Primary school is a wild, emotional, exciting and sometimes terrifying adventure – for our children also. There are so many changes from that first precious year when they begin as tiny, timid preppies; to the final year, matured and preteen, thinking they know it all.

The journey isn’t always smooth, with some set for a trickier passage than others. But if you’re prepared as parents, you’ll be able to support and guide your child through the tough times – with both of you coming out the other end stronger and wiser.

A strange new world.

When your child starts school, she leaves the peaceful familiarity of home for a new and daunting world. It’s a major step of independence. She learns some harsh truths; that the world isn’t flat, clouds aren’t made of candy floss and that learning to read can be really really hard. She’s mingled together with a mish mash of personalities and egos, each fighting to assert their place in the pecking order. She adopts habits and behaviours that are out of character and unseemly. When you rush to greet her for pick up, she may have turned into the devil child. At times, you question whether she is, in fact, your child at all.

Our tips:

Even though you’re tempted to call Missing Persons, remain calm and clear-headed. Your child is tired, hungry and dealing with a major adjustment. 

After a full day in the classroom, no child needs a Spanish Inquisition on the journey home. What she really needs is rest and food.

Fitting in.

By grade 2, your child is feeling more settled. He’s slotted into a routine and has learned some things about himself. He’s great at science and handball. He’s creative and strong (although, not quite as fast as he thought he was; there’s some serious talent out there).

The playground is separated into cliques of friends. Your child is nestled amongst the nerd group – and you’re okay with this (nerds, after all, make all the money when they grow up). There’s one child you can’t help feel concerned about. He’s mean and bosses your child about. You try to devise a scheme to separate them – but your son has none of it and you can’t help wonder what happened to your devoted, innocent child.

Our tips:

Don’t panic. It may feel as though you’re no longer the apple in your child’s eye, but you’ll be the first person he turns to when he’s out of his depth.

Try not to intervene too much – your child is learning to interact with all types of personalities. Instead, encourage him to be assertive and stand up to his bossy friend.

The playground can be a cruel, harsh place.

By grade 4, your child’s friends have banned together refusing to let her play with them. They say mean things and blurt out rude words, even though none of them actually know what they mean.

Your child learns about resilience. She seeks refuge in a quiet corner with the other victims of isolation (and soon learns they’re more interesting to be around anyway).

Our tips:

Help her understand that other people’s meanness isn’t about her, but about them and their own insecurities.

Give lots of cuddles.

Top of the food chain.

By grade 6, your child has climbed to the top. He’s ruler of the roost, king of his kingdom – and preparing to start all over again at the bottom in secondary school.  The odd pimple pops up on his chin, his voice is hitting notes you never knew existed and he’s in love with a girl named Josie. It’s the end of an era, goodbye to friends he’s known for years. He’s ready, excited and nauseous about high school…

Our tips:

Puberty is taking kids young these days, so make sure you’re both ready. If it hasn’t started to kick in, your child is probably praying for the day it does. Even though they’ll cringe and try to squirm their way out of it, make sure you talk to them about the changes happening to them (hint: when it’s just the two of you in the car, they have no way out…).

Be organised about high school. Make sure books and uniform are ordered in advance and keep an open dialogue with your child, talking through anxieties and concerns.

Above all, primary school is a wonderful experience in your child’s life – so embrace it. Involve yourself in the school community so that you know what’s happening and make an effort to get to know the parents of your child’s friends.

To make easy work of gift giving throughout this era, share lists via The Gift Register! Lost for ideas? A new list of top gifts for kids has just been released onto the app. Click here to install.

As a new mum, you’re probably wandering about in a fog of exhaustion and talcum powder. Gone the days of skipping around freely. Now you must navigate your life strapped to a tiny screaming person and a tent-sized nappy sack.

Nothing really prepares you for the reality of becoming a mum. You read parenting books, attend classes; recall the stories your own mum told about you as a baby. But none of it prepares you for the overnight transition from relatively composed human being to sleep-deprived, snappy madwoman. In the space of a day, you can swap between every emotion under the sun – joy, elation, devotion, desperation…

It’s not possible to see through the fog when you’re right in the thick of it, so here are our top tips to help you gain some clarity:

The exhaustion will end. When you’re staggering about with your chin dragging along the floor, it’s impossible to imagine you’ll ever experience a good night’s sleep again. You will.

Trust your own judgment. You may feel bullied into parenting a certain way with so much ‘expert’ advice out there. ‘Breast is best,’ they’ll tell you. Or, ‘Let your baby cry to sleep.’ The truth is, every situation is different and only you can figure out what is logical and best for your child.

