With the explosion of early learning and childcare centres in South Australia, confused parents are wondering what their options are today. Services range from government run kindergartens to private child care centres, pre-schools and early learning centres, and there are several different educational philosophies also on the modern parent’s radar.

Added to this, there is enormous change happening in early learning across the country, driven by a new National Quality Framework, which came into effect on 1 January 2012. This framework applies to child care centres, family day carers, private pre-schools, government kindergartens and outside school hours care services. Key requirements are being phased in over time, including the need for trained teachers in early learning and uniform educator-to-child ratios.

The framework also expects all education and care services to be implementing the Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF), part of the new national curriculum, which focuses on providing an engaging play based curriculum.

Barbara Langford, vice president of Childcare SA and owner of SA Montessori Pre-Schools, says the quality reform, combined with the introduction of the single intake rule for reception students in 2013, is the biggest shake up of early childhood education and care she’s seen in South Australia in her 21 years in the industry. “There will be a period of great adjustment for services in the sector while they all work towards meeting the new national standards,” Barbara says.

The good news for parents and children is that all early childhood services – no matter what the sign says on the front gate – must now meet a uniform level of care and education.

Kindergartens

Kindergartens (kindys) are run by the Department of Education and Children’s Services. Premier Jay Weatherill, who was formerly SA Minister for Early Childhood Development says, “kindy prepares children for school and gives them the best possible start to their education.”

Children usually start kindy when they are four and attend a maximum of 15 hours per week. The difficulty with sending children to kindy for working parents is that the hours are restrictive (they are similar to school hours, but are often shorter days broken into morning and afternoon sessions) and only run during school term time.

The big advantage is the cost. Depending on whether you choose the full or half day option, kindy fees can range from $70 to $230 per term, which is substantially cheaper than any other option.

Lynda Matthews, manager of the Early Years Curriculum at the Department of Education and Child Development says the greatest benefit is the quality of the education. “Pre-school programs are play-based educational programs designed and delivered by degree-qualified teachers using an approved curriculum framework,” she says.

Kindergartens are likely to feel some pressure under the new National Quality Framework in the area of educator-to-child ratios, which, until now, have not subject to the same level of scrutiny as private child care centres and pre-schools.

Child Care Centres

While in the past, child care centres have been focused more on care than education, the introduction of the National Quality Framework and the EYLF changes this.

“There’s been a big push for a national early learning agenda and it’s finally happened,” says Barbara Langford. “Now all services that look after children under school age are called Early Childhood Education and Care Services, including kindergartens, child care centres and pre-schools. Now all people who work within those services are called Educators, which is fantastic and much more reflective.

“The intent of the National Quality Standards is to absolutely lift the bar for everybody in the early childhood sector across the nation, so that everyone is working towards standards that are known to have good outcomes for children.”

Barbara says there will be a period of adjustment for child care centres. “Many centres don’t meet the requirements at the moment in terms of staff qualifications, but there is a period of time where centres can work towards the standards,” she says. “Equally there are many other services that don’t meet the strict safety standards that child care centres have been adhering to for years.”

“The important thing to remember is that the national quality standards are giving families an understanding of what quality is and what to look for in a service. The standards are asking parents to be aware of where they are putting their children, and to have levels of expectations of what they should be seeing in their service.”

While some child care centres already employ university trained Early Childhood teachers for their three and four year olds, by 2014 long day care (child care) and pre-school services that provide to 25 or more children must ensure that an Early Childhood teacher is in attendance for six hours per day or for 60 percent of operating hours.

For parents, this means that child care will now meet the same educational standards as kindy, meaning some parents may no longer feel obliged to enrol their four-year-olds in separate kindy sessions.

A key advantage of child care is that it can accommodate parents’ work schedules, with many centres running between 6am to 6pm, five days a week and most weeks of the year. Cost from centre to centre varies, but in Adelaide fees usually range between $65 and $85 per day.

Barbara says there will be a cost associated with improving quality in early childhood education and care. “It’s like anything – when you decide to improve quality, there’s an impact on cost,” Barbara says. “Childcare SA is part of a national body that’s advocating for the families who may drop out of the system because of the cost. There are some families who can’t afford 50 cents more a day, let alone several dollars more.

