Child Care News
Mission impossible? Managing the 10-week school holiday gap with a busy career
Women's Agenda - Leith Mitchell - July 13, 2017For most working parents with the average 4 weeks of annual leave, there is a significant shortfall in time available to care for the kids during the holidays. It's often referred to as 'juggling work and caring responsibilities'; but a more accurate description is mission impossible. And it's a mission impossible...
Eleven games and activities for parents to encourage maths in early learning
The Conversation - Sivanes Phillipson & Ann Gervasoni - July 12, 2017New research shows that parents play a key role in helping their children learn mathematics concepts involving time, shape, measurement and number. This mathematical knowledge developed before school is predictive of literacy and numeracy achievements in later grades. One successful approach for...
Childcare centres at firing ranges proposal called unsafe by experts due to lead exposure concerns
ABC News - George Roberts - July 12, 2017There are women-only gyms and health clubs, so what about female-friendly firing ranges, with childcare centres and coffee clubs? The idea has been floated by a Queensland advocate for women's sport shooting, Sally Jones, and the ABC understands the national sport shooting body is prepared to...
Opinion: Childcare costs rise while some providers can't meet basic standards
The Courier Mail - Kylie Lang - July 12, 2017THE cost of childcare is out of control, yet some childcare providers can't meet basic safety standards. There is something dreadfully wrong with this equation. As a single working parent whose child went into day care at around five months of age, my trust in his carers to provide a clean, safe...
Western Sydney parents recording highest vaccination rate in Australia
Daily Telegraph - Doug Conway - July 12, 2017WESTERN Sydney is leading the rest of Australia in child immunisation with a whopping 96 per cent of five year olds covered against disease. The region tops the table of the country's 31 health districts, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's latest June report. So-called anti-vaxxers...
'People are auctioning off their children': Airtasker safety concerns
Sydney Morning Herald - Cara Waters - July 11, 2017Parents are auctioning off the care of their children online on Australian sharing economy platform Airtasker. Airtasker allows users to post jobs for everything from cleaning to assembling furniture and, more controversially, babysitting. Airtasker user Ajay from Seven Hills in New South Wales...
Parents arc up at 'excessive' Inner West Council slug for being stuck in traffic
Daily Telegraph - David Barwell - July 11, 2017The crackdown on punctuality will cost parents $45 for each 15-minute period they are late collecting their child after pick-up time. But after two strikes within a year, a $100 fee will apply for the first 15 minutes of lateness - meaning parents would be slugged to $270 for running between 45 minutes...
New schools and childcare centres needed as Sydenham to Bankstown rail corridor boom
Daily Telegraph - Jim O'Rourke & David Barwell - July 11, 2017"The way in which infrastructure planning is being addressed is a critical concern given that 20,000 new residents will make the inner west home as a result of the strategy," Mr Pearson said. "As well as schools, childcare and community places, we will need new parks, health facilities, local roads...
When the gender pay gap is your business model
Sydney Morning Herald - Kasey Edwards - July 10, 2017And at least he's not pretending that working mothers are paid less because their responsibilities as carers make them less productive. That myth should have been put to rest by recent research by Ernst & Young showing that working mothers make the most productive employees. Mothers may...
Introducing the nanager: a nanny and home manager
Sydney Morning Herald - Cara Waters - July 10, 2017Lauren Brown is a new kind of nanny. She cares for and educates children while cooking, cleaning, washing dogs, attending appointments, filing and doing pretty much anything else the families she works with ask her to do. Brown calls herself a "nanager". She''s trademarked the name and set up a...
Some insurers classifying non-risk jobs as hazardous, making it harder for injured workers
The Courier-Mail - Kay Dibben - July 9, 2017SOME insurers are classifying normally non-risk jobs as "hazardous", making it harder for seriously injured or sick workers to claim total and permanent disability payouts.Actors, authors, disc jockeys and childcare workers are among those treated as working in hazardous occupations by some insurers...
Emerging assets in hot demand for yield hunters
Sydney Morning Herald - Carolyn Cummins - July 7, 2017Demand for a diversified property portfolio has led to a rise in sales of non-core commercial investment assets such as service stations, childcare centres and government-tenanted buildings. They are dotted around the metropolitan areas and extend to regional towns. In NSW, they continue to achieve tight yields...
Breaches serve as a reminder of your rights to privacy
The Age - Alison & Jillian Barrett - July 6, 2017The Australian Privacy Principles govern how most Australian government agencies, businesses (including not-for-profit) with an annual turnover of more than $3 million, private health service providers (eg. doctors, any holistic or alternate therapy businesses, gyms, childcare centres) and some small...
Azarenka wants childcare at all WTA events
SBS News - July 6, 2017Victoria Azarenka has called for expanded childcare facilities for players as she makes her tennis return at Wimbledon after giving birth six months ago. The double Australian Open champion is now travelling with son Leo and is discovering the complexities with keeping an infant safe and entertained...
Casual workers could get permanent roles
SBS News - July 5, 2017Casual workers could be offered permanent roles after 12 months under a Fair Work Commission proposal, which unions say will help tackle an "epidemic" of insecure work. In a decision published on Wednesday, the commission said a "casual conversion provision" was necessary to make sure employers did not...
