There has always been a passion inside of me when it comes to children and education. As a child I would “play school” with my imaginary classmates. In my school, I would collect leaves that had fallen from the trees – studying their shape and their colour – marvelling at how different they looked when actually in my hands. Feeling the...

Over the past couple of months, I have suddenly become a “working mother”. I’m not actually sure how it all came to pass – it’s all a bit of a haze really. You see for many years I have worked from home in our own business. We went through some really tough times to make it all work – especially when the babies were tiny. It often...

You will remember the pain I felt about sending Lucy off to childcare a couple of weeks ago. She is going to childcare one day a week (yes, just ONE day), and yet I felt like someone was ripping my heart out as I walked out the door! I don’t know if it’s because she’s my baby or because she’s so little, but it just felt like it was such a huge...

My eldest daughter is 8 years old. As she gets older, I become more and more concerned about bullying at school. I do think that the term bullying tends to be thrown about willy-nilly sometimes, so for the sake of this post I am going to borrow from the Bullying.NoWay! government website, which explains that: Bullying is repeated verbal, physical, social or...

This week I was invited to be part of a parenting panel on ABC Radio to discuss the topic of Back To School. Um… Radio… Discussing one of my all-time favourite topics. Wow. What an amazing opportunity! I was there with bells on! I arrived at the South Bank studios and was so happy to meet up with Naomi from Seven Cherubs, who instantly put me at ease, and...

Dear Childcare Educator, Tomorrow I am bringing Lucy into your classroom for her first day at childcare. I don’t think she quite understands what’s going to happen. We talk about “school”, and about having fun. She has packed her own bag, and she has practiced wheeling her bag behind her. She knows she is starting school, but I don’t...

*** This giveaway has now closed. Congratulations to the winners: Katie G (Fridge-to-go), Jo J (Fridge-to-go), Melissa J (Fridge-to-go), Alyce S (4MyEarth), Angela V (Squeeze ‘ems), Sallyann S (Squeeze ‘ems). *** One of the most common topics of Back To School discussion, is which lunch box and drink bottle we should send to school with our children. You...

“Oh COOOOLLLLL!” That’s how it all started. As we unpacked the box of goodies from 2kool4skool, every item was met with a little gasp (Katie), or a “COOOOOOOOL” (Fred), or a “I love THIS one” (Maddy). When the kids are beside themselves before they’ve even reached the bottom of the box, you know you’re onto...

There are moments in our life that forever stay in our hearts and memories. Starting school is undoubtedly one of those times – not just for the new student, but also for the Mums and Dads who are entrusting their children’s education into the care of others for possibly the first time. It can often feel a little overwhelming, and there are so many things...

The end of the school year is full of excitement, a little bit of sadness, and a whole lot of STUFF! School bags are chocked full of books, scrapbooks, stationery, folders, journals and more. If you’re anything like me, you want the bags put away out of sight ASAP so you can start to enjoy the summer holidays. But before you do, here are a few tips which will...