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Bruce Springsteen helps a fan skip school for his concert

<p>Bruce Springsteen has helped a fan skip school to attend his concert. </p> <p>While performing in San Francisco on his world tour, The Boss paused his performance to sign an absentee note for a fan who had missed class to attend the show. </p> <p>The fan, who was at the front of the barricade, held up a sign that read: "Skipping school. Sign my note?"</p> <p>Another concertgoer then captured the moment the 74-year-old rocker signed the note to a round of applause and cheers from his band and the crowd.</p> <p><iframe style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?height=476&href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Freel%2F794567008756785%2F&show_text=false&width=267&t=0" width="267" height="476" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></p> <p>"That is so awesome. Put tears in my eyes. A true hero," someone wrote in the comments on the Facebook video.</p> <p>"This is the best excuse note a teacher is ever going to see!!" another added.</p> <p>"So cool, Bruce is one of the true talent and a great man of many excuses," a third wrote.</p> <p>The adorable fan interaction comes just weeks after Springsteen returned to the stage for the first time in months after undergoing a lengthy health battle. </p> <p>Springsteen was forced to postpone his 2023 tour with the E Street Band after taking time off to recover from a peptic ulcer disease.</p> <p>Taking to the stage in Phoenix, Arizona, in the first show of the tour, he told the crowd mid-show, "Phoenix, first I want to apologise if there was any discomfort because we had to move the show last time...I hope we didn't inconvenience you too much."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Facebook</em></p>

Music

"First day of school": Charles Spencer shares unseen snap of Diana

<p>Charles Spencer has shared a previously unseen photo from his school days with his late sister Princess Diana. </p> <p>The sweet photo shows a young Charles and Diana in their school uniforms standing side by side on what was their first day of primary school in 1968.</p> <p>Earl Spencer, 59, captioned the photo, "My first day of school, in September 1968: my father took this photograph of me and my sister, Diana, just before he drove us to Silfield, a really lovely primary school in King's Lynn, Norfolk."</p> <p>"The headmistress was Miss Jean Lowe, a warm and thoughtful lady who loved her boys and girls."</p> <p>"I was there till 1972, when I headed off to the place I call - in my memoir - A Very Private School."</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/C5TfsiIoQL8/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C5TfsiIoQL8/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Charles Spencer (@charles.earl.spencer)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>Three years after the photo was taken, Charles was separated from his sister to attend a boarding school, Maidwell Hall Prep School.</p> <p>Throughout the Spencer children's schooling life, Diana was always "very protective" over her brother and "just wouldn't settle" in class until she knew he was okay. </p> <p>Charles told <a title="HELLO!" href="https://www.hellomagazine.com/royalty/516378/charles-spencer-shares-poignant-childhood-anecdote-princess-diana/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>HELLO</em>!</a> that he and Diana had a unique bond when they were growing up. </p> <p>"My mother [Frances] left home when we were young – I was two or three, and Diana would have been five or six – so we were very much in it together," he said.</p> <p>Diana soon fell into a caretaker role, and would look after her brother after their mother left. </p> <p>"Diana looked after me because she was nearly three years older than me," Charles Spencer said.</p> <p>"She said that the worst part was hearing me cry down the hall because she was terrified of the dark and couldn't come to me."</p> <p><em>Image credits: Instagram </em></p>

Family & Pets

1 in 4 adults think smacking is necessary to ‘properly raise’ kids. But attitudes are changing

<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/divna-haslam-893417">D<em>ivna Haslam</em></a><em>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/queensland-university-of-technology-847">Queensland University of Technology</a></em></p> <p>“Do you want a smack?!” This has been a common refrain from many parents across history. Right along with “just wait till your father gets home”. Somehow parents thought this threat of violence would magically improve their child’s behaviour.</p> <p>The United Nations <a href="https://www.right-to-education.org/sites/right-to-education.org/files/resource-attachments/CRC_1989.pdf">Convention on the Rights of the Child</a> considers smacking and all types of physical punishment, however mild, a violation of child rights. It’s banned in <a href="https://endcorporalpunishment.org/countdown/">65 countries</a>.</p> <p>Yet it remains <a href="https://aifs.gov.au/resources/resource-sheets/physical-punishment-legislation#:%7E:text=Physical%20punishment%20by%20a%20parent%20towards%20a%20child%20remains%20lawful,'">legal</a> in Australia for parents to use “reasonable force” for discipline. Children are the only group of people it remains legal to hit.</p> <p>Our <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajs4.301">new research</a> found one in four Australians still think physical punishment is necessary to “properly raise” children. And half of parents (across all age groups) reported smacking their children.</p> <p>But attitudes are slowly changing, with newer generations of parents less likely to smack their kids than previous ones.</p> <h2>What is physical punishment?</h2> <p><a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1njkrb">Physical</a> or “corporal” punishment is the use of physical force to cause pain, but not injury, to discipline a child for misbehaviour. It’s distinct from physical abuse which is more extreme and not used to correct behaviour.</p> <p>Physical punishment is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajs4.276#:%7E:text=Corporal%20punishment%20(CP)%20is%20the,and%20Christian%20missionaries%20during%20colonisation.">the most common type</a> of violence against children. It usually involves smacking, but also includes things like pinching, slapping, or using an implement such as wooden spoon, cane or belt.</p> <p>Smacking doesn’t actually work and makes behaviour <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0956797617729816?casa_token=YHpEf1m4GiwAAAAA%3A8VRH5_z9fufHJiFGpWVYAk0kuTZCCRB-zneATDatqfLomERAhcyyIES30hMPdIIQ-E-IHOTekiC0Zg&journalCode=pssa">worse over time</a>. And it’s <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Ffam0000191">associated with</a> children internalising problems, increased child aggression, poor parent-child relationships, poorer metal heath and more.</p> <p>In contrast, there are a lot of non-violent parenting strategies that <a href="https://theconversation.com/research-shows-its-harmful-to-smack-your-child-so-what-should-parents-do-instead-186739">do work</a>.</p> <h2>Assessing the state of smacking in Australia</h2> <p>We conducted the first <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajs4.301">study</a> to comprehensively assess the state of smacking and physical punishment in Australia. We wanted to determine if smacking was still common and how many Australians believed we need to smack our kids.</p> <p>We interviewed more than 8,500 Australians aged 16 to 65 years. Our sample was representative of the national population so we can be confident the findings represent the thoughts and experiences of Australians as a nation.</p> <p>Using such a large age range allowed us to compare people across different age groups to determine if changes are occurring.</p> <h2>What we found</h2> <p>Overall, six in ten (62.5%) Australians between 16–65 years had experienced four or more instances of smacking or physical punishment in childhood. Men were slightly more likely to be physically punished than women (66.3% v 59.1%).</p> <p>Young people, aged 16–24, reported slightly lower rates (58.4%) than older people suggesting a slight decline over time. But these rates remain unacceptably high.</p> <p>Overall, one in two (53.7%) Australian parents reported using some type of physical punishment, mostly about once a month.</p> <p>However, older parents reported on this retrospectively (what they did while raising children) and there were clear age differences:</p> <ul> <li>64.2% of parents aged over 65 years had used physical punishment</li> <li>32.8% of parents 25–34 years had used it</li> <li>14.4% of parents under 24 had used it.</li> </ul> <p>So younger generations of parents are substantially less likely to use physical punishment.</p> <p><iframe id="3dcJw" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/3dcJw/2/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <p>Concerningly, one-quarter (26.4%) of all Australians still believe physical punishment is necessary to properly raise children. But the vast majority (73.6%) do not.</p> <p>And generational change is occurring. Some 37.9% of Australians older than 65 believe physical punishment is necessary compared to 22.9% of those aged 35–44 years, and only 14.8% of people under age 24.</p> <p><iframe id="NT51y" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" style="border: none;" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/NT51y/3/" width="100%" height="400px" frameborder="0"></iframe></p> <p>Socioeconomically disadvantaged people are 2.3 times more likely to believe physical punishment is necessary than those with no disadvantage.</p> <p>Parents who had been physically disciplined when they were children were both more likely to believe it is needed and more likely to use it with their own children. This indicates this form of violence is transmitted across generations.</p> <h2>Time for change</h2> <p>Law reform works best when changes in community attitudes and behaviours are already occurring. So it’s encouraging that younger people are much less likely to believe physical punishment is necessary and are much less likely to use it. This suggests Australians may be open to prohibiting this common form of violence.</p> <p>All states and territories should immediately enact legal reform to prohibit corporal punishment and protect the rights of Australian children. This should be paired with public health and education campaigns about what parents can do instead.</p> <p>If you are a parent looking for effective non-violent parenting strategies the <a href="https://www.health.gov.au/ministers/the-hon-greg-hunt-mp/media/406-million-to-support-the-mental-health-and-wellbeing-of-aussie-kids">government</a> has also made the <a href="https://www.triplep-parenting.net.au/qld-en/free-parenting-courses/triple-p-online-under-12/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAgqGrBhDtARIsAM5s0_mmMmbY3khwvp306pGOijqntKzYh6dDI5lQYszLgl6_BOGnuk8HMeEaAn_vEALw_wcB">Triple P Positive Parenting Program</a> available for free. This online program provides practical strategies parents can use to encourage positive behaviour and calm, alternative discipline techniques that can be used to instead of smacking.</p> <p>A number of other evidence-based programs, such as <a href="https://tuningintokids.org.au/">Tuning Into Kids</a>, Parents Under Pressure and <a href="https://www.pcit.org/pcit-in-australia.html">Parent Child Interaction Therapy</a>, are also available.</p> <p>Australia has an opportunity to capitalise on naturally occurring societal changes. We can interrupt this cycle of violence and give more Australians a childhood free of violence. <img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218837/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/divna-haslam-893417"><em>Divna Haslam</em></a><em>, Senior Research Fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/queensland-university-of-technology-847">Queensland University of Technology</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-4-adults-think-smacking-is-necessary-to-properly-raise-kids-but-attitudes-are-changing-218837">original article</a>.</em></p>

Caring

The debate: Should kids over 18 pay rent if they’re still living at home?