“That’s a major worry because if those families take their children out of regulated care then we’ll see more backyard, unregulated care. That’s an unintended consequence that we all need to be aware of. We’re pushing for the Federal Government to support these families through changes to the Child Care Benefit.”

Early Learning Centres and Pre-Schools

As the name suggests, the focus of Early Learning Centres (ELCs) and pre-schools is education and ELCs and pre-schools often support a particular learning philosophy. Adelaide has two major educational influences in the early years – Reggio Emilia and Montessori.

Reggio Emilia

Many of Adelaide’s leading independent schools have developed on site ELCs where teaching is based on the Reggio Emilia philosophy: St Andrews, Wilderness, St Peter’s and Prince Alfred College, to name a few.

A Reggio Emilia centre is set up like a community: open; full of natural light; mirrors; neutral coloured, child sized furniture; shelves; baskets; benches in organic timber grain. “In Reggio we refer to the environment as the third teacher,” says Reggio Emilia expert Carlina Rinaldi.

The learning program is based on a central topic of enquiry generated from the interests of the children. The aim of the teachers is to find out what the children know of the topic already, and what interests them about the topic. This helps the teachers to know where to start the investigation and where students will direct their learning. In this way, it can be assured that the children are interested in their learning and actually take responsibility for what it is they would like to know.

Jeanine Dry, the manager of the Prince Alfred College ELC, is a great supporter of Reggio. “The benefits of a Reggio based program are the social interactions for children who then build their knowledge together. To achieve this, our children engage in many group projects that stem from the children themselves,” she says.

Montessori

The Montessori Method was developed by Dr Maria Montessori in the 1800s. She believed that the objective of early learning was to inspire the child’s own love of learning.

Montessori encourages exploration and independence. Children have the freedom to use materials in their own way to suit their own needs and work at their own pace and level. The teacher’s role is to prepare relevant learning experiences for the child based on observations of their ability and interests, and be there to provide individual attention to each child as it’s needed, while allowing them the freedom to explore on their own.

“The most important things about Montessori are that it develops a love of learning and prepares children for school,” says Elsa Sottile, director of Adelaide Montessori ELC at Thebarton.

The main difference between the two philosophies is that in Reggio Emilia the topic of enquiry is shared among the children, however they will choose to explore and research it in their own way. In Montessori, children’s topics of enquiry may differ due to their individual interests and abilities.

Costs of ELCs and childcare are comparable. The environment and schedule of an ELC is very much like school rather than care and the hours reflect this. Most centres run between 9am and 3pm, but many provide after school care at an additional cost.

It’s your choice

The wide range of care and education options now available at the pre-school age can be confusing, but the good news is that parents now have more control over the way their children are cared for and taught before school begins.

The reform in the early childhood sector will benefit all children, regardless of what type of service they attend. With child care centres now required to meet national educational requirements and other facilities being asked to meet stringent care requirements, the early childhood playing field will begin to level.

The basic differences between the services are educational philosophy, hours of operation and cost. It pays to do your homework and decide what ‘fits’ your child and your family as well as what suits your budget and schedule before you make your early childhood decision.

After all, as Dr Montessori said, “The most important period of life is not the age of university studies but the period from birth to the age of six, for that is the time when intelligence itself is being formed.”

Want to know more?

http://www.deewr.gov.au/earlychildhood/policy_agenda/quality/pages/home.aspx

http://www.samontessori.com.au/home

http://www.childcaresa.org.au/

Next Issue:

Don’t miss our special report into the changes to school entry and the introduction of the single intake rule in 2013.

FoodSwitch

The best thing about this app is that it’s easy to use and doesn’t involve you having to enter figures or numbers. It’s underlying principal is to rate a food product using a traffic light system of red, amber and green and then it searches a database of more than 28,000 packaged foods found in Australian supermarkets and provides options of healthier alternatives. The nutrients on which it bases its ratings are total fat, saturated fat (“bad” fat that clogs up your arteries) salt and sugar.

• Red – indicates a less healthy choice; fine for an occasional treat, but think about how often you choose it and how much of it you eat.

• Amber – this choice is OK, but going for choices labelled green is even better.

• Green – a healthier choice compared with other foods in the same category.

