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Last week there was news story where a Year 1 relief school teacher was sacked from her job after appearing nude in a sealed section of Cleo magazine. smh.com.au link
Some parents complained, the school and Department of Education agreed and told Lynne Tziolas that her Year 1 class no longer needed her services.
Ms Tziolas was told that she breached her code of conduct. Maybe she did. I’m not well versed in the code of conduct for teachers, and couldn’t find anything on the Department of Education website, but I assume that it says something along the lines that teachers should not compromise their role model status with the school community.
Fair enough.
However, this nude photo did not show any of Ms Tziolas’ ‘bits’ and it was in a sealed section of a magazine aimed at adult women. She didn’t bring it in for show and tell.
But what has happened is that the story has been blown out of proportion and now the photo has been shown on several news websites.
Mr M has installed a filter on the computer my children use so they don’t stumble onto something nasty, but that filter doesn’t stop The Sydney Morning Herald website from loading and my children seeing the picture.
Storm in a teacup?
There have been plenty of parents who would like to see Ms Tziolas re-instated. Do their opinions count? smh.com.au link
As I mentioned above, this photo was in a sealed section of a women’s magazine.
No child should have access to this photo unless some careless parent leaves it lying around.
I was listening to WS-FM (Sydney radio) and Amanda Keller made a point that it is naïve to think that young girls don’t read Cleo.
The issue here is an 8 year old sees the world differently to a 12 year old. I firmly believe that an 8 year old should not have access to Cleo. Not that I agree that a 12 year old should have access but 12 year olds are a little more cunning than 8 year olds.
But I’m also pretty sure that you could talk to a 12 year old about this. I’m not sure an 8 year old would understand.
And if the 12 year old is reading Cleo, the responsibility doesn’t lie with Ms Tziolas to not do this spread, just in case one of the students from her school will see it.
Would it be okay for the 12 year olds to see the other 9 couples that did the nude spread so long as they didn’t know them?
If all teachers lived by this motto, they wouldn’t dare drink, swear or kiss passionately in public.
What kind of person does a nude spread and speaks candidly about their sex life? Someone who is very comfortable in their skin, is not afraid to celebrate the human form or human love I suspect.
Here's another one of my articles that was published in the February 2008 edition of the "Child' Publications.
Enjoy!
This year my son, the second of my three children, will start school. There will be no tears from me...I hope. No nervousness from him...I hope. The poor little bugger has been watching his sister go to school for two years now and he’s been dying to join the ranks.
He knows the school and he knows the teachers; in no time he’ll know the children. But will I know the mums?
When my daughter started school I had a clean slate. I was itching to get going and ready to be anybody’s and everybody’s friend. And that’s exactly what I did. I made friends left, right and centre. First I met Gina; her son was in my daughter’s class. Gina invited me over for a play date one afternoon. There I met Barbara. Her daughter Emily was also in my daughter’s class. The two girls became firm friends; and so did Barbara and I.
Barbara introduced me to Liz and the four of us began to ‘hang around’.
In the frenzy of this entire friend making endeavour my daughter made another friend, Maya. Maya’s parents introduced themselves to me one day and we have been friends ever since; inviting each other over for weekend barbeques; going out to the movies and attending birthday celebrations.
Before I could say “I wonder if I’ll make any more friends here”, I could safely add Lisa, Amanda, Annette, Georgina, Linda, Alex, Lindsay, Marlies, Diane, Lee, Rebecca, Wei, Carolina, Ela, and the list of friends goes on and on.
I’m very happy with this tribe of school mums. We get on fabulously well, chatting in the school playground everyday and often organize play dates during school holidays to catch up. And I’m not shy to say that it’s not for benefit of the children. Well, maybe a little but not entirely.
Even the owners of the local pub are accustomed to our end of term pub night where we congratulate ourselves for successfully navigating our way through another term with a night of celebratory drinks.
For the last two years while I have been busy making my own friends and pretty much dragging my daughter and other two children along for the ride, I didn’t really consider what would happen when my other children started school. Am I expected to show the same enthusiasm when my son starts school this year?
To be honest, my calendar is already full. As a social being I do have my limitations. No doubt, my son will make friends and play dates will be arranged, but do I have the time or inclination to pursue new friendships with a new bunch of mums? Will the old group of mums understand? Will they get jealous? Will they still include me in the group? Will they carry on without me?
Maybe I’m getting carried away here. We are talking about a group of reasonable adults.
But what if the new group mums and the old group mums organize a park play date for the same time? Worse still, a pub night on the same night? Okay, that one might not be so bad…if it’s the same pub.
But let’s get back to the problem at hand. Will my son really notice if I don’t ‘hang around’ his friends’ mums as often or as regularly? Will he need therapy for this in his adult life?
And what do I do when my third child starts school? Oh my goodness, it is almost too much to bear.
There has to be a resolution. Obviously, I’m not the first mum to have more than one child attend school and I certainly won’t be the last. I know I like meeting new people; you never know the kind of friends you might make. The group of mums I met two years ago is testament to that. So I suppose the answer is staring me square in the face.
On the first day of school, when my son takes his first walk up into his classroom I will turn to the mum next to me and introduce myself. We’ll go into the school hall, grab a tissue along the way and have a cup tea. I’ll wave to the old group of mums and tell them I’ll catch up with them tomorrow.
Here's an article of mine that was published in the various "Child' Publications ie Sydney's Child, Melbourne's Child etc. It was published in the February 2008 edition.
Enjoy!.