<p>Parents have shared their thoughts on letting their children live at home rent free, as the age old debate of paying board stirred up some strong opinions. </p> <p>A <a href="https://honey.nine.com.au/money/should-children-over-the-age-of-18-pay-board-if-they-still-live-at-home-reader-poll-exclusive/77876711-2950-4bf3-bb30-716442a6fd74" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>nine.com.au</em></a> reader survey asked the question: Should children over the age of 18 pay board if they still live at home?</p> <p>The responses were many and varied, as a whopping 72 percent of respondents said grown up kids should be contributing financially to the household. </p> <p>One person commented, "If children have employment, it's important that they clearly understand that life is not free and they need to budget, show accountability and responsibility."</p> <p>Another wrote, "If the children over 18 are working, then yes, they should contribute or give money to the parents to bank for them."</p> <p>Others said children shouldn't be expected to pay board, and would rather their kids save money for bigger financial commitments.</p> <p>"My parents did not charge me board even though I was working because they did not need the money and told me to save for my first car, which I did," one person shared. </p> <p>Another wrote their parenting tactic, writing, "I let my children not pay board. So they could save for a deposit on a house. They did and they all (3) have a house."</p> <p>Despite many people sharing their strong opinions on the matter, most respondents said it was not a black and white question, as many households have individual circumstances that affect their decision. </p> <p>"Depends on if they are working or not and what income the parents have. My son is 22 but unemployed due to health problem, we just pool our unemployment payment so it differs for each family situation, not a YES or No answer," one reader wrote. </p> <p>Another said it depends on their employment and study status, writing, "Yes if they're working almost full time, not if they're studying and just working part time to cover living expenses."</p> <p>The poll comes as Aussies have struggled with a rise in basic living costs, with <a href="https://www.finder.com.au/australian-household-spending-statistics" target="_blank" rel="noopener">ABS</a> data showing that Australian households spent a total of $1.2 trillion on what was classed as general living costs in 2022. </p> <p>This sum is close to $100 billion more than in 2021. </p> <p>The average household spent $130,353 in 2022, which is the equivalent of $2507 per week. This is a 20.4 per cent jump on the previous year.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p>

Money & Banking

Marvel stuntman and his three kids killed in car crash

<p>The world of cinema was struck by a tragic incident on Halloween night when Taraja Ramsess, a talented stuntman known for his work in <em>Black Panther</em> and <em>The Avengers</em>, lost his life in a horrifying car crash.</p> <p>What makes this loss even more heart-wrenching is that Taraja was not alone in the vehicle; three of his beloved children, including his newborn daughter, also lost their lives as a result of the tragic accident.</p> <p>Ramsess, at the age of 41, had already left an indelible mark in the film industry. Known for his stunt work in blockbuster hits like <em>Avengers: Endgame</em> and <em>Avengers: Infinity War</em>, Taraja was a dedicated athlete and an exceptional stunt performer. His filmography included not only stunt roles but also numerous art department credits in films such as <em>The Hunger Games: Catching Fire</em> and <em>Fast & Furious 7</em>.</p> <p>But beyond his professional achievements, Taraja was cherished as a dedicated family man and a loving father. His mother, Akili, described him as having a deep capacity for love and an unwavering commitment to his children. The pictures she shared on social media show Taraja beaming with pride while surrounded by his children, a testament to the love he had for them.</p> <p>Ava DuVernay, a renowned filmmaker, paid tribute to Taraja Ramsess as a "regal" figure who walked like a king. She spoke of his selflessness, always willing to say "yes" to the demands of his work, and how his enthusiasm inspired others. Taraja's cousin, Pharaoh Hardee, recalled his journey into the world of film, starting with a passion for music videos and eventually realising his artistic talents in the realm of cinema.</p> <p>Taraja was also known for his infectious enthusiasm and his deep pride in being cast in <em>Black Panther</em>. He was a person who cherished the moments of life and had an unquenchable passion for his work. In the wake of his untimely death, Taraja's cousin Pharaoh Hardee encouraged everyone to honour his memory by not taking life or loved ones for granted. These words serve as a poignant reminder to treasure the moments we have with our family and loved ones.</p> <p>In the face of this immense tragedy, the community has rallied to support Taraja Ramsess' family. A <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/ramsess" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoFundMe</a> campaign was launched to provide financial assistance, and it has already raised over $US80,000.</p> <p>"Taraja was a dedicated father, son and husband and a true philanthropist who was well known and loved by many," reads the tribute on the fundraising page. "He lived for his children. He paved the way and provided opportunities for so many people along the way."</p> <p>That outpouring of support from friends, colleagues and well-wishers is a testament to the impact that Taraja had on those around him.</p> <p><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>

Caring

Kids dressing up as older people is harmless fun, right? No, it’s ageist, whatever Bluey says

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lisa-mitchell-1143692">Lisa Mitchell</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a></em></p> <p>A child once approached me, hunched over, carrying a vacuum cleaner like a walking stick. In a wobbly voice, he asked: "Do you want to play grannies?"</p> <p>The idea came from the children’s TV show Bluey, which <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ABCKidsCommunity/videos/bluey-grannies/468144817266668/">has</a> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ABCKidsCommunity/videos/new-bluey-episodes-the-grannies-are-back-abc-kids/371436135028190/">episodes</a>, <a href="https://www.bluey.tv/products/grannies-book/">a book</a>, <a href="https://www.discountmags.com/magazine/bluey-september-1-2023-digital">magazine</a> editions and an <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OfficialBlueyTV/videos/grannies-filter-bluey/5728362390510269/">image filter</a> about dressing up as “grannies”.</p> <p>Children are also dressing up as 100-year-olds to mark their first “100 days of school”, an idea <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/old-people-s-home-for-five-year-olds-prep-students-don-senior-citizen-attire-20230801-p5dszb.html">gaining popularity</a> <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/education/cardigans-wigs-and-canes-why-kindy-students-are-dressing-up-as-100-year-olds-20230720-p5dpu8.html">in Australia</a>.</p> <p>Is this all just harmless fun?</p> <h2>How stereotypes take hold</h2> <p>When I look at the older people in my life, or the patients I see as a geriatrician, I cannot imagine how to suck out the individual to formulate a “look”.</p> <p>But Google “older person dress-ups” and you will find <a href="https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/dress-up-like-youre-100-years-old-100thdayofschool--15199717464361356/">Pinterests</a> and <a href="https://www.wikihow.com/Dress-Up-Like-an-Old-Person#:%7E:text=Dress%20in%20comfortable%2C%20loose%2Dfitting,older%20people%20may%20wear%20include%3A&text=Oversized%20sweatshirts">Wikihow pages</a> doing just that.</p> <p>Waistcoats, walking sticks, glasses and hunched backs are the key. If you’re a “granny”, don’t forget a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/OfficialBlueyTV/videos/games-you-can-play-at-home-grannies-bluey/645964056227345/">shawl and tinned beans</a>. You can buy “old lady” <a href="https://www.spotlightstores.com/party/costumes-and-accessories/costume-accessories/wigs-hair-accessories/wigs/spartys-kids-old-lady-wig-with-curlers/80578132?gclsrc=aw.ds&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=Cj0KCQjw0vWnBhC6ARIsAJpJM6emZHoNxO72pUa80Wc8ihYYiq3AohZ_w72jmuWBBDlficdCMy_rsK8aAj47EALw_wcB">wigs</a> or an “old man” <a href="https://www.bigw.com.au/product/facial-hair-set-old-man-3-pieces/p/305026">moustache and bushy eyebrows</a>.</p> <p>This depiction of how older people look and behave is a stereotype. And if dressing up as an older person is an example, such stereotypes are all around us.</p> <h2>What’s the harm?</h2> <p>There is <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/hypa.12170">some debate</a> about whether stereotyping is intrinsically wrong, and if it is, why. But there is plenty of research about the harms of <em>age</em> stereotypes or ageism. That’s harm to current older people and harm to future older people.</p> <p>The World Health Organization <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/ageism#tab=tab_1">defines ageism</a> as: "the stereotypes (how we think), prejudice (how we feel) and discrimination (how we act) towards others or ourselves based on age."</p> <p>Ageism <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/ageism#tab=tab_1">contributes to</a> social isolation, reduced health and life expectancy and costs economies <a href="https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/60/1/174/5166947">billions of dollars</a> globally.</p> <p>When it comes to health, the impact of negative stereotypes and beliefs about ageing may be even <a href="https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/60/1/174/5166947">more harmful</a> than the discrimination itself.</p> <p>In laboratory studies, older people perform <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4360754/">worse</a> than expected on tasks such as memory or thinking after being shown negative stereotypes about ageing. This may be due to a “<a href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/stereotype-threat.html">stereotype threat</a>”. This is when a person’s performance is impaired because they are worried about confirming a negative stereotype about the group they belong to. In other words, they perform less well because they’re worried about acting “old”.</p> <p>Another theory is “stereotype embodiment”. This is where people absorb negative stereotypes throughout their life and come to believe decline is an inevitable consequence of ageing. This leads to biological, psychological and physiological changes that <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2927354/">create</a> a self-fulfilling prophecy.</p> <p>I have seen this in my clinic with people who do well, until they realise they’re an older person – a birthday, a fall, a revelation when they look in the mirror. Then, they stop going out, stop exercising, stop seeing their friends.</p> <p>Evidence for “stereotype embodiment” comes from studies that show people with more negative views about ageing are more likely to have higher levels of stress hormones (such as cortisol and C-reactive protein) and are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7182003/">less likely</a> to engage in health behaviours, such as exercising and eating healthy foods.</p> <p>Younger adults with negative views about ageing are <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2666386/">more likely</a> to have a heart attack up to about 40 years later. People with the most negative attitudes towards ageing have a lower life expectancy by as much as <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12150226/">7.5 years</a>.</p> <p>Children are particularly susceptible to absorbing stereotypes, a process <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2007-09385-010">that starts</a> in early childhood.</p> <h2>Ageism is all around us</h2> <p><a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/ageism#tab=tab_1">One in two people</a> have ageist views, so tackling ageism is complicated given it is socially acceptable and normalised.</p> <p>Think of all the birthday cards and jokes about ageing or phrases like “geezer” and “old duck”. Assuming a person (including yourself) is “too old” for something. Older people say it is harder to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-06/senior-job-seekers-struggle-to-get-a-foot-in-the-door/102563144">find work</a> and they face discrimination in <a href="https://www.hcnsw.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Ageism-in-Health-Care_final.pdf">health care</a>.</p> <h2>How can we reduce ageism?</h2> <p>We can reduce ageism through laws, policies and education. But we can also reduce it via <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/ageism#tab=tab_1">intergenerational contact</a>, where older people and younger people come together. This helps break down the segregation that allows stereotypes to fester. Think of the TV series <a href="https://iview.abc.net.au/show/old-people-s-home-for-4-year-olds">Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds</a> or the follow-up <a href="https://iview.abc.net.au/show/old-people-s-home-for-teenagers">Old People’s Home for Teenagers</a>. More simply, children can hang out with their older relatives, neighbours and friends.</p> <p>We can also challenge a negative view of ageing. What if we allowed kids to imagine their lives as grandparents and 100-year-olds as freely as they view their current selves? What would be the harm in that?<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212607/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lisa-mitchell-1143692"><em>Lisa Mitchell</em></a><em>, Geriatrician working in clinical practice. PhD Candidate at The University of Melbourne studying ethics and ageism in health care. Affiliate lecturer, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/kids-dressing-up-as-older-people-is-harmless-fun-right-no-its-ageist-whatever-bluey-says-212607">original article</a>.</em></p>

