Mum in Business

Rock-A-Bye-Baby - Danni Guerreiro

EB member Danni saw a gap in the market for a company who could provide exceptional baby hire products, so started her own company.

Paid parental leave has arrived - what you need to know

Justine Davies Expecting your baby sometime in the New Year? Then here’s your at-a-glance guide to the new paid parental leave scheme.

Australia's most family-friendly workplaces

Brooke Wells Who are the country's top family friendly employers, and what benefits do they offer to their workers? Essential Baby investigates.

Babes in Arms - Anita Lincolne-Lomax

I had an absolute ‘a-ha-moment’ when I tried the ERGObaby carrier with my first daughter almost six years ago.

Mortgage free in four years

Nicole Salinas I clearly recall the day we decided to pay off our mortgage. My husband and I were sitting in the computer room with a cup of coffee and we were looking up the weather as we had decided to go to the snow for a day trip.

Milk Baby - Lindy Klim

When Lindy had difficulty finding the right skincare products for her baby's delicate skin, she came up with a solution - she would make her own range, Milk Baby.

Nannies: How much do they really cost?

Amber Robinson With the Australian birth rate booming, and child care places rarer than hen's teeth, many families are looking to alternatives when it comes to the care of their children.

Meals by Mel

As a mother of two young children, Mel knows how hard it can be to organise dinners. That’s why she has decided to do all the work for you by planning your weekday meals.

Teaching kids the value of money

Annette Sampson The strategy: to teach my kids good money habits. How do I do that? It's not easy in an environment where even everyday financial decisions can be complex.

FLATOUTbear

Sarah Novati talks to EB about starting up FLATOUTbear, being a mum and running an exciting business.

Stay-at-home parent: can you afford it?

Katelin McInerney A new guide gives parents tips on how to stay at home with their babies, without breaking the bank.

Aden + Anais - Raegan Jones

Raegan Jones, founder of aden + anais, tells us about her muslin wrap and swaddling business, which is now represented in over 3,000 stores worldwide.

Families get back just a quarter of their costs

DANIELLE TEUTSCH As A chartered accountant, Melissa Asher has crunched the numbers many times about the cost of childcare versus the benefits of work. For the moment, work is winning - just.

Children charged adult prices

Melissa Singer Children are growing up fast. In the air, a two-year-old can be considered an adult, while on the ground, four-year-olds are being treated like mum and dad at the box office.

Families could claim for nannies: Coalition

Lenore Taylor Families could get a government rebate for half the cost of nannies, au pairs or grandparents paid as child-minders under a policy being developed by the Coalition as part of Tony Abbott's push to win the votes of working parents.

Our million-dollar babies

Antony Lawes Parents may well regard their children as priceless but new research has put a dollar value on bringing up babies in Australia.

Kids clean up in a billion-dollar industry

CAROLINE MARCUS Australian parents are spending more than $1 billion on pocket money a year but children are expected to do far less around the house in return.

10 ways to save money in the kitchen

Jill Dupleix When the wolf’s at the door…cook it. Times are tough, and going to get tougher. Ingenuity, thrift, frugality, economy - remember them? Damn, I knew I should have listened to my gran.

Teaching kids about good money management

Analaura Luna Although the piggy bank is the first thing that springs to mind when we think about teaching kids money management skills, the reality is that these days, the money box should just be the first step in the process.

Start your own business

What do Apple, Hershey Chocolate, and the Ford Motor Company have in common? They all started out as home-based businesses.

Juggling family finance

Elissa Baxter While you will need to give serious thought on handling your finances with only one wage earner, you may find that new parenthood doesn't necessarily lead to a life of doing without.

Leave for new dads a step still too far

Katharine Murphy The Productivity Commission wanted to give fathers two weeks' paid leave with their new babies - but that idea is on the backburner as the Government looks to contain the cost of its 2009-10 budget spending.

Business groups concerned over cost of parental leave

Less than 24 hours after the Federal Government announced plans to introduce paid parental leave, business groups are raising concerns about the cost.

Rudd Government delays paid parental scheme to 2011

Melina Cruickshank The Federal government has delayed their 2007 election promise of a paid parental leave scheme for another 18 months, and restricted it to primary carers earning less that $150,000. On Essential Baby, working mothers are questioning the delay as well as the means testing.

A modest promise to keep

Michelle Grattan The paid parental leave scheme is the budget's small bright, shiny button. For many women and for the union movement, it is a symbol as well as a tangible outcome of lobbying.

Proposed paid parental leave diminished

Ben Schneiders The plan to grant 18 weeks' paid parental leave to more than 100,000 women annually will come in a diminished form.

Paternity payment spared the axe

Phillip Coorey and Stephanie Peatling The budget tomorrow will aim to encourage women to stay in the workforce by promising them paid maternity leave and sparing the child-care rebate from Wayne Swan's axe.

Paid maternity leave in the balance

Josh Gordon, Federal Politics With just over two weeks until the budget, the Federal Government has not yet made a decision about whether it has the money available to fund a universal, paid maternity leave scheme.

Half working men allowed parental leave

Stephanie Peatling Men have gained access to paid parental leave at twice the rate of women during the past five years, new figures show.

It's back to work after childbirth

Stephanie Peatling - Political Correspondent Women on low incomes are most likely to return to work shortly after the birth of a child because of financial concerns, research shows.

Holiday care is not a black and white issue for working mums

Carmel Egan While holiday care is usually juggled by parents using a mix of relatives, friends and commercial programs, it is typically women who opt out of paid work or take lower-status, less-secure jobs to cover the eight-week gap between a worker's annual leave and 12 weeks of school holidays.

A delicate balance: work and life

Brooke Wells Recent surveys show Australia is one of the most overworked countries in the world, with people working up to 50 hours a week. With Australia in the midst of a baby boom, many parents are feeding their kids toast in the back seat of the car on the way to child care. Is self-employment the only answer?

From baby to boardroom

Kim Kind Help is at hand for mothers who want to get back to the office, writes Kim Kind.

Do you really need to work?

Gill South Every day mothers are making important decisions about whether or not to return to paid work. For many, working outside the home - either part time or full time - is a financial necessity. For others, their work is part of their identity and their self-worth.