How do curious and thoughtful young children who can work, play and learn together become part of high conflict and violent relationships as adults? How does a child go from being an inquiring, kind preschooler to a young person or adult that abuses and assaults the people they love? This transition begins at some point and […] The post Respectful relationships start early appeared first on The Spoke – Early Childhood Australia's Blog ..read more

Children will benefit from the new laws that enable their parents to access up to 10 days of paid leave if they are experiencing domestic violence. Police are now recording more than 10,000 cases of domestic violence a year, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The number of children this involves as either victims […] The post Why paid domestic violence leave is a game changer for children appeared first on The Spoke – Early Childhood Australia's Blog ..read more

The 25th of November is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women (IDEVW), which also launches UNiTE! Activism to End Violence against Women & Girls—an initiative of 16 days of activism concluding on 10 December. Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash This campaign, led by the UN Secretary-General and UN Women since […] The post Responding to family violence in early childhood education and care settings appeared first on The Spoke – Early Childhood Australia's Blog ..read more

As educators, we talk about fostering a sense of belonging and identity within our services and communities—one way we do this is through the use of photo displays. Reflecting on this in relation to how we display images of ourselves, our educator teams, and the children and families within the service, I wonder what impact […] The post Family trees and belonging walls appeared first on The Spoke – Early Childhood Australia's Blog ..read more

‘We cannot control the dynamics of children’s home lives, but we are in a position of great influence.’ MEL ANGEL explores the impact of COVID-19 on domestic violence and shares resources to support educators when critically reflecting on the role you play in children’s lives. She asks, ‘how can we make a difference to the generations […] The post The silent scourge within the pandemic appeared first on The Spoke – Early Childhood Australia's Blog ..read more

During crisis times, people frequently look to what they can do to help—often this includes donations of goods or money, sharing messages of support, or calling for change. Part of the response has to be what we can do to prevent these now-weekly events. How can we create the kinds of communities that are safe […] The post Early action key in prevention of family violence appeared first on The Spoke – Early Childhood Australia's Blog ..read more

How does a child develop from an inquiring, kind pre-schooler to someone who, 20 years later, is violent to a person they love? This is the question underneath theStart Early. Respectful relationships for life initiative. We are not alone in asking the question. Educators and others across the community ask the same thing. The statistics […] The post Starting early to end family violence appeared first on The Spoke – Early Childhood Australia's Blog ..read more