Retirement Life

How ‘dad jokes’ may prepare your kids for a lifetime of embarrassment, according to psychology

<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/shane-rogers-575838">Shane Rogers</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/edith-cowan-university-720">Edith Cowan University</a></em> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/marc-hye-knudsen-1466723">Marc Hye-Knudsen</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/aarhus-university-967">Aarhus University</a></em></p> <p>This Father’s Day you may be rolling out your best “<a href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/dad%20joke">dad jokes</a>” and watching your children laugh (or groan). Maybe you’ll hear your own father, partner or friend crack a dad joke or two. You know the ones:</p> <p>"What is the most condescending animal? A pan-DUH!"</p> <p>"Why don’t scientists trust atoms? Because they make up everything!"</p> <p>Yes, dad jokes can be fun. They play an important role in how we interact with our kids. But dad jokes may also help prepare them to handle embarrassment later in life.</p> <h2>What are dad jokes?</h2> <p>Dad jokes are a distinct style of humour consisting of puns that are simple, wholesome and often involve a cheesy delivery.</p> <p>These jokes usually feature obvious wordplay and a straightforward punchline that leaves listeners either chuckling or emitting an exaggerated groan.</p> <p>This corny brand of humour is popular. There are hundreds of <a href="https://www.menshealth.com/trending-news/a34437277/best-dad-jokes/">websites</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAgYiERRDPY&t=248s">YouTube videos</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@mmmjoemele/video/7207443872232770858">TikToks</a> dedicated to them. You can even play around with <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/06/us/dad-joke-generator-trnd/">dad joke generators</a> if you need some inspiration.</p> <h2>Why are dad jokes so popular?</h2> <p>People seem to love dad jokes, partly because of the puns.</p> <p>A <a href="https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0191886922005025">study</a> published earlier this year found people enjoy puns more than most other types of jokes. The authors also suggested that if you groan in response to a pun, this can be a sign you enjoy the joke, rather than find it displeasing.</p> <p>Other research shows dad jokes work on at least <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.26613/esic.5.2.248/html">three levels</a>:</p> <p><strong>1. As tame puns</strong></p> <p>Humour typically <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0956797610376073">violates</a> a kind of boundary. At the most basic level, dad jokes only violate <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315731162-7/puns-tacit-linguistic-knowledge-debra-aarons">a language norm</a>. They require specific knowledge of the language to “get” them, in a way a fart joke does not.</p> <p>The fact that dad jokes are wholesome and inoffensive means dads can tell them around their children. But this also potentially makes them tame, which other people might call unfunny.</p> <p><strong>2. As anti-humour</strong></p> <p>Telling someone a pun that’s too tame to deserve being told out loud is itself a violation of the norms of joke-telling. That violation can in turn make a dad joke funny. In other words, a dad joke can be so unfunny this makes it funny – a type of <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-dubious-art-of-the-dad-joke/">anti-humour</a>.</p> <p><strong>3. As weaponised anti-humour</strong></p> <p>Sometimes, the purpose of a dad joke is not to make people laugh but to make them groan and roll their eyes. When people tell dad jokes to <a href="https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0033-2909.127.2.229">teasingly</a> annoy someone else for fun, dad jokes work as a kind of <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.26613/esic.5.2.248/html">weaponised</a> anti-humour.</p> <p>The stereotypical scenario associated with dad jokes is exactly this: a dad telling a pun and then his kids rolling their eyes out of annoyance or cringing from embarrassment.</p> <h2>Dad jokes help dads be dads</h2> <p>Dad jokes are part of a father’s toolkit for engaging with his loved ones, a way to connect through laughter. But as children grow older, the way they receive puns change.</p> <p><a href="https://psychcentral.com/lib/humor-as-a-key-to-child-development#1">Children</a> at around six years old enjoy hearing and telling puns. These are generally innocent ones such as: "Why is six afraid of seven? Because seven ate nine!"</p> <p>As children age and their language and reasoning abilities develop, their understanding of humour becomes more complex.</p> <p>In adolescence, they may start to view puns as unfunny. This, however, doesn’t stop their fathers from telling them.</p> <p>Instead, fathers can revel in the embarrassment their dad jokes can produce around their image-conscious and <a href="https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/surviving-your-childs-adolescence/202203/adolescence-and-the-age-painful-embarrassment">sensitive</a> adolescent children.</p> <p>In fact, in a study, one of us (Marc) <a href="https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.26613/esic.5.2.248/html">suggests</a> the playful teasing that comes with dad jokes may be partly why they are such a widespread cultural phenomenon.</p> <p>This playful and safe teasing serves a dual role in father-child bonding in adolescence. Not only is it playful and fun, it can also be used to help <a href="https://www.dadsuggests.com/home/the-best-dad-jokes">educate</a> the young person how to handle feeling embarrassed.</p> <p>Helping children learn how to deal with embarrassment is no laughing matter. Getting better at this is a very important part of learning how to <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01650250143000535">regulate emotions</a> and develop <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2022.980104/full">resilience</a>.</p> <p>Modelling the use of humour also has benefits. Jokes can be a useful <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12144-019-00296-9">coping strategy</a> during <a href="https://psychcentral.com/lib/humor-as-weapon-shield-and-psychological-salve">awkward situations</a> – for instance, after someone says <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuRnsrHEQFg">something awkward</a> or to make someone laugh who has <a href="https://www.helpguide.org/articles/relationships-communication/managing-conflicts-with-humor.htm">become upset</a>.</p> <h2>Dad jokes are more than punchlines</h2> <p>So, the next time you hear your father unleash a cringe-worthy dad joke, remember it’s not just about the punchline. It’s about creating connections and lightening the mood.</p> <p>So go ahead, let out that groan, and share a smile with the one who proudly delivers the dad jokes. It’s all part of the fun.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212109/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/shane-rogers-575838"><em>Shane Rogers</em></a><em>, Lecturer in Psychology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/edith-cowan-university-720">Edith Cowan University</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/marc-hye-knudsen-1466723">Marc Hye-Knudsen</a>, Cognition and Behavior Lab, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/aarhus-university-967">Aarhus University</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dad-jokes-may-prepare-your-kids-for-a-lifetime-of-embarrassment-according-to-psychology-212109">original article</a>.</em></p>

Family & Pets

"Where did the time go": Jessica Alba's bittersweet update

<p>Jessica Alba has shared a bittersweet post of her two daughters Honor Marie, 15, and Haven Garner, 12, on their first day back-to-school. </p> <p>The doting mum took to Instagram to share the photos of her two girls with the sweet caption: “10th and 7th -where did the time go… (sigh 💔) my baby girls first day of school!"</p> <p>She also added the hashtags #momlifeisthebestlife #summerisofficiallyover #firstdayofschool.</p> <p>In the first photo, her daughters had their arms wrapped around each other as they posed for their mum in front of their house. </p> <p>In the second photo, the pair were cheesing hard, with their arms still wrapped around each other. Honor rocked a pair of baggy mum jeans, a white tank top and matching sneakers, while Haven had a similar aesthetic with pair black cargo pants, a light blue tank top and black and white sneakers. </p> <p>A few of the star's celebrity friends took to the comments to share their sentiment. </p> <p>"Wherever they went; they went beautifully 😍"<em> Basic Instinct </em>actress Sharon Stone wrote. </p> <p><em>How to Get Away with Murder</em> actress Viola Davies commented a few crying and red heart emojis. </p> <p>American actor and TV host Mario Lopez also commented red heart emojis. </p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CwgvQrgLIn2/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CwgvQrgLIn2/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Jessica Alba (@jessicaalba)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>Fans also took to the comments to express their shock at how quickly time flies. </p> <p>"WHAT THE HECK!! Haven was just a baby!! 😩😩😩" wrote one person. </p> <p>"They are so cute!!!! And so grown up. Time flies!" wrote another. </p> <p>"Awww ❤️ can’t believe how fast time goes!!" commented a third. </p> <p>Alba shares her two daughters and 5-year-old son Hayes with her husband Cash Warren. The couple first met on the set of Fantastic Four in 2004 and tied the knot three years later. </p> <p><em>Images: Instagram</em></p>

Family & Pets

Censorship or sensible: is it bad to listen to Fat Bottomed Girls with your kids?

