Parenting & Family

When you think about it, reading is a rather complex task. Children must make sense of letters, sounds, words, sentence types, punctuation, and many other structures. The learning doesn’t stop there though. Reading is not simply reciting words on a page. It is a meaning-making process that children bring their …

“Parenting is challenging at the best of times, but the last 15 months have seen moms and dads juggling more than ever,” says Amanda Rogaly, founder and Chief Mommy at online parenting and lifestyle portal BabyYumYum. At a time when parents need trusted advice and support the most, BabyYumYum is …

“Sleep is an essential part of how the human body operates, and it’s just as necessary for babies as it is for adults,” says Dr Iqbal Karbanee, paediatrician and CEO of Paed-IQ BabyLine, a trusted telephonic medical advice service for the first 1000 days of a child’s life, starting from conception to …

There has been so much talk about how the pandemic has catapulted this world and everyone in it into a digital future, but is that really true for everyone? In Africa, we love to campaign the Fourth Industrial Revolution as if it is some kind of watershed transition into a …

It is virtually impossible for anyone to go through life without making a single mistake. In some cases mistakes are momentous, changing the course of your life and those around you. In other cases, mistakes are more like regrets, things that you wish you could have done differently.  But, whatever …

South Africa has a long winter school holiday over July, when the harshest, cold weather is usually at its peak.  With SA’s third wave of the pandemic on the rise and more lockdown restrictions, families are mostly planning to batten down the hatches at home.  That’s going to be a …

Practical life activities that are taken seriously and are introduced as impactful and approachable challenges, can be inherently meaningful and educational. It is not simply learning how to get dressed or peeling some fruit. The child learns how to follow a multifaceted motor sequence, independently, for him to fulfil his …

Sunday 20 June is a special day in South Africa. Children, mentees and colleagues celebrate the father figures who play a part in their lives. All dads are different and exceptional in unique ways, from the quiet, contemplative heroes to the fun, bad-pun-dropping legends who add dad-jokes to every occasion. …

The latest craze in South Africa (according to my primary school kids) is the fidget popper, apparently “every kid” has one in their class and they have been asking me to get them one too. While searching for fidget popper South Africa I saw that one of my favourite online …

A new Kaspersky Safe Kids study has revealed what children were interested in during 2020 – 2021. Over the past year, their interest has grown in the categories of ‘software, audio and video’ and ‘e-commerce’, while ‘Internet communication media’ and ‘computer games’ have slightly decreased. TikTok, YouTube, and WhatsApp are at the …

When a baby or toddler refuses certain foods or does not eat at regular mealtimes which adults are accustomed to, it can create tension and anxiety. Without an understanding of how young children eat, many parents find themselves disillusioned about feeding their child and misunderstand them as “fussy” eaters. This …

A free training course, based on the Skill Cup mobile app and developed with the Kaspersky Security Awareness platform team, has been launched today to help parents and their kids better navigate cybersecurity and digital ethics. Designed to cover key issues and challenges that children may face while using their …

COVID-19 infection numbers are on the rise again, which means that more stringent lockdown regulations could follow. This might include the closure of schools, and the return of more regular remote learning again.  In fact, several schools have already taken the step to start closing partially or fully amid community …

Semigration (or semi-emigration) – defined as the act of moving to another location, usually to another city or province within your home country – is by no means unique to South Africa, but it has become a prevalent trend since the Covid-19 pandemic, with many people’s ability to work from …

A love of reading is sparked when children see themselves in stories and relate it to their lives, even more so when it is shared in their home language. Xolisa Guzula – early literary specialist, author and translator – agrees that when children learn to read in their mother tongues it’s …

Local social media sites recently lit up with flurry of activity when a mom posted about having sent her child to school with a non-alcoholic cider when she had supposedly run out of juice to include in the child’s lunchbox for the day. It has since been found that the …

Cake smashes are colourful, fun, messy, and a perfect way to celebrate your baby’s first birthday. With a professional photographer on hand to capture the excitement, and a bubble bath afterwards to clean up the remnants of the cake, it’ll be difficult to work out who giggles the most.    …

Developing organisational skills is important in holistic child development, and a key step in their path towards independence and academic success. Children are capable and competent and will respond to the opportunity to be organised, an education expert says. “Organisational skills help children create order in their environment and the …

In a country where violence against women and children is perpetuated and bullying in schools has tragic ramifications, many are asking the question: What can our society do to address the root cause of such behaviour, and how can we free our children and future generations from the cycle of …