The ratings for red, amber and green for each nutrient are based on established standards for front-of-pack traffic light labelling from the UK and include:

How it works

Step 1 – Scan

You use your Smartphone to scan barcodes of packaged foods. You then receive a rating for each of the above mentioned nutrients. Red indicates a less healthy choice, amber is an okay choice and green is a healthier choice.

Step 2 – Switch

The app will then provide you with a list of products from the same category that are healthier choices (i.e. more green ratings). For example when I scanned the full cream milk I have in my fridge (for my 18 month old daughter) I was given a long list of low-fat milk alternatives. Interestingly what it didn’t pick up was the fact that the milk I scanned was lactose free and none of the healthier alternatives offered were lactose free milks. A current limitation of the apps function, but an important one especially if you or a family member has specific dietary needs.

FoodSwitch also has a function to save your healthy favourites on a shopping list for your next trip to the supermarket. This can also be shared with family and friends via facebook and Twitter.

The Traffic Light Food Tracker

As with FoodSwitch and as its name suggests, The Traffic Light Food Tracker app gives a traffic light rating based on the amount of total fat, saturated fat, sugars and sodium per 100g – green for low, amber for medium and red for high. It works in the same way as the FoodSwitch app, however it is more onerous on the consumer as you have to find the nutrition information panel on the back of the product, look up the ‘per 100g’ column and enter the amount of total fat, saturated fat, sugars and sodium into the program to get your traffic light rating for each nutrient.

From my experience with clients, navigating and interpreting nutrition information panels takes some skill, and human error can result in misinformation.

The criteria that the app uses to assess foods are comparable to the FoodSwitch app, although The Traffic Light Food Tracker app is slightly more generous with its upper limit sugar rating.

Overall I think both apps are a useful quick guide for choosing healthy foods. The traffic light approach is very easy for users to understand and the ability to use them on the go is great for busy mums and families. They do have some shortcomings that users need to be aware of. The criteria used for both apps is limited to only four nutrients or ingredients, which lends itself to sometimes getting the ratings wrong. For example the raisin bread in my pantry received a red traffic light for sugar because it has 17.7g of sugar/100g, however I know that this is mostly due to the dried fruit (therefore natural sugar) in the bread. It is also a good source of fibre which both apps fail to acknowledge.

Foods with a higher total fat content, regardless of the fat type are also misrepresented. Nut and seed mixes as well as some muesli will rate poorly, but what the apps failure to recognise is that these foods are made up of healthy fats (mono and poly-unsaturated fats) that are essential in a healthy diet. Total kilojoules, portion sizes, glyceamic index to name but a few, are other factors not represented and should be considered as additional criteria to future updates of these apps.

While I like the idea of tools that ultimately assist consumers to make healthier food choices these apps in their current form can misrepresent some foods by not telling the full story about their nutritional value. Despite these shortcomings they can be useful when used properly and with an understanding of their limitations. I look forward to taking my newly downloaded apps to the supermarket next to see what they have to offer.

Claire Gardner is an accredited practising dietitian, co-author of the CSIRO Wellbeing Plan for Kids and mum to Harry and Ellie. She is available for private consultations with clinics at Unley, Mitcham, Goodwood and North Adelaide. She is also available for workshops and presentation to schools, sporting groups, childcare centres and parents. For further information about her services contact Claire at Nourishsa@gmail.com.

Then my daughter piped up: “I notice that you two argue a lot.”

My mouth fell open and I said, “Well, we don’t argue a lot actually. What do you mean?”

She said, “Well you argue about who’s done the washing, and whose turn it is to do the dishwasher.”

And I couldn’t help but laugh because my daughter is right. She’d shined a light on behaviour she had observed between her parents. It’s behaviour that we can be unaware of because it’s our normal way of doing or reacting or relating.

This observation came at a time when I’d been considering how I communicate with my husband. Not just how I communicate, but what I communicate about.

I’d come to the conclusion that I’d like less of our conversations to be about me telling him what needs to be done around the house (not nagging him, no never!). Instead, I wanted to focus on more quality conversations. My daughter’s comment was confirmation that I could definitely make some improvements.

Then an interesting thing happened. I heard my kids squabbling. Their conversation went something like this:

My daughter to my son, “I fed the cats last time. It’s your turn now.”

