In my first two years of teaching High School students, I will happily admit now that I had little idea how to relate to teenagers, let alone those with bad attitudes, negative self image and distaste for being in school and having to learn. Talk about a steep learning curve! As you would expect of a young, naïve twenty two year old graduate, I made many mistakes in those early days when dealing with the attitudes of my students. They should listen when I was speaking and shouldn’t misbehave. Boy! Did I have a great deal to learn!! I recall being in a particularly challenging second year of teaching. I had an especially mixed bag of adolescent students, many of these dealing with some fairly significant issues in their own lives. And I was simply on a mission to be a good teacher and get through my curriculum. If they...
Read MoreThere are plenty of times in life when things don’t go according to plan- sometimes it can be a life threatening situation, but most of the time, thankfully not. I recently made a booking for a taxi- the first time in my life believe it or not! I had to be in the city for an early morning live television interview, so when I was offered a taxi voucher I figured I should give myself the break from struggling through peak hour traffic. So the booking was made the evening prior and I made sure I booked for ten minutes earlier than needed. Fast forward to the early hours of the next morning and my taxi fails to show! I call the company only to be put through to a call centre attendant who appears to be in an office in another country. Of course, when I enquire as to…
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A recent documentary from the UK tells the disturbing story of Fred and Diane, parents of seven year old Georgina who want her taken into full time care due to years of frustrating behavioural issues. Young Georgina has been removed from at least six child care facilities in her young life and her parents are unable to control her significant abusive and disturbing behaviour. Perhaps the most shocking and confronting point in the documentary was when the mother referred to her daughter as ‘it’ and discussed how she had the opportunity to ‘get rid of it when it was just a foetus’ and how she regrets the decision every day. How gut wretchingly sad, to get to this point in a family where a child’s negative behaviour causes a family to implode! I discussed this documentary and the issue of behavioural issues with Sophie Falkiner on the Kerri-Anne show this...
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