Etikett: Theconversation.com

In 1954, Bonjour Tristesse scandalised readers with its depiction of a 17-year-old girl who partied, had sex and played havoc with other people’s lives.

The author, French writer Françoise Sagan, was only 18 herself. She shot to fame when the novel won the prestigious Prix des critiques. “Today she’s just a pretty girl,” said one reviewer, “tomorrow, she’ll be someone to talk about.”

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Sagan went on to publish some 20 novels, and to write for the theatre and screen. But the slim Bonjour Tristesse remains her most recognised work. The author was quickly equated with her first protagonist, Cécile. She was said to like money, fast cars, new dresses and gambling. And for a long time, her myth and celebrity overpowered everything else.

The novel has inspired several film adaptations, the most famous of these being the 1958 film directed by Otto Preminger, starring Jean Seberg. A new film, directed by Canadian Durga Chew-Bose, premiered this September at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Some 70 years after publication, Sagan’s depiction of a young woman’s sexuality is G-rated. And conceptions of immorality, taboo and transgression have vastly changed. But the novel remains powerful in its characterisation of a girl who feels the wrong things – not enough shame, too much pleasure – and feels sadness with such style.

Charming little monster

Bonjour Tristesse takes place in one summer on the French Riviera, or Côte d’Azur, where Cécile is whiling away the holidays with her well off, womanising father, Raymond, and his latest fling, Elsa. Since Cécile’s mother died, she and her father have become a pleasure-seeking duo: more friends (in her words) or accomplices (in his) than parent and child.

In a big white villa on the Mediterranean sea, they enjoy a “reckless happiness”. Cécile plunges into the fresh, clear water to “wash away the shadows and dust of the city”. She bites into an orange, feeling “the sweet juice run into [her] mouth”, and lets the sun smooth “away the marks of the sheet on [her] skin”.

Enter Anne, an old friend of Cécile’s late mother. Anne spends her time with “clever, intelligent and discreet” types, rather than the “noisy and insatiable” beautiful people preferred by Cécile and her father. Anne’s arrival threatens to stop the teenager from getting cosy with Cyril, the boy next door – and from partying instead of studying.

When Anne and her father get engaged, Cécile panics she’ll lose her father’s affection and gain an unwanted mother figure. So, she hatches an ill-fated plan to get rid of the other woman.

The novel’s first-person narration is somewhat theatrical. Cécile describes the events of the summer as having “all the elements of a drama”, with “a seducer, a demi-mondaine and a determined woman”. She manipulates these figures without concern for the feelings or lives of others. This characterisation led critics to say Sagan had created a type: “the wicked ingénue, who delights in life’s absurdity and acts in the comedy of existence just for the fun of it”.

Francoise Sagan, 1958.
Wikipedia

It is tempting here to liken Sagan to her creation, Cécile. French novelist Francois Mauriac famously called the author “ce charmant petit monstre”, or, “that charming little monster”. The label stuck. At only 18, with her pixie cut and carefree attitude, Sagan was also a young bourgeois woman pushing the limits of what was acceptable.

But the autobiographical label tells us less about the writing and author, and more about her public, who only wanted “a scandalous writer or a young bourgeois woman”. Sagan famously played into the media furore, saying later: “I don’t really understand adult values and I never will”.

Her book tells a more complicated story. It’s too easy to label what Rachel Cusk calls an interrogation of morality as simply immoral or immature.

Fashionable feelings

As you can tell from the title, which translates as “hello sadness”, Sagan is good at writing pretty and poetic feelings. The book’s first line, in which the world-weary narrator looks back at herself and foreshadows a “strange melancholy” she would rather not name, hints at the difficulty of translation. (I owe these English quotes to Irene Ash’s 1955 translation, but you can also find a “fresh” 2013 version by Heather Lloyd.)

Feelings are what define the characters and shape their every gesture. Cécile envies “the happy nonchalance, the languid grace” love imparts to Anne’s movements, and shows bemusement at Anne’s integrity. Where Anne “can stand perfectly still while [she] talk[s]”, Cécile is more flaccid, needing the “support of a chair, or some object to hold like a cigarette, or the distraction of swinging one leg over the other and watching it move”.

