Parenting babies is a universal experience, but every country and culture does it a little differently. What can we learn from different ways of raising children, especially when it comes to creating the supportive ‘village’ many of us crave?  

Global early childhood policy powerhouse Ana Nieto takes Kate and Amelia on a trip around the world, exploring some of the incredible ideas other countries are implementing, what we do well here and what more is needed to help parents and children thrive.  

Ana has 20 years’ experience working at the highest global policy levels for children’s agencies and foundations including UNICEF Headquarters, Plan International and Dubai Cares.  

She’s now based in Perth as Director of Early Years at the Minderoo Foundation, which has been successfully advocating why the early years matter and working to improve outcomes for all children in Australia.

Some of the international programs Ana mentioned:  

Too Small to Fail  

Urban 95 

Paid grandparents leave in Sweden 

Thanks for listening to the Words Grow Minds Parent Podcast! We love hearing from you, so please subscribe, rate and review this episode. 

For tools and tips to support your child’s development visit wordsgrowminds.org.au and follow us on Facebook and Instagram 

Thanks to PodBooth for producing this episode. 

We acknowledge this land that we record on as the traditional lands for the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual relationship with Country. We acknowledge the Kaurna people, as the custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living First Nations people today. We extend this respect to the cultural authority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from other areas of Australia and elders past, present and emerging. 

Do dummies affect speech development? Exactly how much should we be talking and reading to our babies? Which speech issues will resolve themselves and when should we be concerned?  

Kate and Amelia get a wealth of practical advice from Helen Smith, Senior Speech Pathologist at Children’s Health Queensland.  

Helen has over two decades of experience as a speech pathologist working in both health and educational settings. She has published research on supportive environments for language development and sharing universal messages with families. And she speaks from personal experience as a mother of four! 

All the online speech pathology resources Helen mentioned:  

Words Grow Minds family resources 

Read and Talk to Learn (RATTL) 

Communication milestones – Speech Pathology Australia 

First 5 Forever (QLD) 

Waiting for speech pathology (NSW Health) 

Thanks for listening to the Words Grow Minds Parent Podcast! We love hearing from you, so please subscribe, rate and review this episode. 

For tools and tips to support your child’s development visit wordsgrowminds.org.au and follow us on Facebook and Instagram 

Thanks to PodBooth for producing this episode. 

We acknowledge this land that we record on as the traditional lands for the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual relationship with Country. We acknowledge the Kaurna people, as the custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living First Nations people today. We extend this respect to the cultural authority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from other areas of Australia and elders past, present and emerging. 

Play is the work of childhood, as the saying goes. But are we denying our children opportunities to learn valuable life skills by making modern-day play not just safe, but ‘too safe’? That’s the view of Dr Justin Coulson, who believes risky play is vital to raising confident and resilient children. In a conversation that definitely challenged Kate and Amelia, Dr Coulson explains what risky play is, and what it isn’t and how to lovingly let our children go a little. 

Dr Justin Coulson is the co-host and parenting expert on Channel 9's "Parental Guidance", the founder of happyfamilies.com.au and holds a PhD in psychology. 

Read his article The case for risky play in an age of overprotection. Justin also quotes the Canadian Paediatric Society’s view on risky play, you can read more here. 

Thanks for listening to the Words Grow Minds Parent Podcast! We love hearing from you, so please subscribe, rate and review this episode. 

For tools and tips to support your child’s development visit wordsgrowminds.org.au and follow us on Facebook and Instagram 

Thanks to PodBooth for producing this episode. 

We acknowledge this land that we record on as the traditional lands for the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual relationship with Country. We acknowledge the Kaurna people, as the custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living First Nations people today. We extend this respect to the cultural authority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from other areas of Australia and elders past, present and emerging. 

As one of Australia's most loved children’s performers, ⁠Dr Emma Watkins⁠ has made an extraordinary contribution to early childhood development. Emma shares with Kate and Amelia how her years performing live as the Yellow Wiggle inspired her to do more to support deaf and non-verbal children.  