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/liz-giuffre-105499">Liz Giuffre</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a></em></p> <p>International music press has reported this week that Queen’s song Fat Bottomed Girls <a href="https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/queen-fat-bottomed-girls-greatest-hits-1235396348/">has not been included</a> in a greatest hits compilation aimed at children.</p> <p>While there was no formal justification given, presumably lyrics “fat bottomed” and “big fat fatty” were the problem, and even the very singable hook, “Oh, won’t you take me home tonight”.</p> <p>Predictably, The Daily Mail and similar outlets used it as an excuse to bemoan cancel culture, political correctness and the like, with the headline “<a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12424449/We-woke-Classic-Queen-song-Fat-Bottomed-Girls-mysteriously-dropped-groups-new-Greatest-Hits-collection.html">We Will Woke You</a>” quickly out of the gate.</p> <p>Joke headlines aside, should children be exposed to music with questionable themes or lyrics?</p> <p>The answer is not a hard yes or no. My colleague Shelley Brunt and I studied a range of factors and practices relating to <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Popular-Music-and-Parenting/Brunt-Giuffre/p/book/9780367367138">Popular Music and Parenting</a>, and we found that more important than individual songs or concerts is the support children are given when they’re listening or participating.</p> <p>A parent or caregiver should always be part of a conversation and some sort of relationship when engaging with music. This can involve practical things like making sure developing ears aren’t exposed to too harsh a volume or that they know how to find a trusted adult at a concert. But this also extends to the basics of media and cultural literacy, like what images and stories are being presented in popular music, and how we want to consider those in our own lives.</p> <p>In the same way you’d hope someone would talk to a child to remind them that superheroes can’t actually fly (and subsequently if you’re dressed as a superhero for book week don’t go leaping off tall buildings!), popular music of all types needs to be contextualised.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/VMnjF1O4eH0?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>Should we censor, or change, the way popular music is presented for kids?</h2> <p>There is certainly a long tradition of amending popular songs to make them child or family friendly. On television, this has happened as long as the medium has been around, with some lyrics and dance moves toned down to appease concerned parents and tastemakers about the potential evils of pop.</p> <p>Famously, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oim51kUg748">Elvis Presley serenaded a literal Hound Dog</a> rather than the metaphorical villain of his 1950s hit.</p> <p>In Australia, the local TV version of <a href="https://nostalgiacentral.com/music/music-on-film-and-tv/bandstand-australia/">Bandstand</a> from the 1970s featured local artists singing clean versions of international pop songs while <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guembJBOOyI">wearing modest hems and neck lines</a>.</p> <p>This continued with actual children also re-performing pop music, from the Mickey Mouse Club versions of songs from the US to our own wonderful star factory that was <a href="https://theconversation.com/all-my-loving-young-talent-time-still-glows-50-years-since-first-airing-on-australian-tv-159533">Young Talent Time</a>. The tradition continues today with family-friendly, popular music-based programming like The Voice and The Masked Singer.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oim51kUg748?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <p>In America, there is a huge industry for children’s versions of pop music via the Kidz Bop franchise. Its formula of child performers covering current hits has been wildly successful for over 20 years. Some perhaps obvious substitutions are made – the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkctByJbtNY">cover of Lizzo’s About Damn Time</a> is now “About That Time”, with the opening lyric changed to “Kidz Bop O’Clock” rather than “Bad Bitch O’Clock”.</p> <p>In some other Kidz Bop songs, though, <a href="https://pudding.cool/2020/04/kidz-bop/">references to violence and drugs have been left in</a>.</p> <p>Other longer-standing children’s franchises have also made amendments to pop lyrics, but arguably with a bit more creativity and fun. The Muppets’ cover of Bohemian Rhapsody, replacing the original murder with a rant from Animal, is divine.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/tgbNymZ7vqY?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <h2>Should music ever just be for kids?</h2> <p>Context is key when deciding what is for children or for adults. And hopefully we’re always listening (in some way) together.</p> <p>Caregivers should be able to make an informed decision about whether a particular song is appropriate for their child, however they consider that in terms of context. By the same token, the resurgence of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/apr/05/how-the-wiggles-took-over-the-world-and-got-the-cool-kids-on-side-too">millennial love</a> for The Wiggles has shown us no one should be considered “too old” for Hot Potato or Fruit Salad.</p> <figure><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/quHus3DwN4Q?wmode=transparent&start=0" width="440" height="260" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe></figure> <p>When considering potential harm for younger listeners, factors like <a href="https://kidsafeqld.com.au/risks-noise-exposure-baby/">volume and tone</a> can be more dangerous than whether or not there’s a questionable lyric. Let’s remember, too, lots of “nursery rhymes” aimed at children are also quite violent if you listen to their words closely.</p> <p>French writer Jacques José Attali <a href="https://www.google.com.au/books/edition/Noise/OHe7AAAAIAAJ?hl=en">famously argued</a> the relationship between music, noise and harm is politics and power – even your most beloved song can become just noise if played too loudly or somewhere where you shouldn’t be hearing it.</p> <p>As an academic, parent and fat-bottomed girl myself, my advice is to keep having conversations with the children in your life about what you and they are listening to. Just like reminding your little superhero to only pretend to fly rather than to actually jump – when we sing along to Queen, we remember that using a word like “fat” and even “girl” isn’t how everyone likes to be treated these days.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212093/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/liz-giuffre-105499">Liz Giuffre</a>, Senior Lecturer in Communication, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-technology-sydney-936">University of Technology Sydney</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/censorship-or-sensible-is-it-bad-to-listen-to-fat-bottomed-girls-with-your-kids-212093">original article</a>.</em></p>

Music

"What were their parents thinking?!" Teacher releases list of hilarious student names

<p>In a world where coming up with a standard name seems about as trendy as using a landline phone, parents are unleashing their inner creativity by bestowing upon their offspring names that sound like they were created during a fever dream.</p> <p>We are clearly smack bang in the middle of the era of "Name your child after a random object you find in the pantry" – and teachers are the unsung heroes bravely navigating the choppy waters of these monikers. Specifically, how to spell (and pronounce) them properly.</p> <p>Now, let's not pretend this phenomenon is fresh off the naming press. Celebrities have been gifting their kids with names that could pass as WiFi passwords for donks. It was just a matter of time before the masses caught onto the fad like a catchy tune you can't unhear. But spare a thought for those noble educators who are more baffled than a cat watching a magic trick when confronted with these labels during roll call.</p> <p>Enter one valiant and anonymous teacher, armed with a class register that reads like a cryptic crossword puzzle. She unveiled her list of quirky names on the modern-day town square, aka Facebook, explaining that she merely gave the enrolment list a "blink and you'll miss it" glance. Because let's face it, no one has time to decode this kindergarten code on a Tuesday morning.</p> <p>So, brace yourself, because the highlights of this peculiar parade include names like Jaxen (apparently the 'x' gives it that extra pizzazz) and Aliyah, which sounds like a harmonious collision of Aladdin and Elijah. But the true gems are still to come.</p> <p>Hold onto your hats, for there's a Syakyra in the house! It's pronounced like "Shakira", because why make life easy when you can transform spelling into an extreme sport? Also on the roster of eccentricities are Rhydah, Presillar, Christisarah (which sounds like someone sneezed while naming their child), Anjewel'Lea (because apostrophes are the new vowels), and Biar Biar – quite possibly the sound of someone giving up mid-naming.</p> <p>The list goes on, unveiling Deklyn, Alarna (Is this a name or an exotic spice?), Aaryah (a name that looks like a typo in progress), Maz (likely short for Mazel Tov), Angel-Lee (a tribute to both celestial beings and two first names), and Karleb (a rebel in the world of traditional spelling).</p> <p>Social media users eagerly devoured this buffet of bewildering baby names, chiming in with their own comedic relief. One humorist quipped that some parents should enrol themselves in school, presumably for a crash course in 'Name Your Kid Without Making Them the Butt of Jokes.'</p> <p>Another jester added, "This really is tragic, at least none of them will get bullied because they're all so bad lol." A self-proclaimed comedian jibed, "These parents really aren't thinking it through."</p> <p>Yet amid the chuckles and facepalms, some thought the names were about as wild as a cup of herbal tea. One wise soul pointed out that among the chaos were rather mundane names like Diamond, Aliyah, Jaylene, Porsha, and Aalijah. Apparently, normality is now measured against the Syakyras of the world.</p> <p>Meanwhile, teachers everywhere collectively sighed in sympathy as they remembered their own quirky classroom encounters. One recounted an encounter with a "J'ley" (pronounced like Jaylee), a name that's the linguistic equivalent of a Rubik's Cube.</p> <p>A pupil named Pistol also made an appearance – because what kid doesn't want a name that guarantees zero playground conflicts? And lest we forget, a friend's teacher had the honour of teaching A'Blessyn. It's like the alphabet gipped, and the resulting letters spelled "Bless this child with an unforgettable name."</p> <p>However, the chaos isn't limited to the classroom. It's infiltrated even the most intimate corners of existence. Enter Reddit, where an expectant British dad took to the digital confessional to seek advice on his partner's fantastical name choices for their impending bundle of joy.</p> <p>The British bloke confessed that he'd prefer his offspring not be mistaken for an experimental rocket launch or a motor oil brand. He's opting for classic dignity, imagining a world where his kid doesn't have to explain why their name sounds like a weather forecast for Mercury. Meanwhile, the partner, a visionary in the field of avant-garde nomenclature, has pitched names like Fennix (for the spelling-challenged phoenix), Park (because nature reserves are inspiring, apparently), and Diesel (coming soon to a gas station near you).</p> <p>And so, as teachers practice their tongue-twister warm-ups and parents wage a war of wits over naming rights, we bid adieu to a world where names like John and Sarah were once considered bold.</p> <p>The age of the bewildering baby name is upon us, and the only certainty is that there's a whole generation of kids out there ready to conquer the world with names that defy both pronunciation and reason.</p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Family & Pets