Bonjour Tristesse has sometimes been accused of lacking true emotional depth. Cécile has fashionable feelings and fashionable ideas, but doesn’t always convey them with conviction. Her description of being in love is poetic, but shallow. Her dismissal of the conventional bourgeois life is halfhearted. And her grief is, for the most part, either buried or passing.

Even so, Sagan’s portrayal of a teenager reckoning with pain and self-hate has had a powerful cultural impact. Cécile’s detachment is glamorous and cinematic, embodying what was a new kind of rebelliousness in the 1950s. She is very thin and casually sexy – “a little wild cat”, in her father’s words, though he’d “rather have a beautiful fair-haired daughter”.

In Austrian-American Preminger’s adaptation, Jean Seberg’s American “preppy style” and pixie cut combined with French feminine chic. Seberg’s incarnation of Cécile was what led to her becoming an icon of the French New Wave as the boyish and mischievous “gamine”. Her performance inspired Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960), a film where she embodied the modern and forward-looking.

Jean Seberg’s incarnation of Cécile in the 1958 film of Bonjour Tristesse led to her becoming an icon of the French New Wave.

Descriptions like this one in 1987 Harper’s Bazaar attest to the influence of her look: “Prettiness is back and with it la gamine, the très beguiling, naughty-naive waiflike look that has turned nightclub audiences into a sea of Jean Seberg lookalikes.”

Today’s literary “sad bad girl” could be understood as another iteration of the same. Cécile is the ultimate young white woman with money, free to wallow around. Afraid of ennui – Ash has “boredom”, but the French “ennui” evokes a privileged dissatisfaction with the world – and left alone with her thoughts, she turns to provocation and destruction.

But where the millennial (and anglophone) sad bad girl is self-abasing and flat, Cécile is outwardly and childishly confident; she also has psychological nuance. Split into narrator and protagonist, older and younger versions, thinking self and object of reflection, Cécile can’t be contained by any one “type”.

The scenes in Bonjour Tristesse that actually wrench at your heartstrings are the ones that evoke a gaping and palpable emptiness. For Cécile, the scariest thing is not losing the heady bubble of youth and pleasure – it’s coming to a painful awareness of the bubble’s emptiness.

Shameless sex

Despite having very little sex in it, Bonjour Tristesse is famous for depicting a young woman’s sexuality. Cécile is attracted to older men, and describes her father, Raymond, as both “the best-looking man I know” and “magnificent”. The relationship between father and daughter is almost disturbingly affectionate, something Preminger’s film pushes closer to the incestuous.

In his 1958 adaptation, the two kiss on the lips and Elsa labels their relationship a “perfect marriage”. This film also problematically equates “free love” with harassment of those with less power (see Raymond groping the maid, to general hilarity), something no one would get away with post-#MeToo.

The book fares better, though it engages only superficially with class. Sagan shows Cécile disdainful of snooty bourgeois ideas about how she should socialise and who with, but does not explore the privilege her position gives her to transgress.

Within this milieu, Cécile again anticipates much later heroines. Influenced by her father’s “frivolous” attitude towards relationships and women, Cécile embraces her sexuality and pursues a “rapid, violent and passing love affair” with Cyril.

While the character’s narrative arc would be unremarkable for a teenage boy, it broke from the norms for girls that separated sex from pleasure and agency, and used pregnancy as a moralising device.

Inconceivably unpunished

Anne has the job of reining Cécile in, according to bourgeois norms and pragmatic concerns. When she finds her half naked with Cyril, she warns Cécile about ending up in a clinic, which we can surmise is a reference to clandestine abortion. In this light, the superficial feelings Cécile has for him take on a transgressive dimension. What is significant is not that this girl has sex, but that she’s as casual about it as she is about everything else. Despite not being in love or wanting to marry, Cécile feels no shame, hesitation or fanfare. Her sexuality is not so much examined, as unquestioned.

When Cyril asks Cécile if she’s worried about getting pregnant, she casually responds that she would leave him to deal with it if she was. Such blitheness indicates a certain naivety from a character – and perhaps a young author – who has lived a relatively sheltered life.

Even so, Cécile’s behaviour shifts the gendered onus of responsibility, together with the emotional labour. It’s Cyril who is critical of Cécile’s father’s unconventional living arrangements, and he wishes his lover would act a little more “tormented”.

