As a feisty 16-year-old, Cassi van den Dungen earned the runner-up title on Australia’s Next Top Model — and notoriety after turning down a New York modelling contract. Three years on, Cassi talks for the first time about the arrival of her son, Drake, and why his cleft palate doesn’t make him any less perfect. […]

Survival of the nastiest should not be the law of the schoolyard. Child health expert Erin Erceg has this advice on beating school bullying. Bullies have made great fodder for stories, from the vile Flashman in the 1857 novel Tom Brown’s Schooldays to the testosterone-laden sports jocks in Revenge Of The Nerds. In fiction, the […]

Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman have two beautiful daughters, but no matter how lovely his girls are, Keith will always love his wife more. While most parents would confess to loving their children more than their partner, Keith says his Nicole is the centre of his universe, and always will be. In pictures: Keith Urban’s […]

One in four Australian children are overweight or obese but should their parents tell them they are fat? US socialite Dara-Lynn Weiss has sparked worldwide controversy for doing just that. Weiss opened up about her seven-year-old daughter’s battle with her weight in the April issue of US Vogue. Related: Why girls are having sex at […]

This video shows the shocking moment a group of girls — the youngest being just eight years old — are asked to dress in ‘nude’ bikinis and perform a provocative burlesque routine. The promo clip is from the latest episode of US reality show Dance Moms and shows choreographer Abby Lee Miller informing her young […]

Teen pregnancies and STIs are at a record high and Jenny Walsh is convinced there is only one way to reverse the trend — teaching kids more about sex. I am a sexuality education teacher and writer. I make teaching resources and advise on national strategies, so I work with a lot of different audiences, […]

Teenage girls are under more pressure to have sex than ever before, so it’s time to stop judging and start helping them, writes Jordan Baker. Few things are certain in adolescence, but there’s one thing upon which teenage girls agree: pubic hair is out. “Everyone shaves. Everything,” says Sydney 16-year-old Anne*. “If you’ve left it, […]

Childhood bullies don’t get a lot of sympathy but a new study has found they are just as likely to consider suicide as their victims. Research from the University of Warwick found that children involved in bullying — either as bully or victim — are three times more likely to have suicidal thoughts by the […]

Kathy Lette talks for the first time about the painful day she was told her son, Julius, had Asperger’s and how she’s coped with his eccentric view of life and his dark days. Kathy Lette sat in stunned silence in a London doctor’s office as he told her that her son, Julius Robertson, then just […]

According to psychologist Dr Michael Carr-Gregg of the National Centre Against Bullying, there are five types of bullying: physical bullying; verbal bullying — eg: racist or homophobic remarks; social (covert) bullying — including a child being excluded from groups, or having lies or rumours about them spread; psychological bullying — where someone is stalked, threatened […]