My son to my daughter, “But I fed them yesterday and I tidied up the Lego.”

My daughter to my son, “But you played with the Lego, not me. And I tidied up the books.”

My son to my daughter, “But it’s your turn to feed the cats! Not mine.”

Among siblings, these conversations aren’t uncommon. But what struck me is that (thanks to my daughter), I realised that my husband and I play a similar game.

I tell my husband it’s his turn to hang out the washing. He tells me that he put out the recycling and bins. I tell him that I cook for him and everyone else every single night! And it goes on.

It’s a competition. We’re keeping score. We’re trying to let the other person know that we’ve done more or contributed more or been responsible for more, and we’ve had enough!

But this is what I say to my kids when they squabble about whose turn it is to feed the cats. I say, “It doesn’t matter who did it last time. The cats are hungry, and we need to look after our cats. They are part of our family. And in our family, we help each other and look after each other.” Then, normally, one of them feeds the cats.

Now I need to take my own medicine and stop keeping score with my husband. Then maybe my kids will also squabble less because they will be doing what I do, rather than doing what I say.

What behaviour are your kids learning from you?

Jodie is a psychologist, author, parenting expert and director and founder of Parent Wellbeing. Find out about her book and parenting program, The Parent Manifesto: How to create a parenting approach that’s perfect for you at www.parentwellbeing.com.

Having had an earlier taste of living abroad, the couple applied for a place in South Australia’s skilled migration program and a year later, settled in Noarlunga. They liked their new home and decided to stay, becoming dual Australian/Mexican citizens.

“It’s a really good feeling being part of Australia now, being part of the culture, but it’s nice knowing that you are still part of your home country,” says Paola.

Their son Mateo, now four, was born in South Australia. While Spanish is his first language, his parents laughingly admit he’s more Aussie than they are.

Paola says that being pregnant in Australia was difficult, as she’d only been here for four months and their initially temporary visa meant they had to subsidise all their own medical costs. It was also hard to battle home sickness.

“I remember one day I was crying in the supermarket because I couldn’t find the Mexican food I wanted to eat!” she says.

The couple also had to deal with the stress of finding out Mateo had a heart murmur just a day after his birth. Paola explains that it was overwhelming, as they didn’t always understand the medical terminology.

Mateo underwent heart surgery at a leading hospital in Mexico. He quickly recovered to spend quality time with his grandparents, aunties, uncles and many cousins, revelling in the spirit of collective family upbringing that is a feature of Mexican life.

“In Mexico children are raised by the whole family. It’s not just the mum, it’s the grandma and the aunties and everyone who is around the child. Everyone tries to help and be involved,” Paola explains. “Here you’re all by yourself, which is good and bad.”

Federico agrees, saying that while initially they found it hard without the support of extended family, they have since become very independent and self-reliant – so much so that it feels strange to adjust back when they visit Mexico.

When considering what it is about the Mexican way of life they hope to preserve in their son’s upbringing, Paola talks about the traditions around food and celebrations, rather than an over-arching value system.

“There’s not a set of Mexican values – we think they’re universal values. It’s more about the things we would like Mateo to be aware of,” explains Federico.

“We are surprised and impressed with what Australia provides. We want Mateo to be thankful for what he has, and to know that not everyone has a house and food and access to all services,” Paola adds.

Paola and Federico both speak highly of Australian society’s generally accepting culture, which they feel is in part due to its multicultural nature.

Being one of only 500 Mexican families in South Australia makes them somewhat exotic, and they find people are very interested in finding out about their background. While there’s no doubt that Mexico has its fair share of drug related crime and violence, the couple are quick to point out there’s much more to it than that.

“The average people are friendly and generous, always trying to overcome adversity. There’s also a very special attitude… where people help each other if they need,” Federico says.

“We try to tell people here the reality, but also a broader picture. It’s not all about sombreros and nachos!”

Happy in their unofficial roles as ambassadors for their home country, Paola and Federico are also delighted to see Mateo thrive in their adopted land. Like most parents, they are full of pride as they watch him develop, and see his dual background as an advantage.

