Time and time again, an arm shoots out, milk goes flying and a child protests, “it wasn’t my fault!”
- Associate professor, The University of Melbourne
A recent study claims that a mother’s brain naturally becomes more specialised to focus on their baby. Reflecting on my own experiences, I consider what this means for parents.
It is hard to find the words to describe how I feel at the moment because my brain is only working at about 10% capacity. At least I made it to work today. This is an improvement on last week, when I decided…
I have a confession to make. Yesterday my 18-month old Joe finally sat through an entire TV show without moving – and I was ecstatic! I realise the general view out there is that we need to limit screen…
After a few relatively manic weeks at work, I was recently unpacking the dishwasher contemplating the new, easier phase of life that my husband and I were about to enter. Both of us had spent the last…
It is amazing how much can happen in a couple of months. About 10 weeks ago my husband and I started to get the feeling that Joe was favouring his right eye. The more we looked the more we realised that…
When Science meets Parliament it is good to have a Nobel Laureate on your side.
With a chuckle an old school friend of mine confessed that when he was a teenager he would try to destroy his best mate’s chances with the chicks by casually slipping this statement into conversation as…
I remember the Santa depicted in the movies being a kind man that spent the entire year making toys to give all the boys and girls. But the songs painted a slightly more cynical picture of a man who used…
Will we ever have a scientific measure of consciousness? This was the essay topic I set my student a few months ago – only days before I went on maternity leave for the recent birth of my baby Joe (more…
“Move mum! I cant see the TV … your tummy is in the way.” The anguish in my daughter’s voice was clear – this was not just any TV show I was blocking, it was Peppa Pig! Later that night as I was putting…
This week saw the awarding of the 2014 “Future Fellowships.” The Australian Research Council (ARC) scheme totalling A$115 million provides 150 mid-career researchers with four years of salary and an annual…
It is time to make a confession. I am pregnant and expecting my third baby in September. Earlier this year, when my stomach looked less like a basketball, I found it interesting to observe both the response…
Imagine if you woke up one day and found yourself unexpectedly surrounded by presents and then a few days later you woke up to find chocolate eggs all over your room. Would you rejoice in your good fortune…
Our little Susie turned five today. On the one hand she seems so grown up to us, with insightful conversations and an independent spirit. On the other hand it is astonishing to think about how much more…
Thousands of kids around the country started school for the first time this week – a major milestone in their life and the lives of their parents. For many parents the first school day also represents…
At 21 months my boy Max still speaks largely in single syllables. “Ba” means “ball”, “bath”, “bottle” and somewhat surprisingly also “yoghurt”. But there is one syllable that appears to have no equal and…
With A$522 million of research funding announced recently from the Australian Research Council (ARC), I was hopeful they might have thrown a few dollars my way. Turns out you need more than hope in this…
As a woman interested in improving outcomes for women I feel like I am about to betray “the cause” by suggestion that any – even the smallest degree – of responsibility for the under-representation of…
People say that unexpected things happen every day when you have kids, but if you had asked me a few months ago I would have never imagined I would be living out of a suitcase for two months with my husband…
At 14 months old, Max’s only clear English word was “dog”. Now approaching 15 months, he still can’t say “Mum”. Only when he is particularly desperate to get out of the cot, out of the house, or out of…
The arrival of a new baby is life-changing for all parents but the nature of the change is unique to every individual. This varied and unpredictable nature of parenthood was highlighted for me recently…
As a neuroscientist interested in consciousness and a mother of a baby, I often find myself wondering what sort of experiential world my little Max has been enjoying since he came into this world. Having…
For reasons that will become apparent, the topic of this piece is freedom. The only problem is that very little about my life at the moment is captured by that word. In fact, if I was forced to provide…
Some readers of this column might wonder why people like me even bother trying to balance a career and motherhood. Surely life would be easier if I moved out of research and took a part-time job somewhere…
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