Climb the stairs, lug the shopping, chase the kids. Incidental vigorous activity linked to lower cancer risks

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emmanuel-stamatakis-161783">Emmanuel Stamatakis</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-ahmadi-1241767">Matthew Ahmadi</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a></em></p> <p>Many people know exercise reduces the risk of <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2521826">cancers</a>, including liver, lung, breast and kidney. But structured exercise is time-consuming, requires significant commitment and often financial outlay or travel to a gym. These practicalities can make it infeasible for <a href="https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/42/11/901">most adults</a>.</p> <p>There is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02100-x">very little research</a> on the potential of incidental physical activity for reducing the risk of cancer. Incidental activities can include doing errands on foot, work-related activity or housework as part of daily routines. As such they do not require an extra time commitment, special equipment or any particular practical arrangements.</p> <p>In our <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/fullarticle/2807734">study</a> out today, we explored the health potential of brief bursts of vigorous physical activities embedded into daily life. These could be short power walks to get to the bus or tram stop, stair climbing, carrying heavy shopping, active housework or energetic play with children.</p> <h2>How was the study done?</h2> <p>Our <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/fullarticle/2807734">new study</a> included 22,398 <a href="https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/">UK Biobank</a> participants who had never been diagnosed with cancer before and did not do any structured exercise in their leisure time. Around 55% of participants were female, with an average age of 62. Participants wore wrist activity trackers for a week. Such trackers monitor activity levels continuously and with a high level of detail throughout the day, allowing us to calculate how hard and exactly for how long people in the study were moving.</p> <p>Participants’ activity and other information was then linked to future cancer registrations and other cancer-related health records for the next 6.7 years. This meant we could estimate the overall risk of cancer by different levels of what we call “<a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33108651/">vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity</a>”, the incidental bursts of activity in everyday life. We also analysed separately a group of <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2521826">13 cancer sites in the body</a> with more established links to exercise, such such as breast, lung, liver, and bowel cancers.</p> <p>Our analyses took into account other factors that influence cancer risk, such as age, smoking, diet, and alcohol habits.</p> <h2>What we found out</h2> <p>Even though study participants were not doing any structured exercise, about 94% recorded short bursts of <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33108651/">vigorous activity</a>. Some 92% of all bouts were done in very short bursts lasting up to one minute.</p> <p>A minimum of around 3.5 minutes each day was associated with a 17–18% reduction in total cancer risk compared with not doing any such activity.</p> <p>Half the participants did at least 4.5 minutes a day, associated with a 20–21% reduction in total cancer risk.</p> <p>For cancers such as breast, lung and bowel cancers, which we know are impacted by the amount of exercise people do, the results were stronger and the risk reduction sharper. For example, a minimum of 3.5 minutes per a day of vigorous incidental activity reduced the risk of these cancers by 28–29%. At 4.5 minutes a day, these risks were reduced by 31–32%.</p> <p>For both total cancer and those known to be linked to exercise, the results clearly show the benefits of doing day-to-day activities with gusto that makes you huff and puff.</p> <h2>Our study had its limits</h2> <p>The study is observational, meaning we looked at a group of people and their outcomes retrospectively and did not test new interventions. That means it cannot directly explore cause and effect with certainty.</p> <p>However, we took several statistical measures to minimise the possibility those with the lowest levels of activity were not the unhealthiest, and hence the most likely to get cancer – a phenomenon called “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/computer-science/reverse-causation">reverse causation</a>”.</p> <p>Our study can’t explain the biological mechanisms of how vigorous intensity activity may reduce cancer risk. Previous <a href="https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2017/02000/Brief_Intense_Stair_Climbing_Improves.10.aspx">early-stage trials</a> show this type of activity leads to rapid improvements in heart and lung fitness.</p> <p>And higher fitness is linked to lower <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0002934320300097">insulin resistance</a> and lower <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109704017036">chronic inflammation</a>. High levels of these are risk <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0735109704017036">factors for cancer</a>.</p> <p>There is very little research on incidental physical activity and cancer in general, because most of the scientific evidence on lifestyle health behaviours and cancer is based on questionnaires. This method doesn’t capture short bursts of activity and is very inaccurate for measuring the incidental activities of daily life.</p> <p>So the field of vigorous intensity activity and cancer risk is at its infancy, despite some <a href="https://academic.oup.com/eurheartj/article/43/46/4801/6771381">very promising</a> recent findings that vigorous activity in short bouts across the week could cut health risks. In another recent study of ours, we found benefits from daily <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02100-x%22%22">vigorous intermittent lifestyle activity</a> on the risk of death overall and death from cancer or cardiovascular causes.</p> <h2>In a nutshell: get moving in your daily routine</h2> <p>Our study found 3 to 4 minutes of vigorous incidental activity each day is linked with decreased cancer risk. This is a very small amount of activity compared to <a href="https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/54/24/1451">current recommendations</a> of 150–300 minutes of moderate intensity or 75–150 minutes of vigorous intensity activity a week.</p> <p>Vigorous incidental physical activity is a promising avenue for cancer prevention among people unable or unmotivated to exercise in their leisure time.</p> <p>Our study also highlights the potential of technology. These results are just a glimpse how wearables combined with machine learning – which our study used to identify brief bursts of vigorous activity – can reveal health benefits of unexplored aspects of our lives. The future potential impact of such technologies to prevent cancer and possibly a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-02100-x">host of other</a> conditions could be very large.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210288/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/emmanuel-stamatakis-161783"><em>Emmanuel Stamatakis</em></a><em>, Professor of Physical Activity, Lifestyle, and Population Health, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/matthew-ahmadi-1241767">Matthew Ahmadi</a>, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-sydney-841">University of Sydney</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/climb-the-stairs-lug-the-shopping-chase-the-kids-incidental-vigorous-activity-linked-to-lower-cancer-risks-210288">original article</a>.</em></p>

Body

Man proposes to high school sweetheart after rekindling their romance

<p dir="ltr">Over 60 years ago, Thomas and Nancy met when they were in high school and fell in love. </p> <p dir="ltr">Despite their feelings for each other, their romance didn’t last and they fell out of touch as life moved on. </p> <p dir="ltr">Sixty years on, Thomas and Nancy rekindled their relationship and spent three weeks having phone conversations to discover their affection for each other never died. </p> <p dir="ltr">Nancy then decided to fly to Thomas’ home state of Florida for an emotional reunion, and was shocked by the surprise she arrived at. </p> <p dir="ltr">Walking off the plane in the city of Tampa, Nancy was greeted by Thomas on one knee, delivering an emotional speech about how much he loves her, before he asked her to marry him. </p> <p dir="ltr">The heart-felt moment, captured by a fellow traveller and posted to TikTok, shows Thomas dressed up in a suit, waiting nervously for Nancy to arrive with a big smile on his face.</p> <p dir="ltr">Upon seeing her, he handed her a bouquet of roses and gave her a tender kiss before he pulled out his ring and started professing his love. </p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuQIG3Mr0GA/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/CuQIG3Mr0GA/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by PerezHilton.com (@perezhilton)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“My dear Nancy, it's been 60 years since we first met, 56 years since we first dated, 10 years since I last saw you, and 20 days since we began this,” he said, his voice shaky with emotion. </p> <p dir="ltr">“You have always been the one I've had a crush on, since your cheerleader days.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“It brings a smile to my face, it makes my heart skip a beat [to see you]. For the last three weeks, I have thought of you every day, every hour and have talked to you every night for hours.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“I have longed to see you again, hold you in my arms, and tell you how much you mean to me.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“So Nancy, I come to you humbly today, June 30, with a proposal. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and cherish every moment we will have together.” </p> <p dir="ltr">“I love you more than words can express, more than you can ever comprehend. I want to spend the rest of my life proving that to you and making you the happiest woman in the world.”</p> <p dir="ltr">“Will you Nancy, give me the honour of being my soulmate in life? My partner in every sense of the word, my beloved wife forever? Will you marry me?”</p> <p dir="ltr">Nancy, who had started to cry while Thomas was talking, quickly said yes to the proposal, which resulted in Thomas cheering and a group of strangers who had stopped to watch clapping for the couple before they embraced in a big hug. </p> <p dir="ltr">The TikTok creator also shared a snap of Thomas and Nancy posing together while holding up a sign that read, “She said yes!”</p> <p dir="ltr">The video has gained millions of views, and it sparked a slew of comments from people who said they were “sobbing” over Nancy and Thomas' love story.</p> <p dir="ltr">“They were meant to be, nor time or distance tore them apart,” one person wrote.</p> <p dir="ltr">Another said, “When two souls are meant to be, they will find each other.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image credits: TikTok</em></p>

Relationships

How do I tell my kids we are currently short on money – without freaking them out?

