I’m going to be honest with you all…I have some regrets. 

If you haven’t read or heard my story, I joined the police when my daughter was just shy of 2 years old and became a detective not long after she turned 6 years old. 

I heard and saw A LOT of things that have...

Have you ever replayed a moment where you wish you had spoken up and said something but at the time you didn’t know what to say or you were too shocked to say something?

It’s not easy to call out inappropriate behaviours, especially when it comes to other adults or family members, but...

Healthy relationships and what they look and feel like was NOT a topic of discussion when I was growing up. Like most people, my experiences with romantic relationships were through watching my parent’s relationships and how they interacted together.

As you can imagine, with a family of...

I know friends, this is a hard one to hear but there is ACTUAL research that has now been released which has proven that ‘sharenting’ your kid’s photos online is putting you and them at risk.

The research was conducted by the Australian Institute of Criminology in conjunction...

I grew up in a blended family. My parents separated when I was a young child and I grew up with step-parents.

With that being said, there was a lot less blended families when I was growing up than there is now. Blended families are a much more normal family structure than when I was younger and...

A child that does NOT feel safe will not disclose abuse.

At times I think we forget this FACT in our goals to protect and help kids. 

As a specialist child interviewer, I was very aware that the time and process prior to the child's interview was equally, if not more important than the...

Before I begin with my sleepover safety advice and tips, I would like to acknowledge that sleepovers were one of my fondest memories growing up.

When I went to a sleepover, I got to see how other families interacted and lived. I got to see  how their mum’s took care of my friends and...

School Camps can be both amazingly exciting and nerve wracking in equal measure.

For some kids, camp will be an amazing opportunity to spread their wings, find new talents and spend hours upon hours with their friends.

For other children, it can be anxiety inducing, scary and lonely mixed in with...

Parent Question - Hi there, my wife and I are looking for some guidance in relation to supporting our two young children from potential adverse consequences from sharing their photos online.

We are stuck as to what is appropriate when there is no general rules for whether it's safe to share their...

Help Kristi… my child asked me to explain what ‘rape’ is and I don’t know what to say?

I get a lot of parents asking questions around ‘how to talk’ with their kids about tough subjects, which leave them worried about over-sharing or underexplaining the...

Term 1 holidays are fast approaching and the very real ‘anxiety’ around what to do with the kids, especially for working parents is probably on your mind right about now.

When I was working full-time in the Police, it was always a juggle and challenge. The current work place...

Books are the ultimate life hack when it comes to parenting.

However, there are so many good books out there that it gets a tad overwhelming to know which ones are actually helpful and useful for what purpose. 

Let me make your life a little easier by providing 5 books that will help...

Thought I'd jump in with my own thoughts on what's 'IN & OUT' in parenting in 2024.

This requires us to be brave and boldly face the...

Have you ever contemplated this question before? You would be surprised at the number of people who haven't. 

It's probably because it's not something our parents openly discussed, it's not something we have grown up discussing and it's not something we have been asked to analyse...

My daughter was exposed to pornography for the first time at 10yo. Sadly, she is the ‘norm’ NOT the exception in these statistics.

Embarrassingly, I was a child abuse detective with over 8-years experience in the Child Sexual Abuse space at the time it happened.

I had already had the...

Whether you believe in this very interesting tradition or not... it is very likely your children may be wanting to go 'trick or treating' tonight.

As a child of the 80's, we didn't have this tradition and as an ex-police officer and child abuse detective, it sets off all sorts of alarm bells in...

TRIGGER WARNING - THIS BLOG POST CONTAINS THE DISCUSSION OF CHILD ABUSE MATERIAL! 

I had a young person contact me yesterday asking for HELP. 

The young person had been shared a link to a website in which they were pressured to open and look at on insistence from 'friends'. 

The...

After my Sunrise interview this morning which just touched on some of the basics of child safety, I wanted to share with parents, more in-depth advice on how to help keep your kids safe but NOT scared when talking about things like Stranger Danger. 

In my experience, compared to reported...

I don't think parents and caregivers understand just how vitally important and necessary, consent education is for our children and teenagers and that unless you have been taught consent, it's not something everyone intrinsically understands or respects properly. 

In my experience, many...

A lot of parents haven't considered the potential implications that a phone or device can have on your child's safety and development before they are gifted or given one. 

Not because they don't care about those issues but more so because the things that may or may not effect a child's...

Whilst interviewing children about their child sexual abuse, I noticed recurring patterns and behaviours being shared by the children I was talking to both in regards to in-person abuse and online exploitation. They would describe how their abusers would similarly groom them, keep them complicit...