Some 30 years after writing Bonjour Tristesse, Sagan explained: “It was inconceivable that a young girl of 17 or 18 should make love, without being in love, with a boy of her own age, and not be punished for it.” Today, it’s still hard to imagine a young woman who doesn’t feel responsible for pregnancy or concern about her reputation.

Relationships between women

What strikes me reading Bonjour Tristesse today is not the romantic or sexual intrigue, but the relationships between women. While Cécile seemingly cares most about her father and idealises heterosexual love, Sagan makes these things secondary and two-dimensional. The narrator herself admits to leaving Raymond in the background. “I have spoken a great deal about Anne and myself,” she says, “and very little of my father.”

The relationships between women, including Cecile and her stepmother, are central to Bonjour Tristesse.
Turner Classic Movies

Cécile is a shamelessly bitchy narrator who objectifies herself and other women, and sees ugliness as a moral failing. But, through Cécile, Sagan explores how women see other women, in a society defined by the male gaze. As art critic John Berger said, “women watch themselves being looked at”.

Cécile quickly reduces Elsa to femme fatale, but has more trouble defining Anne by her relationship with Raymond. Confused, Cécile initially categorises Anne not as a woman, but as an “entity”. She explains: “I had seen her as a self-assured, elegant, and clever person, but never weak or sensual.” Heteronormative gender roles are what makes a woman, for Cécile.

A complex relationship with feminism

Published five years after Simone de Beauvoir’s influential feminist manifesto The Second Sex (1949), Bonjour Tristesse is one of several existentialist novels written by women that grapple with meaning, and ask the question: who am I without a man?

Sagan did not identify as feminist, and Bonjour Tristesse consolidates a certain French femininity (even if it looks more modern than it once did). Still, it humanises women and grants Cécile subjectivity. Under all that objectification are complex feelings and introspection: Cécile swings between feeling jealousy, hate, care, love, fear and admiration for Anne.

At the time Bonjour Tristesse was published, the author herself was being pigeonholed, and Seberg, in a male-dominated screen industry, was reportedly abused by Preminger into looking sufficiently wistful on screen. But Sagan (shockingly) had written a three-dimensional 17-year-old girl.

Some readers today might struggle to care about a spoilt little rich girl’s melodrama – that’s understandable. But if you’re happy to get inside Cécile’s head, you’ll find depth there, as well as a sensual and timeless escape.

Sagan famously said: “scandal is just talent”. It will be interesting to see what that talent looks like in the 21st century, in Chew-Bose’s adaptation – and how it appeals to a very different gaze. Läs mer…

Once the end-of-year dance concert and term wrap up for the year it is important to take a break. Both physical and mental rest are important and taking a few weeks off can help your body repair and have a mental break from dance.

If your mind and body are in need of an extended break (such as more than a few weeks), then it’s more than OK to take longer off, especially if you are training at a competitive or pre-professional level.

There is benefit in enjoying other aspects of your life outside of dance such as spending time with family, friends and enjoying hobbies.

A safe, fulfilling dancing life

Creating meaning and value in life outside of dance and expanding sense of self can make it easier to lean into other aspects when experiencing change or difficult times during dance training such as being injured.

Taking an extended break from dance training will, however, mean losing some fitness and physical capacity. When you return to dance your body will take time to return to full capacity again.

Approaches such as being “whipped back into shape” can promote sudden spikes in training load (hours and intensity of training) which can increase the risk of injury. It is advised to gradually and progressively increase training load over time to allow the body to adapt and return to full capacity safely.

A four-to-six week period of gradually progressing training load and introducing jumping has been suggested in dance settings.

For dancers wanting to maintain fitness over the summer holidays, a great place to start is focusing on building a physical foundation.

Exercise like running can help build a physical foundation.
Jacek Chabraszewski/Shutterstock

Building a physical foundation means focusing on targeted areas of fitness such as full body strength, cardiovascular fitness or stamina (such as skipping, cycling walking, running, swimming), flexibility, and some dance-specific conditioning (for example, calf rises for ballet).

A good physical foundation will mean an improved capacity and fitness level so your body is ready to take on more challenging dance movements and routines once you return to the studio.

Building full body strength at home or at the park

A great place to start is by choosing movements that require your muscles to work to support your own body weight.

