Power of Words

2023 – The Year of the Girl. From Gerwig’s Barbie, to T Swift’s Era’s tour. From #girldinner, to #girlmath. Young women are embracing a fascinating cultural moment. I asked my…

Droughts, fires, floods, a mouse plague and a global pandemic. These challenges of almost biblical proportions have affected many of us in varying ways in the past few years. Lee…

There is something about raising girls that induces equal parts fear and worry into the minds of even the most relaxed parent. So it is perhaps not too surprising that…

The old adage “boys will be boys” is now widely dismissed as not just an excuse for bad behaviour, but as dangerous, too – not just for girls and women,…

Content warning – suicide. Each year in Australia more than 3,000 people die by suicide, and another 65,000 Australians make a suicide attempt. Researchers estimate that for every person who…

I didn’t get my first period until I was 15 years old. I was the last within my circle of friends, and by then, even my younger sister was a…

I am a passionate believer in the power of gratitude; some of you may have even done my one hour workshop on gratitude with me at your school. Yah! It’s…

Dear Danni, My daughter is worried about her friend who has started dieting in order to lose weight fast. She has tried explaining to her friend that she is making…

Dear Danni, My Mum loves to complain to me (and worse still, to my teens) about how entitled this generation of kids are. How can I convince her she’s wrong;…

Dear Danni, My teenager is obsessed with the idea of becoming a full-time, professional YouTube star. How do I convince her this is ridiculous? I was visiting a primary school…

Dear Danni, I have two teens, a son aged 13 and a daughter aged 14. They are both “Mean Girls” to me. Apparently, everything I do and wear is embarrassing…

My teenage daughter has shut down and is no longer speaking to me. In lockdown this is tough! We’re living through the stage 4 restrictions in Melbourne and my 15…

Author Elizabeth Gilbert woke at 4am last week feeling anxious and frightened (I think we can all relate). To calm herself, she turned to Instagram and shared a story to…

Many adults obsess about wanting to keep the romance with their partners alive, giving flowers and organising special date nights. But what about the bond we parents have with our…

Parents, please do not tell your child they are fat. I recently had a mother tell me she wanted to buy my book on parenting girls as she suspected she…

Had a relationship bust up? The road towards healing, we are told, begins with devouring ice cream (or cocktails), commiserating with close friends, then singing along defiantly to Gloria Gaynor’s…

Dear readers, it’s time to talk. Because as much as I value the written word, I fear that we are craving voices. I recently joined a friend to listen to…

Kindness isn’t the cure for complex issues like bullying. If we’re serious about stamping out bullying, we need to stop thinking in trite slogans.

Here’s what our kids really need us to be equipping them with so that they can manage this journey successfully.

Mental health issues are taking a terrible toll on our teens. It’s time we also acknowledged the damaging ripple effect may be having on their peers too.

Apart from the very real pain we all feel when a bond ends, there are unique circumstances surrounding teen break ups that often further complicate things.

How committed are we really to acknowledge just how complex this issue is, and to implement multifaceted programs to tackle ongoing aggression?

If there is no safe place for boys and men to put their red-hot feelings, where do these go?

Forget carb counting. There are more important resolutions we need to make (and keep) if we are serious about the passionate pursuit of happiness.