Chatabout Children Podcast with Sonia Bestulic

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You may be thinking of a puppy or dog as a new addition to your family; but dont know where to start? Or perhaps you already have a dog within your family dynamics; but want to ensure you are all living as harmoniously as possible. My chat today with Katie Saran sheds some light on considerations when it comes to choosing a dog suited to your family, as well as the common behaviours that she works...

The chat continues with the wonderful Julia Pappas. This time we delve into how to strengthen emotional wellbeing in our children (and ourselves too!); and discover what emotional wellbeing actually is anyway! Parenting and/ or working with children is an ongoing learning journey; and there are some fantastic insights shared by Julia today. Julia is Psychologist and a Parent Coach, who empowers pa...

A wonderful chat with Julia Pappas! A Psychologist and a Parent Coach, who empowers parents to own their mission, discover limiting beliefs and parenting blocks, and helps develop essential skills so that parents can have the most fulfilling years of their life while raising children. This episode Julia helps us understand; what emotional development looks like, how emotions are regulated and the...

Spotlight on Children's Author! episodes are a favourite. Today i share such a joyful chat with children's author Katrina McKelvey, who is celebrating the birth of her book baby, Isla's Family Tree. Katrina shares with us her journey to becoming a children's author, and the amazing rewards experienced. She also has fantastic tips and advice for kids reluctant to read or write, as well as how to nu...

This is a definite listen to episode! I chat to Dr Kristy Goodwin about Digital Wellbeing. A super relevant topic for us all, living in a highly digitalised world. This episode is immensely value packed, as Kristy shares awesome tips and strategies to have our children (and possibly even ourselves!) learn healthy ways to use the digital world to thrive. Our chat will certainly have you in the driv...

Our previous, and very popular podcast episode was all about Gifted and Talented children (a recommended listen!). Today's chat is with Vanessa Ryan-Rendall, a passionate teacher who works to support Gifted and Talented children, and their teachers in the classroom. Vanessa shares her insights and practical strategies within the classroom context; with timely advice on how parents can also support...

Giftedness is usually equated with being a genius. Our guest for today thinks this isn't always the case and this stereotype can do more harm than good. In my conversation with Melinda, we talk about how parents and educators can help gifted and twice-exceptional students succeed in life. Key Learnings Tune in and learn: How the needs of her own children led Melinda to work in the area of giftedne...

Sacha Kaluri is the CEO of The Motivational Company. In the past two decades, she has spoken in front of school groups, parents, teachers, universities, colleges, and government agencies about parenting. Her topics of expertise are careers, motivation, bullying, cyberbullying, and cyber safety, body image, stress management, teamwork, and leadership. Every year, she does more than 150 presentation...

Rich Stephens has lived with the physical, social, and emotional impact of stuttering since he was four years old. What made his situation worse was that he didn’t know anyone else who stuttered. He can’t confide any of his struggles and this led to feelings of loneliness and isolation. When he grew older, Rich realized that thousands of other children go through the same struggles he had as a chi...

According to Harvard's longest study of adult life, relationships play the most important role in making human beings happy. Social connections not only enhance mental and emotional well-being, but they also affect our physical wellness. This fact is noticeably true even early in childhood. However, certain difficulties may affect a child’s ability to interact with his or her peers, teachers, and...

Listen to my conversation with Sarah and learn: What Sarah was doing before Girl Geek Academy and what led her to this advocacy What a “hackathon” is How Sarah and her friends accidentally created the world’s first women’s hackathon The factors that created the gap between women and technology Sarah’s thoughts about what technology is How Sarah and her team also work with boys The story behind the...

Can children save the environment? In this episode of Chatabout Children, we bring in award-winning child empowerment author Karen Tyrrell. Karen is a childhood teacher turn children’s book author whose Songbird series has sparked interest in many children about the wonders and importance of the environment. Her books have won various awards and recommendations as well as the admiration of Sir Dav...

Our guest is Paul Russel, the author behind the children’s books My Storee, The Incurable Imagination, and Grandma Forgets. The latter was named a 2018 Children’s Book Council of Australia Notable Book. In this episode, we talked about Paul’s journey as a dyslexic who found success in the very thing he struggled with: words. Key Learnings Listen to my conversation with Paul Russe...

Today, we’re talking with Dianne Scott, a very experienced and passionate teacher, to tell us more about this important skill that every child has to have. In this episode, Dianne and I talked about: • How she realized she wanted to be a teacher • Why Dianne sees teaching as a way of life • The physical and cognitive skills needed for a child to learn writing • On parents’ fear of their children l...

How do you encourage young children to read books? In the age of the Internet and electronic gadgets, is the library still relevant? Are there practical steps you could take to help your child fall in love with reading books? We talk about these questions and many more in this episode of Chatabout Children. Key Learnings I talked with Megan about: • What led her to become a teacher-librarian • Wha...

Bullying is one of the most common problems that school children experience. There are many strategies to approach this problem, and our guest for today offers one very effective strategy, and it has to do a lot with books. Key Learnings • How Susanne’s experience as a refugee influenced her writing and work • Susan’s views on bullying • Practical know-how on how kids could help themselves or thei...

In this episode, we dive deeper into the countless benefits of interactive book sharing. Here, we also learn how to establish an effective reading or book sharing habit with your children, and, in case you already have one, we also tackle specific strategies you can use to maximize the time you invest in sharing books to them. Key Learnings The far-reaching benefits of sharing children’s books to...

How could children’s books bridge the gap between parent and child in communicating emotional states? And just what goes behind the creation of a children’s books? That is what we talk about in this episode. What drives Josh in the work that he does How Josh wrote 7 books in 8 years! How writing about your own story makes it easier for you to write How Josh manages his ideas The story of how Josh...

Sue Larkey is an autism specialist who has authored books and resources on the subject of autism spectrum disorders. Having taught students in the spectrum both at mainstream and a special autism school, Sue has a unique perspective on her area. In her work, she combines both knowledges from her practical experience and her extensive research in creating resources and interventions that inspire pa...

In this episode of Chatabout Children, we talk about this range of learning-related problems that you and your child may already be facing. To talk about them and their available interventions, we've invited Tanya Barber. Key Learnings • The difference between a clinical psychologist and an educational and developmental psychologist • The current state of specific learning difficulties based on Ta...

How can we teach our children to be effective, cautious users of the Internet? In this episode of Chatabout Children, we invited Kirra Pendergast to help us understand the difficult-to-navigate world of social media and the internet. Key Learnings How an incident at a previous job lead Kira to her current field The best age to teach children about social media and the best way to start doing so Tr...

Michelle Mitchell is an award-winning speaker, author, and educator who has incorporated years of grassroots experience into her books. After leaving her profession as a primary school teacher, Michelle focused on helping teenagers, particularly teenage girls, learn vital life skills to support them while at school.  Key Learnings • How Michelle transitioned from being a primary school teacher to...

In this episode of Chatabout Children, we talk with Robert Vescio, a children’s book author, about his work and his thoughts on how adults could help children nurture a love for the written word. What drives and inspires Robert in his work Where Robert gets his ideas for his writing The challenges that Robert face when writing Some memorable comments from students in a few of Robert’s school visit...

In today’s episode, we bring in Todd Widman from CrossFit Headquarters to talk about children and exercise. Todd is a husband and father to three children aged 12, 9, and 2 and a half who currently lives in Montana, USA.  Key Learnings How Tom found CrossFit How Tom decided to focus on training children and teenagers What CrossFit really is Why high intensity is relative to who is working out The...