We owned a greyhound briefly. Great dog: compliant, friendly, placid.
Not a good dog for kids though, first because he had never learned to play (he’d been a racing dog before we adopted him) and second because of his size (a small misdemeanour became a big one because of this). One day our then-4-year-old suprised him [...]

 As I’ve said before, I have boys, not girls. This is good for me. I can wrestle with them and not have to worry about breaking one of their lacquered fingernails or accidentally garrotting them with their own necklace.
At Christmas and birthday times, I can cruise toy aisles with action figures, projectile weapons and lightsabers, not [...]

In Melbourne Australia, we’ve just had a news report about the high incidence of fathers suffering post-natal depression.  These reports have popped up very occasionally over the last 5 or 6 years, but don’t seem to get a lot of attention. I think that - amidst all the whacky tomfoolery on this blog - this is a topic worth commenting on.
In fact, you [...]

An article published in Melbourne newspaper The Age
Jill Stark
February 12, 2007
Australia’s obesity epidemic is reaching crisis point and the number of overweight children will rise to 60 per cent within 30 years unless the Government invests billions, according to a health expert.
Kevin Norton, professor of exercise science at Sport Knowledge Australia, accused state and [...]

Good morning, good afternoon, good evening - whichever timezone you may occupy as you read this. I just want to take a short departure from all the attempted humour to link you to 3 great articles.
Kindred Magazine is an excellent resource for parents. It must be, it published one of my articles this month. (ipso facto…)
Usually their material’s [...]

With part of my background in retail, I’m well-aware of why there just happen to be chocolate bars, chips, novelty items and children’s magazines placed at the counter in the supermarket and at a 5 year old’s eye-level.
And doesn’t it just ping you off to have to say “No you can’t… No you can’t … No [...]