Toddler News Index

Getting rid of the dummy

RICHIE YOUNG Choosing the right time to stop your child using dummies may be easier than you think.

Toddlers and technology

All tech and no play for our tots

ALEX MCCLINTOCK Oliver Roach is 20 months old but he already knows how to put on and play a DVD. He is among a growing band of toddlers teaching themselves to use computers, games consoles and other devices.

Dress-ups for real

KELLIE HUSH Toddler fashion has become serious business. It is a scary reality that Suri Cruise is now known as a style icon.

Kids in hot cars

KIDSAFE With summer well and truly on its way, so are the safety risks when combining kids, cars and hot weather. The heat of an Australian summer can be extreme and it can be dangerous for kids.

News archive

Nannies can be a super option

LISA WACHSMUTH The nanny is not just limited to the wealthy anymore. With many families having both the mother and father working, hiring a nanny is becoming a more popular option, writes Lisa Wachsmuth.

Encouraging your pre-schooler to rest and sleep

CAROLE It is to every family member’s advantage if we can encourage sound resting and sleeping habits in our youngsters. We all need to be calmed and rejeuvenated from the many experiences and stresses we have each day. We all need differing amounts of sleep and have differing temperaments.

Children come first at new ABC, owners vow

ADELE HORIN Parents have been promised stability and higher quality care after a consortium of four charities won the bidding war for 678 ABC Learning Centres in a contest with a private equity firm.

Curse of a certain surfer

SIMON WEBSTER With a three-year-old boy who makes it to the toilet for one poo in 10 and as such believes he is too grown up for nappies, we live in a constant state of anxiety, bordering on terror.

Children with better educated mothers watch the least TV

ADELE HORIN Almost 15 per cent of Australian children aged three to four have television in their bedrooms and, by the age of seven to eight, the proportion has risen to one in five, a new study shows, raising concerns about the lack of parental regulation of children's viewing.

Baby steps: Shoes for babies and toddlers

A guide to buying your baby and toddler's first shoes and what the experts recommend.

Features archive

Be pool wise - supervise

KIDSAFE Drowning is one of the major causes of death for children who are less than five years of age.

Child safety

World of the cotton wool kids

JOHN ELDER PINT-SIZED crash helmets, baby- wipe warmers, baby GPS units, temporary tattoos with mum's mobile number and food allergy warnings … welcome to the world of the cotton-wool kids.

Do babies and start-up entrepreneurship mix?

TONY FEATHERSTONE Is the challenge too great to launch and build a fast-growth venture, and raise babies and toddlers at the same time?

Activity guidelines

Preschoolers not active enough

JULIA MEDEW Most preschoolers spend 85 per cent of their waking hours inactive, research has found.

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Making time for your partner

KIM KIND Sometimes we forget there is nothing more important to children than the quality of the relationship between their parents. Are you making enough time for each other?

Features archive

Stamp out bad behaviour in public places

LAURA KILN With Christmas approaching fast, many parents are working out strategies to do all the festive shopping and cope with a bored toddler at the same time.

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Blind eye to driveway danger

RACHEL BROWNE About a dozen children are killed in Australian driveways each year and hundreds more are severely injured, child safety experts say.

Features archive

Don’t be afraid to get dirty

BROOKE WELLS The media know how to play on the fear of parents that germs are the source of family illnesses and infections. But is the opposite in fact in true?