Blog

By E K Wills Unusual times call for a new approach to schooling. During the lockdown, we are not officially obliged to keep our kids at home if we are essential workers, but many are deciding to keep kids out of school where they can. (Please, teachers, be kind to those parents who do not have an option to do so if kids are too young to stay home alone: just as others need to consider you are also at the forefront of this crisis.) If your children are old enough to stay h

By EK Wills I don't practice a particular religion but I have a strong sense of family, which I tend to feed especially in holiday periods: Easter is no exception. As our nuclear family grows, we’ve developed a few ways to join with our various extended families, including other communities such as friends, schools and colleagues. Below is a list of child friendly activities we enjoy at Easter time. Perhaps you have done one or some of these or can add them to your activities

By EK Wills Bula everyone! This Milestone Birthday Bash is our version of Fiji! As many of you know, this party was meant to be in Fiji but as adventures go, plans change and we brought our version of Fiji to us to create a Tiki Cocktail Party! Now I’d like to take you on a trip through my time travel adventure over the years. As early as 4yo, I was introduced to travelling when our nuclear family, as it was then, took an extended trip to Europe. We lived in a Bedford van for

By EK Wills Call me controversial but I feel that the current climate of fundraising is set up to generate competition at our expense. Raising money for a cause is done with the best of intentions by all different members of our community for all sorts of reasons. This week I had the opportunity to be involved with two such events, one for a tragedy and one for hope. logo for funding site Social media is the perfect medium to facilitate fundraising because it can spread quick

By EK Wills out with pram and muslin wrap Has anyone ever come up to you in the street or the supermarket and told you what you should be doing with your baby? This seems to be a regular occurrence. Many new mums report that unsolicited advice is offered by strangers telling them all sorts of ways to be a better carer. I remember struggling with the shopping and standing in a queue with the pram and being told by a random shopper that I would suffocate my child because I had

By EK Wills the one year all three were at the same school As this year takes off, there are changes in kids’ lives, and our own, that require us to re-adjust. It could be a child starting school, moving into high school, or even senior years of high school. All these phases present new challenges for the whole family, not just the child moving on to the next stage of development. And when there are siblings, there are different stages which present cohesion challenges for ev

By EK Wills canoes in Sydney harbour Last weekend we attended our son’s scout Christmas party at the beach. Unusual you might say, but this was the sea scouts and it is water based. We recently moved close to the water but hadn’t had the opportunity to engage in water activities till that day: life has a way of distracting you with work, setting up house and preparing for Christmas. This was the first chance we had to force ourselves to stop and enjoy what we had moved there

By E K Wills Holiday time is when you let your guard down and let the kids have some fun. This is particularly true in Australia where they have a long break and the year comes to a close. But sometimes this can backfire when it comes time to going back to school. It means they have to stick to a routine again and may even need to do homework depending on what age and school they go to. In our household, they will need to help out to keep the family unit running smoothly, as