Fundamental movements such as crawling (moving on the floor on hands and feet) and locomotion (travelling movements such as lunging, hopping, sliding) are great for developing body control, arm and leg stability and coordinated movement patterns.

Below is a sequence that can be used as a warm up and even as a workout itself. The ten minute sequence is based on gross motor and fundamental movement patterns. It includes exercises that work through a range of joint movements and in multiple planes (forwards, sideways, rotating).

This fundamental movement sequence can be used as a warm-up or a workout.
Joanna Nicholas, CC BY

Once feeling comfortable with the above fundamental movements, it is time to introduce body weight resistance exercises.

Body weight resistance exercises can be beneficial for developing a strong foundation for dance movements such as jumping, landing, floorwork, partnering and aerial work.

Exercises from the above sequence can be used to form a safe and effective neuromuscular warm up.

Aim to include one exercise from each of the below movement categories (squat, horizontal push etc) to build your own workout.

Aim to complete two to three sets (or rounds) of each exercise with about one minute rest between sets. An alternative is to complete one set of each exercise with minimal rest between, then complete a second or third time.

If training with friends, you could set a timer and do each exercise for up to 50 seconds (instead of counting reps) and take ten seconds to transition to the next exercise.

Depending on your level of strength you may need to do fewer repetitions and build up sets and repetitions overtime. After you have completed the body weight exercises complete a cool down including stretches for the upper and lower body muscles. Be sure to use a sturdy bar (such as an outdoor fitness station) for horizontal row and overhead hold.

Exercises may need to be modified depending on fitness level and physical limitations such as injury.

You can build your own full body strength workout using these movements.
Joanna Nicholas, CC BY

How often should I train?

A common misconception in dance is that “more is better”. This belief can lead to dancers training long hours on most or all days of the week which can lead to overtraining, plateauing and increased risk of injury.

Our bodies require sufficient time between training sessions to adapt and get stronger and fitter. The time between sessions is when our muscles and tissues repair and training gains are made.

By incorporating adequate recovery (including sleep and downtime) and including rest days throughout the week, our bodies can gain the most benefits from training.

Rest days are important, too.
Manop Boonpeng/Shutterstock

Muscles can take up to 48–72 hours to recover from most types of strength-based exercises (the more intense the longer they’ll need to recover).

Aerobic activity at low intensity, such as a brisk walk, can be done most days (24-hour recovery) while high stress anaerobic exercise such as high intensity intervals or sprints can take three days or more to recover from.

Aim to spread training sessions out over the week and allow time to recover between sessions.

Below is an example weekly schedule based on incorporating adequate recovery between sessions, and incorporating polarised training where some days are harder and others are easier.

Seek guidance from your healthcare provider and/or an exercise professional prior to undertaking a new exercise program. Läs mer…

For those looking to introduce some musical conflict into the holidays, Bob Dylan’s Christmas in the Heart remains a great choice in its 15th anniversary – like it or not.

Before Dylan really got started, an iconic group opened the door to mainstream folk success for Dylan and his contemporaries. And at the height of their popularity, they also released an unexpected Christmas album.

But instead of becoming a perennial classic, it seemed to foreshadow the approaching end for the group’s dominance at the peak of popular music.

That album was The Kingston Trio’s ill-fated The Last Month of the Year from 1960.

The ‘hottest act in show business’

The Kingston Trio are often remembered as a clean-cut, sanitised and goofy footnote in musical history. Their matching striped shirts may be a difficult fashion choice to rehabilitate today, but the trio’s impact on popular music was explosive.

Popular performances in 1957 San Francisco led quickly to their self-titled first album the following year. Reshaping folk music for a mainstream audience energised professional and amateur performers.

Critic Greil Marcus describes their breakthrough hit, 1958’s Tom Dooley, as having “the same effect on hearts and minds in 1958 that Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and Nevermind did in 1991”.

By the time they released their Christmas album, they were the “hottest act in show business”.

In the previous two years, they’d had five number one albums on the Billboard charts. Four of their albums were in the top ten at the same time. They reportedly generated 15% of Capitol Records’ annual sales.

