Behaviour & Discipline for Older Kids: Essential Kids

Breaking through the wall

Kimberley O’Brien Feel like you’re fighting a losing battle with your stubborn child? Child psychologist Kimberley O’Brien tells you how to get their attention.

Playing favourites

Antonia Kidman Sometimes the favourite child is the one who is easiest to be around at that moment, writes Antonia Kidman.

Friends or frenemies

Kimberley O'Brien Is your child being treated badly by their school friends? Child psychologist Kimberley O’Brien shares her tips on how you can help.

How to take action against bullying

Today is National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence. Don't forget to wear orange and take a stand together. For resources on how to combat bullying read these articles.

Vanessa Amorosi lends her voice for a good cause

Katie Carlin After being on the receiving end of bullying for most of her childhood, Vanessa knows firsthand how easy it is for kids who are being bullied to feel alone.

The relaxed mummy files: Competitive parenting

Justine Davies This week Justine Davies tackles the issue of competitive parenting and how to stop it from shaking your confidence.

The relaxed mummy files: Daily housework grind

Justine Davies In part two of the relaxed mummy files we have tips to help you break the daily housework grind.

The relaxed mummy files: Money worries

Justine Davies Family fatigue is a growing problem but how do we combat stress build-up when our daily lives never slow down? Justine Davies has got it covered.

Do you value your kids' safety over their dreams?

Kylie Orr We spend our parenting years encouraging, rewarding and embracing our children’s talents. We enthusiastically cheer them to follow their dreams, leap for the sky, and pursue a career they love. What do you do when your children have an ambition that could ultimately lead to their death?

Qantas loses boy. Rarely happens

Andrew Heasley Qantas has been forced to admit it lost track of an unaccompanied child passenger last month.

From play fighting to cage fighting

Heidi Davoren The latest spectator sport: adults paying to watch kids cage fight.

The six different ways parents get angry with their kids

Renee Mill Most parents tell me that they know what anger is and how they express it to their children. They usually describe anger as screaming or hitting. They confess that sometimes they only realise they have been out of control after the fact.

Bad to the bone

Michelle Griffin Are some children just born evil? Michelle Griffin reports.

Daddy's girls

Good dads make happy daughters

Barney Bardsley A firm supporting hand with a sense of protection, guidance, judgement and a spirit of play are all qualities a good father offers his daughter.

The right to smack

Amity Dry Despite recent studies finding smacking harmful, why do community groups and parents demand the right to hit their kids?

Kylie Orr's blog

Save me from the school holiday fighting!

Kylie Orr How do you spend seven weeks in a row trying to find activities to entertain kids, without going broke or insane.

A haven for the defiant ones

Denise Ryan Some children display such extreme behaviour that parents despair - but there is hope.

Research

Parental fear breeds cotton-wool kids: study

Katherine Fenech Overprotective parents damaging children's physical and mental health, study finds.

Support not force - the secret to parenting super athletes

Managing a child's freakish sporting ability is a fine art, writes Tim Elliott. The image of the maniacal, overbearing parent is a staple in elite sport, but the reality is different, according to Mark Dobson, author of Parenting Freak Ability, a new book that reveals the secrets of parents who raised some of Australia's leading athletes.

Teaching gratitude

Kylie Orr Calling my children ungrateful would be extreme. However, it would be fair to say they have not yet mastered the art of gratitude.

Bieber fever - were parents to blame?

Miranda Devine When 4,000 febrile, hyperventilating girls camped out at The Rocks overnight waiting for a performance by the 16-year-old Canadian tween idol Justin Bieber on Monday, the outcome was always going to be dramatic. But were lax parents to blame?

Reinventing your childhood for your children. Can it be done?

Kylie Orr My children don’t know what playing in the street is. They are not permitted past our driveway. Although not a main road, our street is used as a thoroughfare and despite speed humps, we still attract bogan hoons on the odd occasion. Not odd enough to let me relax my parental leash.