“One of our concerns was that when he went to kindy, he wouldn’t get along with the other kids because of the language barrier, but he’s doing fine,” Paola says. “The kids think he’s very cool because he can speak Dora’s and Diego’s language!”

Federico, Paola and Mateo are happy to be building their future together in South Australia, and look forward to experiencing more of the best of both worlds.

“Most migrants would feel it’s not that easy to leave their homes behind, but Australia is a very good country and, in most cases, society is welcoming,” says Federico. “We’re very happy that we’ve been able to integrate well into society. Thank you to this lovely country!”

The Adelaide Festival Centre (AFC) has been bringing live performance to kids for 35 years via the wonderful Something On Saturday Program. It’s a four-month celebration of music, dance, puppetry, acrobatics, circus, comedy, theatre and everything in between that sets patrons back a paltry $10 when they buy tickets for four or more shows. It’s the AFC’s gift to SA families and it’s as popular as an electric guitar on Christmas day.

“When it started it was called An Alternative To Football and the season was shorter, but it was instantly popular,” says Susannah Sweeney, programming executive at AFC. “Sixteen thousand plus people see it now, and it’s doubled in numbers in the past few years. This year three shows sold out the week after we launched the program!”

The format of Something on Saturday is that a different live performance is offered twice (and sometimes three times) every Saturday from May to September, with free kids activities offered in between the shows (The Foundation Kids Corner workshops), linked to the theme of the performance.

Susannah says many South Australian children enjoy their first theatrical experience through the program. “I think every child should be given opportunities to see live performance,” Susannah says. “Without a doubt, the arts make you smarter – emotionally smarter too. Kids

need sport and they need an equal amount of culturally relevant activities.

“Feedback I get is that kids like that it’s live and different to what they normally see, and parents like that it’s switching off the box time.”

Juanita Beck is front of house supervisor at ACF, and has worked front of house for Something on Saturday shows since the program’s inception.

“There’s nothing like live performance and to see the sheer delight on the children’s faces when they’re coming out of the shows is so satisfying,” Juanita says.

Juanita remembers an 18-month-old Fleur Wood attending SOS shows with her mother, and watched her grow up around the theatre.

“I think I came every week for about 11 years,” says Fleur, who is now a musician, singer and songwriter. “Mum took us to lots of different shows. I saw my first opera at two and a half. I saw Indigenous performances and ballets. I remember a magician called Mr PP. The experiences were vast and vivid.

“One of my birthday parties was a trip to the ballet with five friends for Something on Saturday. The program fostered a love of theatre in me and a love of different cultures.”

The 2012 Something on Saturday program is as big as ever. The first show, Lah Lah’s Musical Wonderland, kicked off SOS on 5 May. Highlights of the program include:

• Adelaide premiere performances by renowned New Zealand children’s author Craig Smith as he sings and reads his multi-award-winning bestselling book The Wonky Donkey. You will soon understand why this hanky-panky, cranky, stinky-dinky, lanky, honky-tonky, winky, wonky donkey is so popular.

• Multi-talented and Aria Award winner Holly Throsby, who will sing songs from her album See! which won the 2011 Aria for Best Album for Children. Her wonderful songs take children on kaleidoscopic adventures of motorboats, diamonds, kookaburras and shadows, all peppered with inventive sound.

• The UK’s Chipolatas, back by popular demand. This dynamic trio has taken their performances to 43 countries across six continents and will astound audiences with outstanding circus skills, music, theatre and dance.

• Australia’s much-loved children’s singer/songwriter Peter Combe, who has been entertaining kids almost as long as SOS has.

• Local favourites the Australian Classical Youth Ballet who will perform in the Festival Theatre presenting Narnia, from the C.S Lewis classic The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. The show includes live narration from TV’s Brenton Whittle and Book Worm.

National Pharmacies is again the principal sponsor of Something on Saturday. Tony Wojciechowski, National Pharmacies general manager of retail operations, says SOS enables many children to experience the unique opportunity and delight of live performance, at a price that most families can afford.

Tickets are $10 each when purchasing tickets to four or more Something on Saturday performances and single tickets are $13 per person. For a copy of the program phone (08) 8216 8707 or visit www.adelaidefestivalcentre.com.au. You can book tickets at BASS, phone 131 246 or visit www.bass.net.au.

