Federal Budget for families: May 2013

Just a few facts about the recently announced Australian Federal Budget:

• Scrapping the Baby Bonus from March 1, 2014
• Scrapping an increase to the Family Tax Benefit Part A
• Family Tax Benefit A recipients will get payment boost of $2000 for first child and $1000 for subsequent children, to be paid in instalments
• The childcare rebate will continue to be capped at a total of $7500 per year for the next four years
• $1.1billion to be spent in early childhood education

Have you had a chance to consider how it will affect families or more specifically your family?

All about Mothers

These posts are all about the mothering journey and Mother's Day which is in Australia on the second Sunday in May. I hope you can find ideas here but more importantly interest and comfort in reading other mother's thoughts and experiences.
I will be adding more over the next few days.

Our mothering styles at Happy Whimsical Hearts
A Mother’s Meditation at lavendilly
coming around, slowly (no longer breast feeding) at Mother Who
Safe Mother & Baby at Aspiring Mum
A mother's love....is it enough? at Mummy Musings and Mayhem
Don't set yourself up for guilt! at aunt annie's childcare
Mother’s Day. 10 gifts isn’t too much to ask for is it? at Caro & Co
Mothers’ Day for kindergarten mums at Irresistible Ideas for play based learning
Mum's Night at Kinder at Tales from the Sandpit
Celebrating Mothers Day: 20 Fun Activities for Children
10 Kid-Made Mother's Day Gift Ideas at Learn with Play at home
Cookie treat and card to make at Learning for Kids
Mothers Day quotes, rhymes and cards
Mother's Day Crafts

How we learn.

A teacher is a teacher

''A teacher is a teacher, no matter which sector they teach in," said Australian Education Union* branch secretary Gillian Robertson. "Whether they be in early childhood, at a TAFE or at a school, they should have parity in their professional terms and conditions." Read more at The Age.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) says the average weekly total cash earnings in mid-2012 for early childhood teachers were $837, giving an approximate annual income of $43,000.

According to the article in The Age "TAFE teachers currently earn $50,856 at graduate level compared with $56,958 for school teachers."

To be fair to these statistics, the ABS information is about an average of all of Australia (this is another issue) and the info from The Age was probably about Melbourne teachers.

*The Australian Education Union has a membership of over 180,000 educators who work in public schools, colleges, early childhood and vocational settings in all states and territories of Australia.

Great parenting suggestions at EARLY PLAY AUSTRALIA

Five Daily Sanity Savers. and how to implement them for every parent at Aspiring Mum.

Loving Autism?? at a life less typical.

she needs a good slap - a controversial topic - at Mother Who.

Obedience does not equal respect at aunt annie's childcare

Play – Good vs evil – what do you do? at lavendilly.

Redirecting the energy {parenting reflections} at Happy Whimsical Hearts.

Best advice I was ever given about toddlers at early play.

Australian Early Development Index 2012 Summary Report

The Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) is a population measure of children’s development as they enter school that helps communities to know how their children are fairing.

The results provide communities around Australia with information about local children across five domains of early childhood development covering:

 physical health and wellbeing

 social competence

 emotional maturity

 language and cognitive skills (school-based)

 communication skills and general knowledge.

You can download a PDF of this Summary Report.

teach them to long for...

If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


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