Aunt Annie's Childcare

Advice and observations from a qualified carer and educator to help parents and childcare professionals maintain a loving, respectful relationship with their children.

So who is Aunt Annie?

Aunt Annie: Aunt Annie is a teacher, composer, poet and writer who has taught music, personal development, craft, maths and English to adolescents and primary school students and has worked with children from birth to 5 years in long day care. She has accidentally become something of an internet guru for her younger friends with children (many of them her own ex-students), due to her extensive experience of handling 20 or 30 kids at a time for hours on end on a daily basis, managing ridiculous feats like single-handedly producing a musical with 60 teenagers or creating a re-enactment of a favourite storybook with 23 5-year-olds (all of whom had a wonderful time), and having a grown-up child who still chooses to talk to her as recreation rather than duty. Annie currently works in Early Childhood, and holds nationally accepted childcare, primary and secondary education qualifications. She is also a fount of knowledge on the subject of gifted children, having had one of her own and having taught gifted teenagers for over 20 years.

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Pages

My perfect playground

Thoughts on obedience and the morning rush hour

Aunt Annie's on the warpath

The internet is bigger than your backyard

Depression and childcare

Turning parents on to risky play

Computers- educational friend or foe?

7 ways to recognise a good teacher

The importance of time out

A letter to my teenage self- and a challenge

Sometimes I despair: changing people's minds about child care

Obedience does not equal respect

The importance of water play: get that cotton wool wet!!!

A jug of wine and thou, in the wilderness of parenting

When your daughter thinks she's fat

Aunt Annie has joined the Twitterati...

Caught in a clash of parenting philosophies? 3 steps to sanity

5 ways to keep dads engaged in parenting

The suitcase is too heavy: parenting your own inner child

The posts I most want you to read

Useless words to strike from your vocabulary

Where does the 'I' go in 'parenting'? -Thoughts on 'To Train Up a Child' and other misplaced methods

Why do children lie?

Standardised tests are dodgy

Excursions in Early Childhood: a reality check

'Tis the season to be... a little more thoughtful about Christmas

Only children rock, part 2: bringing up baby (singular)

Only children rock, part 1: the myths