Following that phenomenal success, one early response to their Christmas album noted:

By now it’s fairly well established that the Kingston Trio could record Row, Row Your Boat in 12 languages, put it on wax, and the album would sell a half-million copies. As a consequence, there’s little doubt that The Last Month of the Year will be one of the big sellers this Christmas.

Instead, The Last Month of the Year became their first studio album not to reach number one.

Although still successful, their later albums never reached number one or Gold Album status again. Founding member Dave Guard left in 1961. A new lineup with replacement John Stewart had peaks of success, enduring in a changing folk scene – but never quite recapturing those initial years.

‘Perhaps the most unusual set of the year’

The Kingston Trio were lambasted, then and now, for their commercial focus. Nevertheless, The Last Month of the Year stands in contrast to many enduring commercial norms.

Contemporary responses to The Last Month of the Year noted “a number of almost unknown Christmas songs instead of the usual diet of standard carols” and “perhaps the most unusual set of the year”.

There are none of the 1940s and 1950s staples that have persisted through the decades. Nat King Cole opened his 1960 album The Magic of Christmas with a spirited Deck the Halls. Both Ella Fitzgerald (on Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas) and Peggy Lee (on Christmas Carousel) opened their Christmas albums of the same year with Jingle Bells.

In contrast, The Kingston Trio’s opening track is a subdued version of the 16th century Coventry Carol, a lullaby for the children Herod ordered to be killed. The restrained use of a celeste, or bell-piano, summons Christmas vibes but largely augments the sombre harmonies.

Opening with the biblical Massacre of the Innocents was certainly one way to set The Last Month of the Year apart from its jolly competitors.

Range, energy and appropriation

Other songs include delicate folk (All Through the Night), traditional rounds (A Round About Christmas), historical carols (Sing We Noel) and uncharacteristic original lyrics (The White Snows of Winter).

Spirituals Go Where I Send Thee and The Last Month of the Year (What Month Was Jesus Born In) allow the trio to focus on the kind of energy (and appropriation) that had defined much of their previous output.

Goodnight My Baby charms as a Christmas Eve lullaby that’s too excited to lull anyone to sleep.

Adding oddness, Mary Mild reshapes the strange apocryphal The Bitter Withy where a child Jesus creates “a bridge of the beams of the sun” to encourage children to play with him. The Kingston Trio only hint at the song’s common outcome that leaves his playmates dead and Mary meting out some corporal punishment.

Perhaps more restrained than their usual performances, the album nevertheless guides listeners through some of the styles and sources that the Trio’s brand of popular folk could draw on.

A Christmas album that still has something to offer

The Last Month of the year wasn’t the cause, but it occupies a turning point where The Kingston Trio’s cultural dominance began to slip.

The Kingston Trio in 1957.
The Kingston Trio/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Soon after, Bob Dylan’s song Blowin’ in the Wind (published in 1962) and album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963) marked a new era of folk that revived its political energy (for a while).

As folk music further solidified its place in the civil rights movement, the Kingston Trio’s collegiate party vibes and perceived apoliticism seemed out of step.

When Dylan released his Christmas album in 2009, one critic asked “Is he sincere? Does he mean it?”

That’s also a question that defined and dogged The Kingston Trio from the outset of the folk revival they ushered in. Are these goofy guys serious?

The Last Month of the Year is an intriguing and ambitious album by a group that, for a short but influential time, reshaped popular music.

It’s a forgotten Christmas album that might still have something new to offer a Christmas-weary listener. Läs mer…

Some years ago, my daughter was set a maths problem: how much does it cost to drive a family of four from Melbourne to Sydney, calculating petrol per kilometre and including a night’s accommodation? Her answer was simple: the cost is four airfares – that way the kids won’t kill each other.

Unfortunately, flying is not an option for many people over the holiday period.

So, how do you get the family through that long car trip without all hell breaking loose?

Try and avoid screens

The obvious choice for a long trip is to give the kids a device. But while screens might buy peace in the short term, returning to the real world afterwards can be overwhelming for children.

Lots of passive screen time – such as watching a movie or looking at YouTube – disconnects children from the people around them.

Studies on children up to the age of seven show an association between too much screen time and behaviour problems. Straight after a long time with screens, children can be fractious and argumentative. Parents also know taking the screens away from children can lead to tantrums.

