Best of the Web: Books to encourage reluctant readers, taming ‘dad anger’, and more…

(Maggie Dent)

In this age of constant distraction, it’s regular parent lament: How do I get my child to read?

Maggie Dent, one of our favourite parenting educators, recently shared a fabulous list compiled a few years back to hook reluctant readers, especially boys.

It’s the result of suggestions from Maggie’s community of followers, and has everything from Dr Seuss to the Great Big Book of Magic Tricks.

You might also like our post How to raise a reader, and two other articles by Maggie we have recently published, Let’s talk about it: Maggie Dent’s top tips to communicate effectively with teenage boys, and Maggie Dent’s best tips for parents of teens.

(Richard Scott, ABC Life)

This is a very timely article from a dad who was concerned about the way he was losing his temper and yelling at his young children.

Parents are feeling much more stress during the pandemic, but as the author notes, his yelling was happening well before.

‘Too often the red mist would descend. I’d yell inexcusably and spend weeks excusing it,’ he writes. ‘Then one morning, building up to bellow anew at my two-year-old daughter for some fresh devilment, I saw my four-year-old son, bracing himself for impact, and I knew I had to change.’

There is some great advice from Dr Justin Coulson, who recently presented a webinar for us on Guiding children sensitively through tough times, which you can watch in full.

(Anna Prytz, The Age)

This report will confirm what many families already know – the pandemic is taking its toll on the mental health of children.

According to psychologists, there’s been a ‘huge increase’ in children being moved onto mental health plans to deal with the stresses of lockdown and remote schooling.

One mum says her eight-year-old son was an engaged student before lockdown, but was now on a mental health plan to manage his anxiety. He’d developed symptoms including sleeplessness and feeling sick at night while thinking about remote learning the next day.

Need support? You can call Beyond Blue’s coronavirus mental wellbeing support service on 1800 512 348, Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800, or Lifeline on 131 114