Web Resources
Online gems
The internet is a big and exciting place full of everything. This is not much help when you're looking for something specific. Here are a few different online spaces and places that might offer something for families looking for some new ideas.
Brain Pickings
If you ever wonder what happens to kids who REALLY love to read when they grow up, they may just become Maria Popova, the creator of this website. She reads everything (no, really, e v e r y t h i n g) so you don't have to and links it all together to the next interesting thing you could read. It's an extraordinary archive of brilliant thinkers and their ideas about all sorts of things. Use the search function to seek out what's important to you right now to find out what some of the greatest human minds thought about it.
Rejected Princesses
Tired of the usual fairytale princesses marketed to your girls and boys as what girls and women should aspire to be? Yeah, me too. Thank goodness that this website exists. Created by a man (what a great feminist ally!) who was an animator who also tired of the usual heroines on offer, this site gives us beautiful animations of the heroines we all should know about but have probably never even heard of. The ones we deserve. Find some inspiration here for new role models and a place to start some conversations about what really makes someone a hero.
New York Times Parenting
There is some great journalism out there in the world of families and parenting. The New York Times sets the bar particularly high. I subscribed to this myself recently - the newsletters to my inbox can be quickly scanned to see if there's anything useful to me right now. They do limit the number or articles per month but have some good subscription deals.
Plant Love Grow
This website is full of great resources for families to explore together and relates to loads of the themes we often come across in counselling conversations. There's an online store for books and resources and a "Free Tools" page (organised by theme) with lots of printable and downloadable activities for a variety of ages and stages.
Raised Good - Parenting by Nature
This site came to my attention when my manager shared one of their articles recently (a fabulous read on discipline that you can find here). Look around at the content and find out where it can help you in your parenting journey. It's beautifully presented and easy to navigate. There are also the usual social media links so you can stay up to date with what's new.
Mum Blogs
I sort of hate the term "Mummy blogger" but some of them are just genius and here are a couple of the best and funniest you'll find anywhere. If you want frank, no bullshit (yes, there's lots of language like that so maybe don't go there if that's not for you) takes on modern mothering, these gals are where it's at. There are, of course, the mummy bloggers with the life hacks and the perfect instagram pages - you're never going to get that stuff from me. But if you're on board for the ride, you'll be rolling your eyes and rolling with laughter with both Emily Writes and Renegade Mothering. They both have books out - info available on the sites.
Mental Health Apps
The screens are everywhere so we might as well make good use of them. There are some great folks out there developing apps that will make our lives better and help us with our mental and emotional health. I'm trying out Booster Buddy right now, but you might like to check out MindShift, or STBKids (Stop, Breathe, Think). Full of activities the whole family can benefit from. Also, check out the work from the people at Headspace, especially around sleep.
Nonviolent Communication
This beautiful field is full of great tips for families (and for all of us, really). Out of the work of Marshall Rosenberg in the United States, NVC gives us new tools in the ways we interact that can be applied in all aspects of life but are especially important for our interactions with young people. There are lots of places to get your info, so get Googling and find out about what's available and what appeals to you. I love the Cup of Empathy as a starter - there are loads of videos, including this one that gives you a good gentle starter (put the closed captions on so you can follow when they speak Dutch). There's Marshall Rosenberg's book and also a related workbook, if you'd like some key texts and activities. Another excellent resource is this set of cards from kiwi providers New Insight - they also do training if you get really into this modality and want to learn more.
The Human Rights of the Child
Perhaps you think that it goes without saying that children are people too and they have human rights, just like any of us. Simple, right? Perhaps more complicated than you think when we realise that so many kids miss out on so much. Also, we seem to talk a lot (no, really A LOT) about how kids should be grateful for what we provide. Sometimes I don't think we stop to think that, actually, they have the right to those provisions and to so much more. You can find the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child here, the New Zealand Ministry of Justice take on that document here, and the office of the Children's Commissioner here. Also, if you're in this researching vein, there's an interesting 2015 article from the New Zealand Medical Journal on what makes a child competent to make their own decisions around their healthcare.
NPR Life Kit
The fabulous people at NPR (who brought you awesome podcasts like This American Life, among others) have created Life Kit - an audio guide for navigating your life. It's full of amazing insights from top expert guests. Importantly, for this site, it has brilliant parenting episodes. I've listened to them all and am planning another listen very soon.
Parent Help
We're super lucky in Aotearoa NZ. There's help available all over the place and lots of phone numbers and websites dedicated to giving us advice and support when we need a bit of a lift. Parent Help has a phone line, useful articles, and parenting courses - all just a click or a phone call away.
Rainbow Youth
LGBTQ+ services are often found only in the bigger cities (Rainbow Youth is in Auckland) but many of the resources can be accessed from anywhere. Look through the pages of this site to find out where you can connect with more Rainbow offerings for young people, either in the online space or in real life.
Child Labour podcast
Comedians Sindhu Vee and Stuart Goldsmith gather up comedians and connections to talk parenting and being parented. Hilarious, insightful, and the perfect antidote if you've absorbed too many earnest or authoritarian parenting resources lately. Check in with these guys to remind yourself that you're not alone being a human and missing the mark while trying to parent this new generation of amazing adventurers.