Every month my son brings home the newsletter from preschool. And every month there is a call for parent volunteers to come in and ‘read a book’, ‘do some craft’, or ‘share a culture’. I had always felt unsure about volunteering. Sure I could spare an hour but I didn’t think I had any particular skill to share with the children. I can read a book but I’m not good at craft and I spent most of my adolescence trying to escape my culture not share and celebrate it.
I expressed my concerns to the Director of the preschool and she assured me that the activity didn’t really matter. Some children just love seeing their parents; sometimes children just like seeing other parents; but for the most part, the invitation for parent volunteers was more for the benefit of the parents. It gives parents an opportunity to see what happens during a preschool day and get a glimpse into a part of their children’s lives that parents aren’t normally privy to.
So I decided that this time I would volunteer. But I wouldn’t simply read a book nor do some craft. I would do something different. I decided that I would make a short film with the children.
Ambitious? Perhaps. But not impossible.
The children could come up the story and I would write the screenplay. The children would make the set, costumes and each child would play a part. I would film and edit this masterpiece. It sounds like a simple enough plan. A little too easy?
My husband laughed when I told him. “Well obviously production values aren't going to be the greatest”, I said, “but it will work”. I was confident of it. Really, what could go wrong?
The children came up with a story about princesses, princes, horses, dragons and a giant mean king whose fate is to be put in a giant bucket while everyone else danced around him, pointing their fingers and laughing at him. Oooh preschoolers can be mean!
So the children began making costumes and sets and you could sense the buzz around the preschool. I was feeling quite confident and clever for doing something different.
Finally the day came to commence filming and the calamity of errors began. I arrive at the school and realize that I have no tripod for the camera. No problem. This film will have Steven Soderbergh influences – funky and hand held.
Well the actors are in place and directions have been given. “Quiet on the set…Quiet on the set everyone….QUIET ON THE SET.” Well it would seem that children just don't understand "Quiet on the set".
I will just have children enunciate every syllable in a loud voice. It will be part of the charm. But for some reason, preschoolers cannot distinguish between how fast they say something with how loud they say it. It seems the louder they speak, the faster they speak. The slower they speak, the softer they speak. It really is a curious thing.
Next, lighting - again for the sake of convenience I thought I would use natural light. Straining my brain back to my university days I suddenly remembered something about white balances and reflectors. Alfoil anyone? Bugger it, everyone can look uniformly green.
I really am ill prepared. At this point I confirm what I have always known - I'm not a director or a cinematographer.
Time for the first take. Hang on, someone is crying. One of the horses doesn't want to be a horse anymore - he's had enough. As this poor little boy is being comforted by one of the teachers, the rest start "horsing" around. (That joke is probably not very funny - okay not a director, cinematographer or a comedian).
Finally, everyone is settled and into position for the first take. Camera rolling. Action. And....nothing. All the children just stand there - confused. "Okay princes, just hop off the horses and walk over there".
Prince number 1 does as he is asked and just as he arrives to designated spot he asks, "Over here?"
Prince number 2 comes into frame and he says "No a bit further otherwise I don't fit".
Well I ask you, what do you do with that? Try, try again?
Absolutely.
Even though I could hear my husband’s laughter in my ear and everything was falling apart around me I would carry on.
This short film was going to be fun - for the children at least. And that's what mattered. At the end of the day, no matter how many mishaps, hissy fits, and line stuff ups there were, these children would love the end product. They would love seeing themselves and their friends on the small screen.
And for me, I can tick parent volunteer off my to do list…and put it on my never to do again list…unless of course I read a book…what could possibly go wrong with reading a book?
I ask this of you all because my 4 year old (nearly 5) has really taken to it in the last month or so. So much so that if I left him alone, he would play it from the moment he woke up to the moment he went to sleep.
He never used to like it this much. He would play it for a while and then put it away. He couldn’t really play the games but it didn’t faze him that he wasn’t very good. I didn’t even really need to set a timer on him to make sure he turned it off and let someone else use the television. He was just never really taken with it
[ Click here to read more ]
I was five. I am a January baby so when I started school there were some kids older than me and some kids younger than me. It didn’t faze me; it’s just how it was.
I grew up in NSW where the NSW Department of Education and Training website says that, “Children may enter Kindergarten at the beginning of the school year in NSW government schools if they turn five on or before 31 July in that year
[ Click here to read more ]
In last week’s, Sydney Morning Herald website (smh.com.au) there was an article on Nigella Lawson where she stated that “her children shouldn't expect a penny from her when she dies.” She doesn’t want “her children to feel financially secure”.
Asked what she hoped her children would learn from her, she said: "To know that I am working and that you have to work in order to earn money.
[ Click here to read more ]
Yes ladies apparently it’s true. When you’re pushing your bundle of joy out of your pink bits, it is possible to have an orgasm. And not just any garden variety kind of orgasm. This will be “one of the most intense orgasms” of your life.
Is there a trick? Well you mustn’t take any pain relief during labour so your body will produce as many little endorphins as it can
[ Click here to read more ]
Well the end of 2007 rolled around earlier this week and like most people during this festive season I reflected on last year, made ambitious promises for this new year that I will reflect on in about 360 days or so.
I’m also in the auspicious (….maybe) position of celebrating my birthday on New Year’s Day. So for me it’s a rather tidy and convenient time to reflect on what I promised to do and what I actually did (not do
[ Click here to read more ]
So it would appear that a mother’s stress levels will impact their children’s stress levels. Excellent. I love hearing good news like that.
On the smh.com.au website over the weekend there was an articlarticlee stating that “young children are twice as likely to develop serious emotional and behavioural problems if their mothers lack job satisfaction, Australian research has found
[ Click here to read more ]
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142 Posts dating from November 2006
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Mrs M
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