Fresh air and adult company. When you’re feeling exhausted and vulnerable, it’s natural to want to hide away in the darkest hollows of your home living off marshmallows and Doritos. And while we strongly recommend this on occasion, it’s equally important to step outdoors and converse with fully developed human beings from time to time.

The world won’t end if your baby has puke on his romper suit. It’s easy to get caught up being overly proud and wanting your child to look perfect. But when your laundry basket is already overflowing like a blocked sewer, you don’t need to add to it unnecessarily. Nobody is going to notice the odd bit of spew (just put a bib around it).

Time flies. It might not feel like it now, but ask any mum with older children and she’ll quickly tell you she wished she’d taken the time to cherish those precious baby years more. Make the most of the small things; cuddles, mat time, stories. Celebrate each stage of your baby’s development. Once the time passes, it’s lost forever.

The power of empathy. There’s nothing more healing than a bunch of women going through the same thing. This is where mum’s group is awesome. You probably won’t connect with all of the women in your group, but you’ll form a special friendship with one or two mums that will last a lifetime. With them, you’ll laugh, weep, swap intimate stories and emerge through the fog intact.

Go with the flow. At times, you’ll feel a desire to look your best. To blow-dry your hair, slap on lipstick and step out in leathers and heals. Other times, you’ll want to slouch about in UGG boots with sleep in your eyes, your hair hanging wild and mad Russell Brand-style. Either is fine.

You can only juggle so many balls. We’d like to think our lives will carry on as normal after our baby is born, but it’s not realistic. Let go of some responsibilities. Get your partner to cook dinner, your mother-in-law to do the laundry, pay a neighbour’s teenager to part with their iPad and walk your dog. A baby will impact your life.

Give yourself a break. It’s ok to feel miserable at times. To scream, weep and swear at the patronising old lady shaking her head as you bottle-feed your baby. Becoming a mum isn’t always easy. You’ll make mistakes along the way; the good news is you have years to make amends.

So if you feel a fog, it will always pass. Trust us.

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Top baby gift ideas have just been released in our iOS app. Use them in your own ‘gift lists’ or to buy for friend. Download now to receive monthly lists for every special occasion!

This Father’s Day, we want to bring something to your attention. Something that can’t go unnoticed. Dad needs to be spoiled more than usual, and there’s one very good reason for this –

He’s exhausted. Here’s why.

Today’s dad is very different from the dad of the ‘60s. Forget about the guy who came home from work, patted his kids on the head and retired to the couch. Forget about provider of the family, head of the household, ultimate disciplinarian. Today’s dad spends three times the amount of hours every week with his kids as dads did back then. He’s more involved and more nurturing than ever. 

It’s an evolution of fatherhood. 

It starts from the very beginning where he actually stays in the room during labour. He sits by his partner’s side, holding her hand and enduring her abuse then resists passing out as he cuts the umbilical cord. When they take their tiny bundle home, he shares shifts as she wakes through the night, rocking her back to sleep and singing lullabies even though he has the tone of a deaf walrus. He reads parenting books, strolls the supermarket isles and stops to study the ingredients in the baby food before he buys.

He helps around the house doing his share of the laundry, cooking meals and sharing cleaning duties. As the children grow, he packs their lunches, drops them to school then continues to work where his boss berates him for being late. And when he returns, exhausted, longing for the couch and an ice-cold beer, he helps the kids with their homework. 

When they test him to his wits end, gone are the days of easy discipline when a swift clip to the ear would put an to end to it. Today’s dad must summon all the patience in the world limited by means of confiscation and naughty corners. 

He is complex and multi-tasked: coach to his kid’s footy team, volunteer on the school committee, parent helper in class. He teaches his son how to be a man, how to change a tyre, how to defend himself against bullies in the school yard then rushes to dress his cuts when he falls off his bike.

Times have changed. 

The heir to the English throne is changing his son’s diapers. Celebrity dads are tattooing their kids’ names on their backs. There are now over one hundred thousand stay-at-home Australian dads.

We don’t mean to undermine mum’s role (she has her own juggling act to balance). But it doesn’t mean we can’t recognise the awesomeness of the modern dad. It’s a wonderful, liberated and exhausting role… 

Which is why we think Dad needs super-spoiling this Father’s Day. And don’t worry if you’re feeling overwhelmed for ideas. We have the perfect solution: a list of gifts that have been carefully picked out for these most deserving dads. You can have the perfect gift sorted in just a few taps. All you need to do is download our app and sign up to gain access (to this list and every other special occasion list we release in the future!)  

We’re more than confident you’ll find something just right for him.