No one wants to start a holiday with a meltdown. So, while there are certainly times and places when screens are useful (and even a blessing) – the long car trip is probably not one of them.

No one wants excessive pouting on holidays.
Irina Wilhauk/Shutterstock

Cars are not natural places to be

Cars are not natural environments for any of us, and especially not for children who discover the world through their senses.

In cars kids can’t move around much, they are cut off from the smells and textures of the world beyond the car. Things outside the window are moving really fast, making processing hard.

This is why some planning and a lot of understanding are important. The key to survival is making space, even in the car, for your child to do what they do best.

Let kids be creative

Children are naturally creative as they look at the world with fresh eyes.

There are lots of ways to harness this creativity in a car. Even with very young children, you can make music together. Make body percussion together (claps, raspberries, tapping and clicking) to create a soundtrack for part of the travel. You can change the rhythm, tempo or sound.

Or you could introduce them to a song you love – and give them a part to sing. Even very young children love serve and return singing – you sing a bit, they sing a bit.

When you need a break, ask the kids to prepare a concert for you using a song they love.

Ask lots of questions

Use the new environments around you as a prompt. Ask your kids questions like, if you were a bird, what would be able to see now? If you were that cow, what would you be thinking?

If you have drawing materials in the car, the children can draw their ideas and make a map of where they are.

If you have two or more children, you could encourage them to make up a play from the perspective of the animals or environment you are driving through. What is happening in that cafe? What is that dog planning for the afternoon?

Ask your kids to imagine the trip from the point of view of an animal they see.
myphotobank.comm.au/Shutterstock

Oldies but goodies

There are also old-fashioned games like “Spot It”, which is like bingo for the trip.

You can make your own version before you leave on the trip. Create a grid with images of things your child might see – an orange car, a cow, a kangaroo, a tractor, a grape vine.

When they see them, they tick them off. Children can move in and out of this game, especially if you have thought ahead about what they might see on different parts of the journey.

For older kids, make up silly phrases based on number plate letters. For example, QTJ might be “Quick Turtles Jump”. Then you can add several number plates together to make a rhyme or a rap.

Or, get them to add, subtract or multiply several number plate numbers until they get to 100.

Get your child to search for landmarks along the way.
Robie Online/ Shutterstock

Embrace the mess

A small amount of thought before and during the journey can help. But long car trips are hard on kids – which makes them hard on parents.

So embrace the mess and the inevitable moments of grumpiness. Trapped in a car together, this is an opportunity to know your child differently and for them to know you differently. Cars can be great places to discuss tricky topics with children (and teenagers) in non-confronting ways. Try asking some deeper questions, such as: what are the best things in life? What do you wish we did more of as a family? Or, do you think being fair is important?

There are chances here to make happy memories – even if the times in between feel a bit like torture. Läs mer…

Christmas is coming, and with it many challenges for parents of young children.

You likely have one festive event after another, late nights, party food, way too much stimulation, tired kids and tired parents. All of which can culminate in what seems like an endless meltdown.

Yes, it’s the “Christmas crankies” – a far cry from the “festive friendlies” we are all conditioned to expect.

So, what can parents do to manage, or indeed prevent, the cranky times?

Routines are your friend

Routines are very important for children. They help them to know what to expect and what is expected of them while also helping them to feel safe.

Keeping to all your routines is almost impossible over the festive season (and it’s OK to be flexible to accommodate friends, family and celebrations).

But try and hold on to as many as you can. Try and stick to your bedtimes, or make sure you have the same breakfast and lunch if you are going out for a different dinner.

Even at a party, balance the festive food with healthier options. For example, have some carrot sticks next to the chip bowl and make sure the kids have some water (and not constant lemonade).

Try to stick to as many of your normal routines as you can over the festive season.
Cottonbro Studio/ Shutterstock, CC BY

Read more:
8 tips to navigate Christmas if you have a fussy eater or child with allergies

Prepare kids for what will happen

Given there are so many changes to the routine, it can also be helpful to prepare children for what is coming up.

You could have a schedule somewhere for the whole family to see. This can let children see what is happening, which can help to minimise any anxiety associated with uncertainty. The schedule can include activities such as social events, the date relatives are arriving, and what is happening on Christmas Day (aside from opening presents).