<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rachael-sharman-96073">Rachael Sharman</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-sunshine-coast-1068">University of the Sunshine Coast</a></em></p> <p>I was a teenager during Australia’s 1990s “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/nov/17/remembering-the-recession-the-1990s-experience-changed-my-view-of-the-world">recession we had to have</a>”, and remember clearly a friend asking his dad for some money to go to the movies.</p> <p>With equal parts frustration and resignation, the dad explained he’d been retrenched and wasn’t certain employment was on the horizon in his near future. So he really didn’t have any spare money for cinema tickets.</p> <p>Rather than being scary or upsetting, as rather clueless teenagers this felt like something of a lightbulb moment.</p> <p>Many kids learn about their parents financial difficulties this way. Something they’ve always been able to have is suddenly denied them. The penny drops.</p> <p>But it’s not easy talking to your kids about the cost-of-living crunch. Many fear worrying their kids or leaving them with a lifelong “scarcity mindset”, where a person is forever cursed with a feeling spending money is always wrong.</p> <p>So how can parents communicate the financial realities to their children? And how might the messaging be different with younger kids versus teens?</p> <h2>For younger kids, keep things calm and simple</h2> <p>Most primary-aged children are oblivious to macro conditions outside their home and immediate community. They haven’t yet developed the ability to put sudden changes into perspective.</p> <p>The key here is not to have your own anxieties rub off on your kids.</p> <p>Children this age look to their parents as beacons of information and will very much <a href="https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2794157">mirror</a> any fear or anxiety you express. They may even blow things out of proportion.</p> <p>Keeping things calm and simple is key.</p> <p>Provide a basic explanation that things cost money, and you don’t have as much money as normal right now, so as a family there are certain things you just can’t afford.</p> <p>Very young children can be relentlessly narcissistic in their outlook – this is developmentally normal.</p> <p>They might even demand you work more or harder so they can afford their desired items and activities. The best you can do is laugh it off and offer to try – but explain that for now, the kids will have to come up with something else to do.</p> <p>Consider a plan to substitute their previous activities with free ones. For example, explain they can’t play their usual sport this season, but you are going to head to the local park every week to kick the ball around and have a picnic instead.</p> <h2>Ask teens for their opinions and ideas</h2> <p>Depending on their intrinsic interest in the news and understanding of maths, finance and economics, a sudden and unexpected drop in finances may also come as a shock to teenagers.</p> <p>But at around 12 years of age, children undergo somewhat of an explosion in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621648/">frontal lobe function</a>. Their capacity to comprehend and process even complex information increases quite markedly.</p> <p>So teens may not only understand your current situation, but be able to help out.</p> <p>Giving teens a “role” to play in assisting the family builds a sense of competence and offers a team-based problem-solving approach to the emotional concerns they may be feeling. In other words, they’ll feel less powerless.</p> <p>This approach is underpinned by what psychologists and researchers call “<a href="https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/theory/">self-determination theory</a>”.</p> <p>This well-studied concept posits that most humans have an innate need to:</p> <ul> <li> <p>experience and demonstrate autonomy (making your own choices, acting on your own volition)</p> </li> <li> <p>competence (feeling like you’re good at something, have achieved something worthwhile)</p> </li> <li> <p>relatedness (working well with others, especially people important to you).</p> </li> </ul> <p>So working as a team towards a common goal is a great way for a family to pull together and help each others’ mental wellbeing.</p> <p>Discuss with your teens what activities, events and items might need to go on the backburner or be discontinued.</p> <p>And don’t forget, teens have a very well-honed hypocrisy radar – there’s no point suggesting they cut back on recreational activities, for example, if you are not willing to do the same.</p> <p>Use this as an opportunity to discuss the difference between “wants” and “needs” and ask them to sort family spending into those categories. Discuss points of disagreement calmly.</p> <p>Ask your teens to brainstorm ways to improve your financial efficiency – and help you in doing so. They might enjoy coming up with ideas such as grocery shopping with a strict meal plan in cheaper stores, looking for specials, riding or walking to school where possible, getting a part time job or helping out with childcare.</p> <p>Rather than fixating on what we have to go without, work with your teenagers to come up with proactive ideas on what you can do differently. Frame it as working together to achieve the same aim.</p> <p>Teach your kids there can be challenges in life, but how you go about managing them is the key. This will help them develop into resilient adults.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208008/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/rachael-sharman-96073">Rachael Sharman</a>, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/university-of-the-sunshine-coast-1068">University of the Sunshine Coast</a></em></p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-i-tell-my-kids-we-are-currently-short-on-money-without-freaking-them-out-208008">original article</a>.</em></p>

Money & Banking

Ready-made foods you should avoid at all costs

<h2>Pasta dishes</h2> <p>Those ready-made spaghetti Bolognese and creamy pasta dishes are comfort foods at their finest, but they’re not the best for your body. Skip the frozen dishes, which tend to be loaded with sodium and fat, and throw your own healthy pasta recipe together, suggests paediatric dietitian Jodi Greebel. Not only is boiling pasta quick and easy, but you also have more control over what goes into the sauce and sides. Load yours up with nutritious veggies and throw in a tin of lentils for a healthier twist on your guilty-pleasure pasta.</p> <h2>Kids’ meals</h2> <p>Parenting is a 24/7 job, and if you cook separate meals for your little ones, sometimes you lack the energy and time. It’s tempting to pop a frozen kids’ meal in the oven and serve dinner 20 minutes later, but that meal probably isn’t something you really want in your child’s belly. “Some meals have more than half the amount of fat a child needs for the whole day,” says Greebel. With just a teensy bit more effort, you can dish up something you can feel confident feeding your child. For standby freezer aisle meals, Greebel recommends baked chicken nuggets with frozen veggies, but fresh food can be just as easy. Pick up a rotisserie chicken to serve with two vegetables – food that will feed not just your children but the adults in the house too. Any leftovers use in tacos for tomorrow night’s meal.</p> <h2>Low-protein veggie burgers</h2> <p>Skipping the traditional cheeseburger for a meatless option can be better for your belly and the planet, but there’s a catch. A lot of people look at all plant-based burgers as healthy protein substitutes, but some are much higher in carbohydrates and fat than protein, says nutrition program creator Ilana Muhlstein. “Protein is important for keeping us full and preventing overeating.” Leave it on the shelf if the nutrition facts say just five grams of protein, and hunt down another veggie patty with ten grams or more, she suggests.</p> <h2>Frozen stir-fries</h2> <p>Frozen meals like stir-fries are loaded with sodium, thanks in part to the sauces they come in. Luckily, a healthier version is just as easy and freezer-friendly. Buy a pack of plain frozen veggies – some stores even sell stir-fry vegetables without the sauce – and throw them in your wok or frying pan with chicken or beef, suggests Greebel. Use just a bit of low-sodium soy or teriyaki sauce to keep the salt to a minimum.</p> <h2>Fried foods</h2> <p>So, how bad are fried foods? Chips and other frozen fried food is tasty, but it shouldn’t be a part of your regular diet. Loaded with sodium and saturated fats, it could increase your risk of heart disease and obesity. Keep some healthier snack options on hand so you’re not tempted by the fried stuff. Throw together a pita pizza instead of frozen pizza, or make chicken tacos.</p> <h2>Two-serving meals</h2> <p>When you’re looking for a quick and healthy single-serving dinner, buyer beware: some frozen foods look reasonable in calories, fat, and sodium at first glance, but they’re actually two servings disguised as one. Double-check the portion size before you dig in to make sure you’re not biting off more than you’d want to chew. Swap the poser out for a single-serving meal, or set half aside for leftovers.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></p> <p><em>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://www.readersdigest.co.nz/kitchen-tips/ready-made-foods-you-should-avoid-at-all-costs" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Reader's Digest</a>. </em></p>

Food & Wine

5 reasons kids still need to learn handwriting (no, AI has not made it redundant)

