Tamara Heath wonders if it is better being the oldest or the youngest in the family. When my eldest daughter was a newborn, I snipped a bit of skin off the top of her finger while trying to cut her nails. The moment I realised what...

Susan Hazel and Julia Henning dispel 3 myths about cat allergies Cats are great companions, but for some people their company comes at a cost. Up to 1 in 5 people have an allergic response to cats, and this figure is increasing. There are many myths about...

Men’s feelings about fatherhood found new expression in a study into contemporary Australian parenting, write Marie Ann Nelson, Claire Halle and Kathy Hennessy.  “Don’t think you can cope … you can’t. Don’t think you can keep your old life … you won’t. Hope that when he...

Gumtree reveals the average Australian household has approximately $5,300 worth of pre-loved items hidden in their home The secrets from their research reveals savvy Aussies could stand to make approximately $5,300 ($5,286) per household, with around 21 pre-loved, unwanted or unused items in every home...

After Vanessa Holt tries many different pets for her daughter, the perfect one slithers onto the scene. It’s the perfect pet. It doesn’t make a noise. It doesn’t smell. At most, we feed it once a week and it doesn’t leave a messy bowl. It’s content...

A daughter’s probing questions cause Karen Baumgart to ponder the nature of nudity in the home. It began with an all-too-tactile query from our two-year-old daughter: “What’s that?” she chirped merrily, making a grab for that part of my husband as he emerged from the shower....

Stephanie Brown and Deirdre Gartland look at how intimate partner violence affects children’s health Childhood should be a happy and carefree time, but often it doesn’t work out that way. Children are exposed to all the stresses and strains that affect the families and communities in...

Lara Cain Gray recounts a hairy moment involving her son. My 10-month-old son ate a spider. Let’s not sugar-coat it (although I’m sure that it's a delicacy somewhere) – it was frightening and revolting in equal measure. We’d had a typically hectic morning trying to get our...