I lifted my foot to have a look and a big section of skin was pulled back like a pair of blinds, and a small bloody gash was right in the centre. It had me hobbling around like a horse with a dud leg for about a week. Since then, I’ve been on small wooden block patrol and loathe the idea of Lego ever being introduced into the mix. There’s no chance I could be angry at Stone for leaving his toys around the place. He’s actually surprisingly tidy and likes piling everything back into his big toy crates, including car keys and biscuits.

Stone’s vocabulary is growing well and it’s so cute to be able to ask him questions now. He started with “Nah” which is still very handy when we’re trying to get him to eat. We just go through a list of his favourite foods and he shakes his head and says “Nah” to each one until we hit on something that takes his fancy. He’s not too keen on saying “yes” though. He just repeats what he likes the sound of. “Toast” or “Bot bot” pronounced with a great deal of care. I think he was getting sick of us not understanding what he was saying, so he carefully accentuates every letter.

We’ve also been teaching him to say different body parts. He’s quite keen to point out and say “ears”, “nose”, “eyes”, “mouth” and “hair”. He also knows “penis”, but he’s got the body part a little mixed up. Every time he sees a tail on a farm animal, he points to it and says “penis”. That’s going to be weird when we can scrape up enough funds to take him to the zoo.

Worryingly, SA’s Australian Centre for Education in Sleep suggests up to 40 percent of children will suffer from a sleep disorder at some point during their development.

The ‘average’ primary school-aged child needs 10 to 12 hours of sleep each night. This amount gradually reduces throughout childhood, with high school students requiring between 9 and 11 hours. If the required sleep gets eroded, a ‘sleep debit’ grows, meaning if a child misses out on 30 minutes sleep one night and misses another 30 minutes the next night, the sleep deficit by night three is one hour. If this pattern continues, by the end of the week a significant sleep debit can exist and if it doesn’t get paid back, the effects of sleep deprivation increase.

Paediatric sleep psychologist Dr Sarah Blunden, who directs the Australian Centre for Education in Sleep in Adelaide, notes that quality of sleep is as important as quantity. She suggests that if children often seem tired despite appearing to sleep for 12 hours each night, then quality might be an issue. Frequent interruptions such as snoring, nightmares, restless legs or bedwetting are the main culprits for poor sleep quality.

Dr Michael Gradisar, director of the Flinders University Child & Adolescent Sleep Clinic, says as with height and weight, sleep needs vary in kids. “The important thing is to see if they are functioning well. If they’re moody, irritable, tired or having trouble concentrating, then this may indicate they need more sleep,” he says.

While one six year old might cope with 10 hours’ sleep, his classmate might struggle with anything less than 12. So the experts suggest that rather than looking at hours of shut-eye, look at symptoms as indicators of a sleep problem. Sleep deprivation can manifest in different ways: irritability, poor concentration, clumsiness and low energy are common and obvious symptoms. Less likely to be recognised as sleep-related are hyperactivity, poor immunity and weight gain.

So how do you know if your child is getting enough sleep? “If children wake by themselves, it is a pretty good indication that they’re getting enough sleep. But if they need waking every morning, and are dragging their feet or not wanting to eat breakfast, it would suggest that there is a lack of quality sleep,” says Dr Blunden. “If these symptoms show themselves most days, it requires investigation.”

Sleep deprivation can also cause more serious problems. Academically, chronic sleep problems can have a devastating impact. The alarming link between sleep and IQ was first brought to the public’s attention by the renowned US institution Johns Hopkins Hospital in 2006 with their Wake up Call for Parents and Pediatricians report. Since then, numerous studies have confirmed the relationship between sleep and academic or cognitive performance. In one such study published in 2008, Dr Blunden found that children involved in remedial education programs were more likely to suffer sleep problems than their mainstream counterparts. She suggests that tackling sleep problems may provide a novel solution for learning and behavioural issues at school.

Depression is another serious consequence of chronic sleep problems. Dr Gradisar says there are more studies indicating sleep problems and insomnia occur prior to depression than the other way around.

Depression is a further threat to school performance, relationships and long-term mental and physical health. “The prefrontal cortex is the part of the brain responsible for mood. It is also the part of the brain that copes least well with lack of sleep. So chronic sleep problems do have the potential to affect mood and thus there is a possibility of depression,” Dr Blunden says.

