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Susie O'Broen column on kidults

OpinionParenting

Meet Australia’s ‘kidults’: Is it our fault they’re useless?

The other night I caught up with school mum friends to talk about our favourite topic – the learned helplessness of our adult children at home, writes Susie O’Brien.

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Teacher helping a student in class. They are in a classroom, everyone is wearing a school uniform. They are working at a desk. They are other ethnic backgrounds in shot

Explained: How to choose the best private school

Beyond the glossy brochures and carefully crafted tours, here’s what parents really need to know about picking the perfect school for their child.

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At Tree Climb in the South Parklands, 5 year old Ethan Solomon of Lights View, is rapidly gaining confidence making his way around the course. Father, Basleal Solomon, (0451972019). Experts and parents agree that kids need to get dirty, take risks, play outside and to be given freedom, but parents are too scared to let their kids stray into the next supermarket aisle, let alone climb a tree. Why risky play is important and why it's not happening in modern families. 5 September 2025. Picture: Dean Martin

Parenting throwback giving cotton-wool kids a new lease of life

Experts and parents agree kids need to take risks and be given freedom, but some adults are too scared to let their kids stray into the next supermarket aisle, let alone climb a tree.

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Satirical sites like Double Bay Today often mock private school parents as snobby and out-of-touch, but not everyone is amused.

PollSchools Hub

Stop mocking us: Joke’s on private school parents – but has it gone too far?

They’re often lampooned as privileged, pampered and precious, but are private school parents given a raw deal? Some argue satirical news stories are “doing real harm”.

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More Stories

Group of students are walking down the corridor of their school. There is a female teacher using the printer.

What Year 7 students are most afraid of

There’s a lot for Year 7 students to take in during the first few months of starting high school. And now there’s a rising issue that is affecting their mental health.

TikTok screengrabs of Australian school aged students recording and uploading during school hours and on school grounds using the hashtag #freeperiod.Picture: Various TikTok Accounts

Block TikTok: Kids film at school — even in the loo

School students are recording and uploading controversial TikTok videos during school hours, as cyber safety experts are telling parents to get their kids off the app.

The benefits of studying online

The benefits of studying online

Online graduates enjoy similar employment outcomes to those who study on campus, but this type of learning is not for everyone. Here’s how to make it work.

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Digital image for the reading book story

Why you shouldn’t let celebrities read to your kids

Schools and parents have been warned not to let the rise of digital storytelling – where celebrities read kids’ books – replace the act of reading out loud to children

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CAREERS: Young female student, teacher, with long hair doing math at the whiteboard, Istanbul, Turkey. Rear view, copy space. Nikon D800, full frame, XXXL.

Degree of difficulty ‘good for students’

Students should be prepared to pick subjects they find challenging — because life is a challenge — and the skills they develop to cope will serve them longterm, says career mentor Michelle Gibbings.

What age should you start kids ay prep. Three kids starting prep next year Alice 4, Tom 5 and Ruby 4 wearing their school uniform excited about starting school. Picture: David Caird

Should your child start school early?

It’s the question many parents find themselves confronting: should they start their child at school early or hold them back? Now, we may finally have an answer, with one path showing increased confidence, resilience and a tendency towards economic success.

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Single Mother At Home Getting Son Wearing Uniform Ready For First Day Of School

Four skills to master before school

Don’t be thrown by other parents boasting of their preschooler’s precocious abilities, these are the four key skills your child needs to have before school.

CAREERS: Preteen girl using atom educational toy in science class

How to choose Year 12 subjects

Picking “easy” subjects in the hope of an high ATAR or keeping options open with a broad range of subjects could backfire on students, a career expert warns.

TRU3008 p87 QCWA Allora Branch

Learning instruments should be fun, not torture

Teachers have been sending children home with recorders for decades in the hope that it will get them interested in music. But for parents, it can feel like more pain than it’s worth.

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Joel Edgerton pictured in Sydney on Friday 11th October 2019. Edgerton stars in The King, a 2019 historical drama film based on several plays from William Shakespeare's

Why schoolkids are rejecting Shakespeare

A poll has found students don’t consider Shakespeare’s works relevant. Which begs the question: should they be dropped from the Australian school curriculum? VOTE, HAVE YOUR SAY

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Original URL: https://www.themercury.com.au/education/support/page/14