She explains how she created ⁠Emma Memma⁠ for children of all abilities while completing her PhD, and assures us that daggy dancing and made-up songs are always okay!  

Emma is the author of several children’s books and has completed her Diploma of Auslan (Australian Sign Language), along with interpreter training through Deaf Connect. 

Follow Emma Memma! 

The deaf community resources Emma recommends: 

Thanks for listening to the Words Grow Minds Parent Podcast! We love hearing from you, so please subscribe, rate and review this episode. 

For tools and tips to support your child’s development visit ⁠wordsgrowminds.org.au⁠ and follow us on ⁠Facebook⁠ and ⁠Instagram⁠ 

Thanks to ⁠PodBooth⁠ for producing this episode. 

We acknowledge this land that we record on as the traditional lands for the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual relationship with Country. We acknowledge the Kaurna people, as the custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living First Nations people today. We extend this respect to the cultural authority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from other areas of Australia and elders past, present and emerging. 

Who doesn’t love a cute baby video! But do you know what’s happening in your baby’s brain every time you make them laugh or they mimic a sound? Early childhood expert Dr Dan Wuori shares videos of loving interactions between babies and parents with his hundreds of thousands social media followers to explain the developmental and attachment neuroscience behind these everyday moments.  

Dr Dan Wuori has also just released a book about reframing early childhood education in the US called The Daycare Myth and shares his tips for choosing childcare that supports early development. 

You can watch Dr Wuori’s baby and toddler videos on Facebook.  

Thanks for listening to the Words Grow Minds Parent Podcast! We love hearing from you, so please subscribe, rate and review this episode. 

For tools and tips to support your child’s development visit wordsgrowminds.org.au and follow us on Facebook and Instagram 

Thanks to PodBooth for producing this episode.

We acknowledge this land that we record on as the traditional lands for the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual relationship with Country.  We acknowledge the Kaurna people, as the custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living First Nations people today. We extend this respect to the cultural authority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from other areas of Australia and elders past, present and emerging. 

Our babies have a remarkable ability to communicate from birth but not every baby will do so in the same way or at the same time. If parents have a feeling or an instinct about their child’s development, how can they best respond? 

Kate and Amelia put the question to one of Australia’s leading researchers Professor Andrew Whitehouse, who was instrumental in the development of the Inklings program.

Inklings is a new program for babies aged 6-18 months showing early differences in their social interaction and communication development, giving parents the confidence to better understand and respond to their baby’s cues. It is available for families in South Australia and Western Australia.  

To find out more: 

Social and communication milestones can be a useful tool to know what to expect from your child as they grow: Social communication milestones fact sheet 

Thanks for listening to the Words Grow Minds Parent Podcast! We love hearing from you, so please subscribe, rate and review this episode. 

For tools and tips to support your child’s development visit wordsgrowminds.org.au and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. 

Thanks to PodBooth for producing this episode. 

We acknowledge this land that we record on as the traditional lands for the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual relationship with Country.  We acknowledge the Kaurna people, as the custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living First Nations people today. We extend this respect to the cultural authority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from other areas of Australia and elders past, present and emerging. 

Kate and Amelia are diving straight into the tumultuous world of infant emotional regulation – in other words, tantrums! 

Guiding us is an expert on coaching kids and parents through the tough stuff, ⁠Madhavi Nawana Parker⁠. Madhavi teaches us what to do in that meltdown moment, what's going on, why, and how finding connection helps us as much as our toddlers.

Madhavi is a behaviour consultant, counsellor, and Director of Positive Minds Australia who’s written many books on social and emotional wellbeing. Get in touch with Madhavi via positivemindsaustralia.com.au 

Raising Children Network has some excellent resources on tantrums and self-regulation. Also check out the Gottman Institute’s guide.  