<p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lucinda-mcknight-324350">Lucinda McKnight</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a></em> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/maria-nicholas-1443112">Maria Nicholas</a>, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a></em></p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">The world of writing is changing.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Things have moved very quickly from keyboards and predictive text. The rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI) means <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-an-ai-world-we-need-to-teach-students-how-to-work-with-robot-writers-157508">bots can now write human-quality text</a> without having hands at all.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Recent improvements in speech-to-text software mean even human “writers” do not need to touch a keyboard, let alone a pen. And with help from AI, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/01/ai-makes-non-invasive-mind-reading-possible-by-turning-thoughts-into-text">text can even be generated by decoders</a> that read brain activity through non-invasive scanning.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Writers of the future will be talkers and thinkers, without having to lift a finger. The word “writer” may come to mean something very different, as people compose text in multiple ways in an increasingly digital world. So do humans still need to learn to write by hand?</p> <h2>Handwriting is still part of the curriculum</h2> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">The pandemic shifted a lot of schooling online and some major tests, <a href="https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/understanding-online-assessment">such as NAPLAN</a> are now done on computers. There are also <a href="https://theconversation.com/teaching-cursive-handwriting-is-an-outdated-waste-of-time-35368">calls</a> for cursive handwriting to be phased out in high school.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">However, learning to handwrite is still a key component of the literacy curriculum in primary school.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Parents may be wondering whether the time-consuming and challenging process of learning to handwrite is worth the trouble. Perhaps the effort spent learning to form letters would be better spent on coding?</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Many students with disability, after all, already learn to write with <a href="https://www.understood.org/en/articles/assistive-technology-for-writing">assistive technologies</a>.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">But there are are a number of important reasons why handwriting will still be taught – and still needs to be taught – in schools.</p> <figure class="align-center " style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530220/original/file-20230606-17-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530220/original/file-20230606-17-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530220/original/file-20230606-17-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530220/original/file-20230606-17-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530220/original/file-20230606-17-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530220/original/file-20230606-17-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530220/original/file-20230606-17-7sme40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="A child writes in an exercise book." /><figcaption><span class="caption">Technology changes mean we can ‘write’ without lifting a pen.</span> <span class="attribution">Shutterstock.</span></figcaption></figure> <h2>1. Fine motor skills</h2> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Handwriting develops critical fine motor skills and the coordination needed to control precise movements. These movements are required <a href="https://www.understood.org/en/articles/all-about-fine-motor-skills">to conduct everyday</a> school and work-related activities.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">The refinement of these motor skills also leads to handwriting becoming increasingly legible and fluent.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">We don’t know where technology will take us, but it may take us back to the past.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Handwriting may be more important than ever if <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jan/10/universities-to-return-to-pen-and-paper-exams-after-students-caught-using-ai-to-write-essays">tests and exams return to being handwritten</a> to stop students using generative AI to cheat.</p> <h2>2. It helps you remember</h2> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Handwriting has important cognitive benefits, <a href="https://www.kidsnews.com.au/technology/experts-say-pens-and-pencils-rather-than-keyboards-rule-at-school/news-story/abb4607b612c0c4f79b214c54590ca92">including for memory</a>.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Research suggests traditional pen-and-paper notes are <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/154193120905302218?journalCode=proe">remembered better</a>, due to the greater complexity of the handwriting process.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">And learning to read and handwrite are <a href="https://www.aare.edu.au/blog/?p=5296">intimately linked</a>. Students become better readers though practising writing.</p> <h2>3. It’s good for wellbeing</h2> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Handwriting, and related activities such as drawing, are tactile, creative and reflective sources of pleasure and <a href="https://theconversation.com/writing-can-improve-mental-health-heres-how-162205">wellness</a> for writers of all ages.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">This is seen in the popularity of practices such as print <a href="https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentID=4552&ContentTypeID=1">journalling</a> and calligraphy. There are many online communities where writers share gorgeous examples of handwriting.</p> <figure class="align-center " style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530253/original/file-20230606-29-eb7vk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530253/original/file-20230606-29-eb7vk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530253/original/file-20230606-29-eb7vk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530253/original/file-20230606-29-eb7vk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530253/original/file-20230606-29-eb7vk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530253/original/file-20230606-29-eb7vk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530253/original/file-20230606-29-eb7vk3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" alt="A book with a calligraphy alphabet." /><figcaption><span class="caption">Caligraphers focus on making beautiful, design-oriented writing.</span> <span class="attribution">Samir Bouaked/Unsplash</span></figcaption></figure> <h2>4. It’s very accessible</h2> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Handwriting does not need electricity, devices, batteries, software, subscriptions, a fast internet connection, a keyboard, charging time or the many other things on which digital writing depends.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">It only needs pen and paper. And can be done anywhere.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Sometimes handwriting is the easiest and best option. For example, when writing a birthday card, filling in printed forms, or writing a quick note.</p> <h2>5. It’s about thinking</h2> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Most importantly, learning to write and learning to think are intimately connected. Ideas are <a href="https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/ces/research/teachingandlearning/resactivities/subjects/literacy/handwriting/outputs/cambridge_article.pdf">formed as students write</a>. They are developed and organised as they are composed. Thinking is too important to be outsourced to bots!</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Teaching writing is about giving students a toolkit of multiple writing strategies to empower them to fulfil their potential as thoughtful, creative and capable communicators.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Handwriting will remain an important component of this toolkit for the foreseeable future, despite the astonishing advances made with generative AI.</p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;">Writing perfect cursive may become less important in the future. But students will still need to be able to write legibly and fluently in their education and in their broader lives.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206939/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /></p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/lucinda-mcknight-324350">Lucinda McKnight</a>, Senior Lecturer in Pedagogy and Curriculum, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a></em> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/maria-nicholas-1443112">Maria Nicholas</a>, Senior Lecturer in Language and Literacy Education, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/deakin-university-757">Deakin University</a></em></p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><em>This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/5-reasons-kids-still-need-to-learn-handwriting-no-ai-has-not-made-it-redundant-206939">original article</a>.</em></p> <p style="font-size: medium; font-weight: 400;"><em>Images: Getty</em></p>

Caring

Backlash to new kids clothing line sees Target lose billions

<p dir="ltr">Target has lost billions in market valuation as its Pride-themed kids line continues to face backlash.</p> <p dir="ltr">Target shares were trading at $160.96 (A$246.18) a share, which means their market valuation was roughly around $74.3 billion (A$113 billion)</p> <p dir="ltr">The Minneapolis-based retailer’s stock value dropped drastically following the calls to boycott their “PRIDE” collection, at just $138.93 (A$212) a share as of Friday, which is a 14 per cent drop in value to around $64.2 billion (A$98 billion) , according to The New York Times.</p> <p dir="ltr">This roughly translates to a $10.1 billion (A$15 billion) loss in valuation.</p> <p dir="ltr">The plummet is the retailer's lowest stock price in nearly three years, and the last time any company’s stock plummeted this intensely was in 2022 after the stocks equalised during the pandemic.</p> <p dir="ltr">Target has since moved its Pride section away from the front of the store in some Southern states, following displays being knocked over by protesters, who also confronted the workers.</p> <p dir="ltr">They also said they would remove items from the collection but didn’t specify which ones.</p> <p dir="ltr">Some of the clothes receiving backlash were the rainbow-themed children’s clothing, and a “tuck-friendly” swimsuit for trans women, who have not yet had their gender-affirming surgeries, to conceal their genitalia.</p> <p dir="ltr">Target CEO Brian Cornell has defended the LBGTQ-friendly clothing line and has said that selling them was “the right thing for society.”</p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Getty</em></p>

Money & Banking

“They snack-shamed my three year old”: Mum fires up on school note

<p>An American mother has taken to social media to share her Pringle problem with the world. </p> <p>As Megan Peavey explained in her TikTok video, she’d sent her three-year-old son to school with some chips in his lunchbox to enjoy when snacktime rolled around. </p> <p>However, the staff at the school weren’t exactly of the opinion that Pringles were the right choice, going so far as to suggest Megan had purposefully done the wrong thing and given her child something ‘unhealthy’. </p> <p>“Look at what happened to me today,” she said in the now-private clip. “I sent my son to school with Pringles, which is a very age appropriate snack for a three year old.” </p> <p>She went on to explain that the school had responded by sending the boy home with his empty chip container, the line “please help us make healthy choices at school” written across it in bold black marker. </p> <p>“They wrote that on his Pringles cup,” she said, “they snack shamed my three year old, they snack shamed me, by writing that passive-aggressively on his trash.</p> <p>After asking viewers what they might do in that situation, she described how she got in touch with the school, calling them out on what they’d done, and they “did not label things as healthy and unhealthy” in their house “because that starts eating disorders”.</p> <p>“Do you think that’s ridiculous?” came her final question. “Because I f***ing do.” </p> <p>Megan later shared an update on the entire situation, outlining how she had spoken to the school’s director, and was told “it was passive-aggressive of me to keep sending Pringles after the note”. </p> <p>But, as she pointed out, she didn’t believe Pringles to be an ‘unhealthy’ snack like they did.</p> <p>“I consider things like Doritos, Cheetos, and Milky Way bars to be unhealthy,” she noted, before adding that she regularly sends her son to school with the likes of granola bars with his other snacks, and that she just would have appreciated the school speaking to her directly without leaping to the note. </p> <p>Megan stood her ground and didn’t apologise to the educators, before she “walked downstairs and I just checked my son out - we’re done there.”</p> <p>Her comments were flooded by fellow parents who were more than eager to back her up, with many noting that they may not have handled it so well themselves - one even wrote that she’d have sent her child with an entire tub and a handwritten “no thank you” the next day. </p> <p>“I cannot even explain how out of line and wild this seems to me - on the school's part," another said.</p> <p>“On his birthday…send pringles for EVERY kid in the class,” someone suggested.</p> <p>And one pre-k teacher even came forward to share her take, noting “never would I ever tell a family to 'make healthy choices'. My girls get a bag of chips with their sandwiches, along with fresh fruit."</p> <p><em>Images: TikTok</em></p>

Family & Pets

Readers respond: What did someone do on a plane that made you say "You've gotta be kidding me"?

