Blogs: Kiwi Families Guest Blogs

It’s easy for us to forget that events in our (fairly recent) past – things that we were involved in or might be able to remember – count as “history” for our children. The 1960s, 70s and 80s – the Springbok tour, the Erebus disaster, the Rainbow Warrior – all history.

It’s also easy to take our own knowledge for granted and forget that our children might not know these things. In fact it’s often by talking to us that they start to gain a knowledge of our world, our country and our history.

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In New Zealand, most children are fully immunised by the time they are five. This means it is very unusual to see children with illnesses like measles, polio, or tetanus.

But you don’t have to look back very far in history to find a time when it was a different story. In our grandparents’ time, before universal immunisation, it was common to have children in hospital with diseases that caused terrible suffering, permanent disability and sometimes death.

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Baby boomers had Superman and Batman; kids today have Spiderman and Harry Potter, fictional characters who have been inspiring children through comics and film for years.  And they were inspiring because they came from a broken family.  The kids who transformed their lives from abandoned to amazing.  The kids who wanted to change their circumstances, make the world a better place, make others feel safe, loved, protected – all the things that they had missed in their childhood… Continue reading »

Kids are often itching to get out and about in the school holidays, and sometimes they have a list of places they would like to go before the school term even ends.  These sorts of places can produce some great memories and add a lot of photos to the family album… but can also be a drain on parents’ wallets. Continue reading »

A new rule increasing the age of mandatory child restraint use is a positive step in the safety of kiwi kids, says Kelly Good, car safety technician based in Central Otago.

This new law will raise the age of children that are required to be in an appropriate car restraint up to the age of seven.  Those aged between seven and eight must use one if it is available.

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While we’ve long known about the health properties contained in omega-3s – which can help remedy an exhaustive list of conditions, from improving blood circulation and balancing mood, to reducing arthritic inflammation and protecting against heart disease – a recent study undertaken right here in New Zealand has revealed further evidence to support the use of omega-3 fatty acids in growing a healthy family. Continue reading »

Having trouble with your hair? As a certified trichologist  (a hair and scalp specialist ) Nigel Russell is an expert at knowing what’s causing our hair problems.  Continue reading »

Almost every day parents write to FamilyLab and say: “My children never listen to what I say!” What they sometimes mean is that the children do not obey them or do not follow their instructions. Perhaps they might also be saying that they feel they are not being heard or listened to. Experience tells us that the reason for this always is the same: What parents say is hardly worth listening to. Continue reading »

Imagine this. Put a child on a moving mat suspended a metre off the ground. The mat’s job is to throw the child in the air. Surround it with rows of metal springs with gaps between them, then put a metal frame around that. The child now has is to keep balance and stay on. Continue reading »

More than 40,000 Kiwis need donated blood to help save their life each year – an even more powerful statistic when we consider the likelihood of knowing one of these people. They may be a workmate, friend or even a member of your family…. Continue reading »