Parenting advice

Parents and carers are best placed to decide what’s right for their children and families based on their own values, circumstances and lifestyles. At times, we might need extra help and support to be able to make the best decisions for our children. The websites below are government funded and offer valuable parenting advice on child health, development and safety.

Parent engagement – Department for Education

Your child learns every day and everywhere, at home, at school and in the community. How you support your child’s learning matters. You have a key role in shaping their values, attitudes and approaches to learning at home and at school. The department’s website suggests ways you can engage in your child’s learning so they can be successful.

Parenting SA

Parenting SA is a program of the South Australian government providing quality information on raising children.

On their site, you can:

• find their popular, free Parent Easy Guides. They cover a wide range of topics about raising babies, toddlers, children and young people from birth to 18 years. There are also guides specially developed for Aboriginal and multicultural families.
• view live webcasts and parenting videos
• order resources.

The Australian parenting website

Raisingchildren.net.au is  funded by the Australian Government and provides free, reliable, up-to-date and independent information to help your family grow and thrive together. They have the answers to hundreds of parenting questions and are full of tips and tricks to try, their content is easy to find and easy to digest. Articles, videos and interactive resources are tailored to different ages and stages, taking you from nurturing a newborn to raising a confident, resilient teen – and helping you to look after yourself as a parent too.

Crunch&Sip

Crunch&Sip is a primary school nutrition program developed to increase the awareness of the importance of eating vegetables and fruit and drinking water. All classes at Ascot Park have a set time each day (usually in the morning) for students to re-fuel with fruit or vegetables which helps to improve physical and mental performance and concentration, as well as promoting long term health. Even though it is a WA program there are lots of useful ideas for all families including healthy tips, recipes and healthy lunch boxes.

eSafetyCommisioner

Their purpose is to help safeguard all Australians from online harms and to promote safer, more positive online experiences using research, evidence and experience to lead and advise on online safety issues. They approach their work through the three lenses of prevention, protection, and proactive and systemic change:

• prevention – through research, education programs and raising awareness
• protection – through regulatory schemes and investigations, under the Online Safety Act
• proactive and systemic change – by staying ahead of technology trends, supporting industry to improve user safety standards, and strengthening our impact across borders.

 The parent section has advice for parents and carers to help children have safe experiences online.

How to know what media is ‘good’?

Deciding whether a tv program, movie, computer game, app or website is good quality can be tricky. You can find out about classifications at Australian Classification. You can use online reviews to help you decide whether a movie, app or game is high quality and whether it has educational benefits. Try:

• Children and Media Australia
• Common Sense Media

Other parents and your child’s teachers can also be a useful source of information about quality media that’s good for children.