Thanks for listening to the Words Grow Minds Parent Podcast! We love hearing from you, so please subscribe, rate and review this episode. 

For tools and tips to support your child’s development visit wordsgrowminds.org.au and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. 

Thanks to PodBooth for producing this episode. 

We acknowledge this land that we record on as the traditional lands for the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual relationship with Country.  We acknowledge the Kaurna people, as the custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living First Nations people today. We extend this respect to the cultural authority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from other areas of Australia and elders past, present and emerging. 

Screen time – it’s the battle of our parenting age, especially when guidelines recommend zero screens for children under two. How much is ok, if any? Is zero screen time realistic? What’s the harm of storytelling cartoons like Bluey? What about the educational apps that teach literacy and numeracy? 

Dr Mary Brushe led a groundbreaking study on how screen time can interfere with children's language development. She joins Kate and Amelia to unpack their findings and give us the tools to set up healthy habits for our kids and ourselves. 

Mary is a Senior Research Officer at The Kids Research Institute Australia. You can deep dive into screen time study here. She also recommended Children and Media Australia and Common Sense Media. 

The Kids Research Institute has some great free resources on healthy screen time habits and check out Words Grow Minds for some tips for interactive co-viewing and toddlers and touchscreens. 

Thanks for listening to the Words Grow Minds Parent Podcast! We love hearing from you, so please subscribe, rate and review this episode. 

To learn more about your child’s development visit wordsgrowminds.org.au and follow us on Facebook and Instagram

Thanks to PodBooth for producing this episode. 

We acknowledge this land that we record on as the traditional lands for the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual relationship with Country.  We acknowledge the Kaurna people, as the custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living First Nations people today. We extend this respect to the cultural authority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from other areas of Australia and elders past, present and emerging. 

From the moment they’re conceived, babies’ brains are building the foundations for lifelong learning. But what exactly do they need to grow strong, healthy brains? In this episode, Kate and Amelia dive into developmental neuroscience with Dr Sally Stanton, breaking down the latest research on how babies learn and what we can do to support them.   

Dr Staton is a Senior Research Fellow in the Science of Learning Research Centre at the Queensland Brain Institute at the University of Queensland. 

You can read all about the research behind the Words Grow Minds program on our website. 

Thanks for listening to the Words Grow Minds Parent Podcast! We love hearing from you, so please subscribe, rate and review this episode. 

To learn more about your child’s development visit wordsgrowminds.org.au and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. 

Thanks to PodBooth for producing this episode. 

We acknowledge this land that we record on as the traditional lands for the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual relationship with Country. We acknowledge the Kaurna people, as the custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living First Nations people today. We extend this respect to the cultural authority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from other areas of Australia and elders past, present and emerging. 

Welcome to Words Grow Minds Parent Podcast - LAUNCHING APRIL 2!

We are so excited to be bringing you this series on early childhood development for parents, presented by Kate Ellis and Amelia Mulcahy. 

Did you know your child’s brain grows faster in the first 3 years than at any other time? Kate and Amelia chat with Australian and international experts, breaking down brain science into easy everyday things you can do to help nurture your child’s development in the early years. 

No pressure, no judgement, just tips and fun conversations to give your child the best start in life. 

Words Grow Minds is an independently tested, evidence-based and comprehensive program designed to translate the complex neuroscience behind early childhood development into accessible messaging and practical tips for parents, early childhood professionals and the community.

We love hearing from you, so please subscribe, rate and review our podcast. 

To learn more about your child’s development visit wordsgrowminds.org.au and follow us on Facebook and Instagram 

Thanks to Podbooth for producing this episode.

We acknowledge this land that we record on as the traditional lands for the Kaurna people and that we respect their spiritual relationship with Country.  We acknowledge the Kaurna people, as the custodians of the Adelaide region and that their cultural and heritage beliefs are still as important to the living First Nations people today. We extend this respect to the cultural authority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from other areas of Australia and elders past, present and emerging.