Along with academic, behavioural and mental health consequences, poor sleep patterns over an extended period of time may lead to other significant health problems such as lowered immunity and even obesity.

Clearly, sleep is an aspect of children’s health to take seriously. “Sleep needs to be made a priority for families. It may take a bit of adjustment, but the consequences of not making the changes are too great to not give it a go,” says Dr Blunden.

She points out there are three categories of sleep problems: psychological, environmental and physiological. To determine the causes of sleep problems, Dr Blunden suggests first eliminating environmental factors and improving ‘sleep hygiene’.

Aspects of good sleep hygiene include:

• Providing a relaxing and consistent evening routine with set sleep and wake up times;

• Practising relaxation and ways to deal with worry and stress;

• Restricting TV, phones or computers an hour before bedtime or in bedroom; and

• Restricting vigorous exercise/activity one hour before bed.

In the common scenario of children who lie in bed at night, tired but unable to fall asleep, Dr Blunden suggests adopting a consistent and early wake up time.

“We can’t make someone sleep, so we don’t have control over what time they fall asleep. But what we can control is waking time. By having a generally consistent, early wake up even on weekends, we can shift a child’s rhythm into alignment. Getting to sleep earlier and easier usually follows,” she says.

While sleeping-in after the occasional late night is unlikely to cause problems, consistently sleeping an extra two or three hours on weekends and holidays pushes sleep time later into the night, making adjustment difficult when school goes back.

“If improving sleep hygiene doesn’t work, psychological or physiological issues need looking into,” says Dr Blunden.

“As a psychologist, my job is to understand behaviour and try to work out a way to modify it in order to solve the problem. Children just want to be happy. They don’t want to be lying in bed feeling miserable. So if they’re coming out of the bedroom time after time, or they’re lying in bed and not sleeping, there is some kind of issue that needs investigating.”

Separation anxiety, worrying and inability to ‘switch off’ are common complaints among those children who lie in bed for hours unable to sleep. Sometimes stress and an out-of-sync body clock combine to create a vicious cycle of sleeplessness and worry, as not falling asleep becomes one more thing to worry about.

Children can learn techniques to overcome these problems. Dr Gradisar’s clinic is the first to demonstrate that Cognitive Behaviour Therapy can help children overcome problems they experience getting to sleep by helping them overcome their bedtime anxieties.

In addition to environmental and psychological factors, there are a number of physical causes of sleep problems (such as sleep apnoea, restless legs or frequent bedwetting). If parents suspect a physiological cause of sleep disturbance they should consult their GP who may refer them to a paediatrician or respiratory specialist.

Whatever the cause of children’s sleep problems, effective treatments are available. Solving sleep problems can improve quality of life for the whole family, as well as prevent long term behavioural and health problems.

“Sleep is not valued as much as it should be in Australia [but] based on the evidence, sleep at all developmental stages should be taken more seriously,” says Dr Gradisar. “Our recent data show many parents will try various sleep tips in books and the internet. But if this doesn’t work, they really should seek a health professional who specialises in treating sleep problems.”

Resources

www.sleepeducation.net.au

Child and Youth Health: www.cyh.com

Rather than one large open space, there are now several garden areas for children and families to enjoy. There is a sensory area with a spiral path and interesting plants for children to smell and touch, a large seating area where children can sit and have picnics or group times and a shaded area with garden beds and adult seating.

“The garden has become a source of fresh vegetables that the children are excited to try when they are used in our lunches, and have increased awareness of healthy eating habits. We also send produce home with families as almost everything we plant grows prolifically!” Carrie says.

“At drop off and pick up times, parents and children often spend time together in the garden exploring and talking about the different plants. Our garden has been such a positive addition to our centre.”

Visit www.seatoncommunitychildrenscentre.org.au.

Systembuilt was established 35 years ago by two South Australian families. The company started in the residential market, but was quickly embraced by the commercial sector, and now builds thousands of homes for organisations such as BHP at Olympic Dam and the SA Housing Trust. The company also builds individual homes for families all over the state, from Kangaroo Island to the West Coast. The ethos at Systembuilt is to combine style, functionality and affordability to create homes that can adapt to any location.

