means (haven't quite learnt that one myself yet), sharing money by donating to charity, and the finality of spending.
Kylie Orr's blog
Dreading "Daddy day" - overly ambitious stay-at-home dads
Kylie Orr Twelve months ago my husband had a mini crisis. He was sick of working like a dog, running his own business. He wanted more time to wade through his home projects list and play a more active role in raising our young family. Nothing new to the modern family dilemma.
Increased literacy problems as children miss out on home reading
Joseph Kelly Home reading is in decline. Recent research shows that only 16% of children in the US and the UK are read to at home. The reasons given for the downturn in home reading are many and include families having increasingly busy lifestyles and children having increased access to other forms of entertainment.
Tips to make reading a fun activity for all the family
Joseph Kelly To try and make the task of reading to your kids easier, Essential Baby asked a panel of experts for their tips on how to make reading a fun activity for all the family.
Kylie Orr's blog
What happened to courtesy?
Kylie Orr When it comes to bad manners, don't blame the kids, blame their parents.
Kids hate books for Christmas, parents put video on YouTube
A three-year-old boy who throws a tantrum after receiving a gift of books for Christmas is the viral hit of the season, after his father anonymously posted a video of is son's performance on YouTube.
10 books to read before turning 10
Angie Schiavone Books for children are the same as those for adults in that they can entertain, educate and inspire emotions and imagination.
Being a bookworm pays off
Elise Dalley More than 23 million books have been read by NSW school students since the Premier's Reading Challenge started in 2002.
Kylie Orr's blog
Yes, I know: "Wait until they're teenagers!"
Kylie Orr Do you get tired of being told "wait until they’re teenagers"? Why is parenting a never-ending waiting game?!
Kylie Orr's blog
The agony of pre-labour
Kylie Orr The experts say babies come when they are ready. And to them I say, don't take on a woman in pre-labour if you value your life.
Kylie Orr's blog
A dirty weekend away without the kids?
Kylie Orr My husband and I mark our 10th wedding anniversary this year. Celebrating the occasion with a special night or two away – to revisit where this union all began, before kids and mortgages and stressful jobs – was the perfect reason for a getaway.
Kylie Orr's blog
Flying Solo: Parenting when your partner is away
Kylie Orr Every year my husband attends a two-week geek conference 15,000 kilometres away. Every year, I dread it.
Great books for kids
We have put together a list of great children’s books for a variety of ages – from old favourites to modern classics - to grow your child’s imagination.
Are you raising a self-centered first born?
Kylie Orr Much has been written about birth order. Each position in the family lures their own liturgy of labels. Do you children fit the position stereotype?