Some children might also feel anxious when meeting new people or relatives, or going to unfamiliar places during the festive season. Having a clear explanation and time limit for these events can also be helpful. For example, saying something such as,

tonight we are going to your aunty’s house, you haven’t seen this aunty for a year but her name is Mary. We will be there for an hour [demonstrate on the clock] and have some dessert. Then we’re coming home, and you’ll get to read your book and then off to bed.

It can also be helpful to space out some of the activities so there is some rest time in between.

Ok, but we still have a meltdown here

Despite your best efforts, it might be genuinely hard to avoid a meltdown. When a child is overwhelmed, stressed, and/or fatigued, the brain’s panic button (the amygdala) can be set off. This is what US clinical professor of psychiatry Dan Siegel refers to as “flipping the lid”.

As Siegel explains, the frontal lobe (responsible for self-control), loses control over the limbic system (which contains the amygdala, and is involved in the emotional control of behaviour).

The brain’s ability to control emotions is relatively immature in younger children, and can take at least until the early 20s to fully mature.

This means in times of fatigue, stress, new and/or over stimulating environments, “self-control” can be challenged or even lost.

Children find it much more difficult to control their emotions than adults.
Cryptographer/ Shutterstock

What to do in a meltdown

Parents can act as the proxy frontal lobe, helping their child to restore balance between their thoughts, feelings, and the demands of a sometimes chaotic Christmas setting.

In these circumstances, the child needs their parent(s) to stay connected, and to use a calm voice to bring them to a more balanced (or regulated) state. Parents could say something such as,

I can see you are feeling upset right now. It’s OK – there is a lot going on at Christmas time. I am here. Do you need a cuddle?

Remember, a child’s behaviour is not random – it is a vehicle to communicate a need. Maybe they need sleep, a drink, comfort, and/or some downtime.

So be on the lookout for those cranky cues so that the festivities can be enjoyed by all. Läs mer…

With billions of children around the world anxiously waiting for their presents, Father Christmas (or Santa) and his reindeer must be travelling at breakneck speeds to deliver them all in one night.

But did you know that light from an object travelling at high speeds changes colour? This is thanks to what’s called the Doppler effect – the way speed affects the length of waves, such as sound or light.

When light changes colour due to speed, we call it redshift or blueshift, depending on the direction. If we could catch the colour of Rudolph’s famous red nose with one of our telescopes, we could use the Doppler effect to measure the speed of Father Christmas.

Here’s how that might work – and why this effect is also a crucial tool in astronomy.

How far do Father Christmas and his reindeer need to travel?

Strap into your sleigh for some light Christmas maths. I’ve updated a method proposed in 1998 to work out how fast Rudolph and Father Christmas need to travel to deliver all the required presents (you can find my working here).

There are approximately 2 billion children under the age of 14 years in the world. Approximately 93% of countries observe Christmas in some way, so we’ll assume 93% of all children do.

We know Father Christmas only delivers presents to those who truly believe. If we assume the same percentage of believers by age group as found in the United States, that leaves us with approximately 690 million children.

With about 2.3 children per household worldwide, he has to visit roughly 300 million households.

Spreading those households evenly across 69 million square kilometres of habitable land area on Earth (taking oceans, deserts, Antarctica and mountains into account), Father Christmas has to travel 144 million kilometres on Christmas Eve. That’s nearly the same as the distance from Earth to the Sun.

Santa’s reindeer have a lot of ground to cover on Christmas Eve.
Juhie Sugand/Shutterstock

Luckily, Father Christmas has time zones on his side, with 35 hours between dropping off the first and the last present.

Let’s say Father Christmas uses half his time to zip in and out of each household, which gives him 17.5 hours total or 0.2 milliseconds per household. He uses the other 17.5 hours for travelling between households.

My hypothesis is that he needs to travel at a whopping 8.2 million kilometres per hour, or 0.8% of the speed of light, to drop off all the presents.

How can we measure Father Christmas’ speed with Rudolph’s nose?

Let’s say we want to actually measure the speed of Father Christmas’ journey to see if it matches the hypothesis.

A standard speed camera wouldn’t do the trick. But we have telescopes on Earth that can measure the colour of something by using spectroscopy.

