Dollars and sense
When it comes to pocket money, It’s important to be clear about its purpose, writes parenting columnist Ian Munro.
parenting
The gifts they want
The gifts they want
Listening and spending quality time with children this Christmas is a precious gift and costs nothing but your time.
Where did I come from?
Where did I come from?
When it comes to answering questions about sex, there's no danger in telling children the truth but great danger in fobbing them off, writes Ian Munro.
Playtime, rest important
Playtime, rest important
Some years ago, I sat at a red light behind a bumper sticker that read, "If a woman’s place is in the home, why am I always in the car?" writes parenting columnist Ian Munro.
Consequences and reflection
Consequences and reflection
Timeout is a popular way of letting youngsters know that they’ve transgressed by withdrawing them temporarily from what they’ve been doing and ending their current misbehaviour.
Cannabis pros and cons
Cannabis pros and cons
It’s taken some time to write about the cannabis referendum because I’ve been researching and weighing up the pros and cons, writes Ian Munro.
Growing the truth
Growing the truth
We all lie in varying ways, usually to protect ourselves or others, apparently at the rate of one to two lies a day, writes parenting columnist Ian Munro.
Lullaby and good night
Lullaby and good night
Only 22 sleeps until daylight saving returns to disrupt our youngsters’ sleeping patterns, writes parenting columnist Ian Munro.
Time out needs rules to work
Time out needs rules to work
From time to time I get asked about the value and effectiveness of time out, writes parenting columnist Ian Munro.
An acceptable level of mess
An acceptable level of mess
Tidiness and children don’t naturally go hand-in-hand.
‘No’ is a vital word to say
‘No’ is a vital word to say
It's important to be sure we know why we’re saying "no" to our children and what we hope to achieve, writes parenting columnist Ian Munro.
Holidaying with teens
Holidaying with teens
Travelling with youngsters can be a bit of a mission, especially if there’s a range of ages, writes parenting columnist Ian Munro.
Winter wary
Winter wary
Winter can be a dangerous time for youngsters and I’m not talking Covid-19. I’m talking about home-heating, which presents all kinds of risks, writes parenting columnist Ian Munro.
Moving the freedom boundaries
Moving the freedom boundaries
Parenting columnist Ian Munro shares some thoughts on preparing children for high school.
Dealing with the sports-shy
Dealing with the sports-shy
Many youngsters are lapping up the return to freedom and, in particular, the return of sport. But there’ll be some who won’t seem the slightest bit interested, writes parenting columnist Ian Munro.
Right calls
Right calls
Last week, I came across a great idea for introducing the decision-making process. A teacher friend has been taking his Year 9 class through the process using our Government’s response to the...
Grandparents’ love constant
Grandparents’ love constant
One of the side effects of our lockdown, here and across the world, has been the enforced separation of grandparents and grandchildren in an effort to keep grandparents safe, writes Ian Munro.
Tidiness can start young
Tidiness can start young
Level 2 did mean that in our household we had to clean up our act, so to speak, writes parenting columnist Ian Munro.
Competition part of life
Competition part of life
For the last couple of months, we’ve been exhorted to be kind to one another and, as a nation, I think we’ve managed that pretty well, writes parenting columnist Ian Munro.
Magic words
Magic words
As we probably often tell our children, it doesn't cost anything to be polite, writes Ian Munro.