And affordable they are – for less then $100,000 you can have a Systembuilt Home built on your block, and that includes roofing, lights, kitchen, taps, bath, cupboards – everything you see in a display home, minus specialised flooring, decking, verandahs and furniture.

Shaun Henry, general manager of operations, says transportable homes have become valid options for families looking for a more affordable way to enter the market.

“People go to a home builder and realise they’re going to be paying $250,000 plus for a very basic home. We’re now seeing people taking a portable home and speccing it up with options such as a rendered exterior, floating floors, gloss benchtops, decks, verandahs, and choosing innovative roof lines – and suddenly they’ve got a $250k home for around $120k,” he says. “And you can’t fault them – with designs that include four bedrooms and a master ensuite, they’re a great family home.”

Shaun says another big benefit of building a transportable home is the turnaround time. “From the time we receive council approvals, within 12 weeks our customers have the home they’ve chosen on their site, ready to move into,” he says. “All they need to worry about is where to put their furniture.”

Systembuilt also provides a finance broker for customers and can help take care of pad preparation, council approval, liaison with ETSA, transport of the home, set up on the pad and all hook ups. “We’ve got one guy who does the lot – he organises all the trades, the plumbing, the electricity. Basically all the customer has to provide is the land title,” Shaun says.

Customers will soon be kept in the loop through an online portal, which will be loaded with progress photos and reports from the Systembuilt team. This will allow customers access to their contract information online and in real time – a first for transportable home builders in a Australia. It’s all part of the customer service focus that Shaun has been driving since he joined the company in 2010.

Since Shaun joined the team, Systembuilt has also built a charity home valued at $360,000 with all proceeds going to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital Foundation (WCHF), an organisation Shaun is passionate about. He was the executive manager of corporate services at the WCHF for three years where he managed high-level support for research programs for the hospital. “It was rewarding, but heartbreaking,” Shaun says. “I was at a not-for-profit before the WCHF and it was long enough in that sector, which can be really hard work. It was time for a change.”

Change is something Shaun is getting used to. He and his wife Ana have a four-month-old baby called Charlotte who has turned their world upside down, in a good way. “They don’t tell you a lot in the books!” Shaun laughs. “Luckily there are quite a few babies between us here at Systembuilt, so when we go to lunch we talk about footy for five minutes, then it’s all baby talk!”

A. It sounds like there could be a few things going on. Children’s toileting can be affected by both intake and environment and it sounds like your son might be experiencing a change in both of these.

A change in diet, fever, medications or even being ‘too busy to go’ are all possible reasons that could have caused an initial hard bowel movement which is associated with pain or discomfort. This is often a trigger for constipation as the child then starts holding subsequent poos to avoid that same discomfort but only to make the situation worse.

Fussy eating may have started as a way to get attention or just adjusting to a new sister. In addition, constipation itself can negatively impact on appetite so there may be multiple reasons. Fussy eating can often be associated with increased milk intake and/or snack foods which then decreases fibre and bulk of intake, contributing further to the constipation cycle.

Dietary strategies include increasing fibre and fluids. Ensure your son has his own drink bottle and access to water through the day. Fibre intake should be increased slowly – too much at once may cause bloating, discomfort and some toddlers will get stomach aches from too much fruit. Prunes or prune juice is often suggested as a ‘cure all’ but contains a natural gut irritant (laxative) and which can create dependence so is generally not recommended.

Try wholegrain breads and cereals, fruit (one to two pieces per day), chopped or ground nuts/seeds, legumes and vegetables (grated in pancakes, muffins, dinner). The muesli recipe provided can be given for breakfast or even a snack with the amount of fibre rich ingredients adjusted as needed. Increasing physical activity is also an important lifestyle strategy.

Behaviourally, you can try a chart or bowel diary to help get back into a routine and provide structure for your child. Avoid putting pressure on but be sure he has an opportunity to try at regular times. Use plenty of encouragement and praise for trying and the chance to let him tell you if it hurts.

Mild constipation can be managed through food and activity, however, in some situations, initial intervention is required to break the negative cycle. Laxatives should not be given without doctors’ supervision. If you are worried or the problem gets worse, seek help from your family doctor.