Best of the Web: How we hold back our children by protecting them from struggle, why all schools need Indigenous educators, and more…

(Glennon Doyle, ideas.ted.com)

This is a powerful argument from activist Glennon Doyle about how our modern approach to parenting is all wrong, and our children are paying the price. In this short extract from her new book Untamed, Doyle rounds on the concept that we shouldn’t allow anything difficult to happen to our children. It’s why parents feel exhausted, neurotic, and guilty. It’s also ‘why our kids suck’. We are stealing from them the one thing that will allow them to become strong people: struggle.

(Natassia Chrysanthos, The Age)

Local Indigenous teachers should be working in every school to improve the understanding of Aboriginal culture and reduce discrimination in schools, says World Vision. In a submission to a federal parliamentary enquiry, the humanitarian agency says the move would involve providing cultural education in the classroom, as well as coordinating visits from local Aboriginal community members and ‘on-country’ learning experiences.

(Jordan Baker and Natassia Chrysanthos, The Sydney Morning Herald)

The collective sigh of relief when learning from home finished could be heard across the country. Despite the challenges it presented, there were many positives ‒ among them, the insight it gave parents into their child as a student. As this article notes, parents discovered more about how their children are taught, and their behaviour as learners ‒ which may strengthen the bond between families and schools.

(Kasey Edwards, ABC Life)

It’s just after school pick up, and in the back seat, your child is having an after-school snack as you navigate a traffic snarl to get them to their scheduled activity/training/lesson. There’s tension in the air, with no time to, well, just stop, as the digital dashboard clock eats up the minutes. This was a pre-COVID experience for many parents, and question is whether they should now return to it as restrictions are eased. As this article notes, parents have noted a drop in anxiety among their children, freed from the pressure of ‘developmental opportunities’.

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