<p>We've all encountered our fair share of difficult fellow passengers when travelling, but these people took it to the next level. </p> <p>We asked our readers what the worst thing a fellow plane passenger has done, and here's what they said. </p> <p><strong>Carolyn Korlaki</strong> - It seems that every time I get on a flight the person in front of me puts their seat right back. Makes it very hard to read, eat, watch a movie, very annoying.....</p> <p><strong>Jan Ceeney</strong> - Person next to me in the window seat pulled the shade down for the whole trip. I couldn’t see anything. My first plane trip! Very disappointing.</p> <p><strong>Sue Robson</strong> - Recently flew with hubby to Asia. Me window seat, hubby middle and gentleman on end. The guy proceeded to to eat egg sandwiches he brought with him then spent the entire flight farting. It was horrendously bad.</p> <p><strong>Jennifer Pearce</strong> - Parents putting their children in seats behind there's then going to sleep and leaving their frightened child coughing and crying all night. Parents should split up and sit with their own children on 13 hour flights.</p> <p><strong>Joy Bollmeyer</strong> - A huge over weight man shirt undone then unzipped his trousers, adjusted himself then sat down with everything still undone!</p> <p><strong>Kathleen Black</strong> - Flight from Sydney to Doha a child kicked the back of my chair the whole way…..I couldn’t contain myself so I had something to say. And that was in business class!</p> <p><strong>Pip Minikin</strong> - Got her nail polish out and painted her nails.</p> <p><strong>Denis Davis</strong> - Passenger beside me talking on the phone while taking off.</p> <p><strong>Michael Baker</strong> - Gave me Covid. </p> <p><strong>Jo Bolland</strong> - Sitting next to a Korean couple, he put his head on her lap and she popped his pimples. He hawked and spat and helped himself to anything he fancied from her tray.</p> <p><strong>Dot Turner</strong> - I usually had the same kicking of seats on flight, not from children, but from adults who are arrogant and should know better. </p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images </em></p>

Travel Trouble

Outrage halts New Zealand cat-killing contest

<p>A contest planned for children in New Zealand to hunt and kill feral cats in an attempt to protect native species has been stopped following severe backlash from the public and animal rights groups.</p> <p>The event would have been part of a fundraiser organised by the North Canterbury Hunting Competition for the Rotherham School in the Canterbury region of South Island.</p> <p>A new junior category was announced by organisers on April 16 that would allow children to hunt feral cats and compete for a top prize of $NZ250 prize ($229AUD).</p> <p>The announcement sparked public outrage leading organisers to cancel the event the very next day, April 17.</p> <p>A statement released by organisers explained, "vile and inappropriate emails and messages had been sent to the school and others involved.”</p> <p>"We are incredibly disappointed in this reaction and would like to clarify that this competition is an independent community run event," the statement continued.</p> <p>Feral cats have long been an issue between animal lovers and authorities because of the potential threat they pose to other wild animals.</p> <p>Authorities say that in Australia, feral cats threaten the survival of more than 100 native species.</p> <p>Feral cats are responsible for killing millions of birds, frogs, mammals and reptiles every day, compelling authorities to arrange regular culls.</p> <p>Organisers of the contest maintained that the junior hunting tournament to kill feral cats, using a firearm or any other means, was about "protecting native birds and other vulnerable species”.</p> <p>"Our sponsors and school safety are our main priority, so the decision has been made to withdraw this category for this year to avoid further backlash at this time," it said.</p> <p>"To clarify, for all hunting categories, our hunters are required to abide by Firearms Act 1983 and future amendments as well as the Animal Welfare Act 1999.”</p> <p>Organisers had announced rules to discourage young participants from killing pets.</p> <p>Any child who brought in a microchip cat would have been disqualified, they said.</p> <p>The group mentioned that previously scheduled hunts for other categories like local pigs and deer would still go ahead.</p> <p>The New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said it was "both pleased and relieved" that the junior cat-killing contest had been axed.</p> <p>"Children, as well as adults, will not be able to tell the difference between a feral, stray or a frightened domesticated cat,” it said.</p> <p>"There is a good chance someone's pet may be killed during this event. In addition, children often use air rifles in these sorts of event which increase the likelihood of pain and distress and can cause a prolonged death," it added.</p> <p>Animal rights group PETA was pleased to see the contest had been withdrawn.</p> <p>PETA’s Asia vice president Jason Barker released a statement, saying, ”Encouraging kids to hunt down and kill animals is a sure-fire way to raise adults who solve problems with violence ... We need to foster empathy and compassion in kids, not lead them to believe animals are 'less than' humans while rewarding them for brutality.”</p> <p>The contest was publicly slammed on Twitter by British comedian Ricky Gervais, who is a known animal lover with an enormous platform of 15 million followers.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">“Right. We need some new PR ideas to make the world love New Zealand. Maybe something involving kids & kittens. Yes, Hargreaves?” <a href="https://t.co/E3nPTl1IHj">https://t.co/E3nPTl1IHj</a></p> <p>— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) <a href="https://twitter.com/rickygervais/status/1648732952224833536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 19, 2023</a></p></blockquote> <p>"Right. We need some new PR ideas to make the world love New Zealand," he wrote.</p> <p>"Maybe something involving kids & kittens. Yes, Hargreaves?”</p> <p>This is not the first official campaign against cats in New Zealand, including one that encouraged cat lovers to avoid replacing their pets when they die.</p> <p>"Cats are the only true sadists of the animal world, serial killers who torture without mercy,” said then Prime Minister John Key, who had his own cat named Moonbeam.</p> <p>Helen Blackie, a biosecurity consultant at the environmental planning and design consultancy, Boffa Miskell, has studied feral cats for over 20 years and said that numbers had risen in the last decade, and in some areas where pests were tracked by cameras, feral cats outnumbered other species like possums.</p> <p>"Historically, we know that feral cats were responsible for the extinction of six bird species and are leading agents of decline in populations of birds, bats, frogs and lizards," she told CNN affiliate RNZ.</p> <p><em>Image credit: Shutterstock</em></p>

Family & Pets

“Misguided”: Schools replacing Mother’s Day in inclusivity bid ruffle feathers

<p dir="ltr">Attempts by schools to be more inclusive this Mother’s Day by celebrating “Parent’s” or “Family Day” has ruffled some parents’ feathers, with some critics arguing it was more about “eliminating mums” than involving diverse families.</p> <p dir="ltr">Montessori School - an inner Sydney school which covers preschool and primary - will be celebrating Mother’s Day with a “Parent’s and Carer’s” morning tea instead, as reported by <em><a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/fury-over-schools-banning-mothers-day/video/df83423e904e8752e42e2bb17b9f281d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Telegraph</a></em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">Meanwhile, Stanmore Kindy have switched to a “Parent’s Day” for “inclusive reasons”, with another “up-market” preschool in Sydney’s eastern suburbs also following suit.</p> <p dir="ltr">According to <em>The Telegraph</em>, the latter school sent a letter home to families last week to advise them that they had “decided to change the name of our annual Mother’s Day breakfast to a Family Day Breakfast”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“This will allow all families to be included,” the letter read.</p> <p dir="ltr">On NSW’s Mid North Coast, Bellingen Public School has also followed the trend, with the local Parents and Citizens’ Association running a stall for “Mother’s and Parent’s Day” with the aim of making the wording as inclusive as possible.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We are hoping to have some gifts on the stall that will also suit dads who are doing both jobs,” the organisers told parents.</p> <p dir="ltr">“So keep that in mind too when considering gift donation ideas.”</p> <p dir="ltr">It comes after official advice for Mother’s and Father’s Day was issued by early childhood advocacy group Early Childhood Australia in April, offering a guide for including “diverse” families on both occasions.</p> <p dir="ltr">“We know Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are important days to celebrate, but they can be tricky for children from diverse families,” the advice read.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Mother’s Day and Father’s Day present some challenges for families that don’t have a mum and dad.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The advice suggested that educators give children the option to make a gift for a “special adult” that isn’t necessarily their mum or dad to “avoid gender stereotypes in children’s crafts”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Steer away from cards with flowers for mum or ties for dad,” it added.</p> <p dir="ltr">However, Women’s Forum Australia chief executive Rachael Wong told <em>The Telegraph</em> that “Parent’s Day” could be just as insensitive as “Mother’s Day”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Perhaps the change has been made in a bid to be sensitive to those whose mothers are no longer around for various reasons, but what about those who no longer have any parents?” she asked.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Wouldn’t Parent’s Day also be insensitive? Given attempts to abolish terms like ‘mother’, ‘women’ and other female-related terms from the public discourse, it is reasonable to suspect that this is yet another attempt to erase women in a misguided attempt to be ‘inclusive’.”</p> <p dir="ltr">The mother of one child who missed out on a Mother’s Day event agreed, saying she thought the name change was “part of a wider trend of eliminating mums, which is upsetting”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“It’s nonsensical because same-sex female couples can celebrate Mother’s Day and same-sex male couples can celebrate Father’s Day,” she said.</p> <p dir="ltr">“A sensitive approach for children who don’t have mums is to have a ‘Mother’s and Special Friends Day’.”</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-c901077a-7fff-d3d6-ff60-3b6940d45252"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

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Bruce Springsteen helps a fan skip school for his concert

"First day of school": Charles Spencer shares unseen snap of Diana

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The debate: Should kids over 18 pay rent if they’re still living at home?

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Kids dressing up as older people is harmless fun, right? No, it’s ageist, whatever Bluey says

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Backlash to new kids clothing line sees Target lose billions

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Readers respond: What did someone do on a plane that made you say "You've gotta be kidding me"?

Outrage halts New Zealand cat-killing contest

“Misguided”: Schools replacing Mother’s Day in inclusivity bid ruffle feathers

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