Father Christmas’ lead reindeer, Rudolph, has a famously ruby-red nose. If we could observe Father Christmas with telescopes, we could use the colour of Rudolph’s nose to measure his speed using the Doppler effect, which describes how speed affects wavelength. That’s because Rudolph’s nose wouldn’t look quite so red if he were travelling at high speeds.

What is the Doppler effect? A good example is the sound of an ambulance. When it goes past you on the street, its sound is higher pitched as it approaches, and lower pitched when it drives away. This is because as the ambulance travels towards you, the sound waves are compressed to a shorter wavelength, and a shorter wavelength means a higher pitch.

The Doppler effect is the change in frequency of a wave as its source moves relative to the observer.
sketchplanations, CC BY-NC

The same thing happens with light. If a source of light is travelling away from you, the wavelength is stretched out and becomes more red or “redshifted”. If the source of light is travelling towards you, the wavelength is compressed and the light becomes more blue or “blueshifted”.

Rudolph the redshifted reindeer

Red-coloured light has a wavelength of 694.3 nanometres when it’s “at rest”, which means it isn’t moving. That would be the measurement of a stationary Rudolph.

Let’s say Father Christmas would prefer to deliver presents fast, so he can relax with some milk and biscuits at the end of the night. He gets his reindeer to run much faster than I hypothesised, at 10% of the speed of light or 107 million kilometres per hour.

At this speed, Rudolph’s nose would be blueshifted to bright orange (624 nanometres) as he was flying towards your home.

And it would be redshifted to a very dark red (763 nanometres) as he was moving away. The darkest red human eyes can see is around 780 nanometres. At these speeds, Rudolph’s nose would be almost black.

Blueshifted Rudolph, Rudolph at rest, and redshifted Rudolph. The blue and redshifted colours were calculated for Rudolph travelling at 10% of the speed of light. Brown is a tricky colour since it’s a de-saturated orange. So the blue and redshifted colours for Rudolph’s fur and antlers are approximations. When Rudolph’s nose is redshifted at that speed, his nose is such a dark red that it’s practically black.
Dr Laura Driessen

The Doppler effect has a role in astronomy

Astronomers use the Doppler effect to measure how things move in space. We can use it to see if a star is orbiting another star – what’s known as a binary system.

We can also use it to find exoplanets (planets orbiting stars other than our Sun) using a method called “radial velocity”. We can even use it to measure the distances to far away galaxies.

There are some things science just can’t explain, and one of those is the magic of Father Christmas. But if astronomers ever catch Rudolph with their telescopes, they’ll be sure to let everyone know. Läs mer…

Feeling unsure about your child going to a sleepover is completely normal. You might be worried about how well you know the host family, how they manage supervision or screen time, and even safety.

Sleepovers can carry risk through inadequate supervision or exposure to unsafe behaviours such as bullying, coercion, sexually inappropriate behaviour, or abuse from other children or adults.

These risks are heightened when there’s a lack of clear rules and oversight.

But in safe environments, sleepovers can also provide opportunities for children to build independence and strengthen friendships.

We research child safety. Here are a few strategies help to reduce risk and make the sleepover more successful.

Get to know the host family

Don’t be afraid to suggest a daytime playdate first.

This will give you a chance to chat to the family, get a sense of their household routines and parenting, and observe how comfortable your child seems with them.

An “everything but the sleep” sleepover can be a great starting point. This allows your child to enjoy the excitement of dinner, games and bonding time without the added stress of staying overnight.

Setting a prearranged pickup time can help anxious children (or parents) feel more comfortable.

Don’t be afraid to suggest you start with a daytime playdate first.
K2L Family Stock/Shutterstock

Talk to the host family

When discussing the sleepover with the host family, it’s helpful to share that you have an open and honest communication style with your child.

This not only reassures the other parents that you’re engaged in your child’s safety but also subtly signals that you’ll follow up after the sleepover to ask how it went. For example you could mention:

how you talk to your child about respecting boundaries, including personal space during activities like going to the toilet or showering
your rules or expectations around use of devices and the internet
your ideas around appropriate bedtime attire for children (and for the adults who might be called on during the night)
that you plan to remind your child of these boundaries before the sleepover
that you’ll check in with your child afterwards to hear about their experience.

It’s OK to ask the host family about their approach to supervision and safety. You might ask:

who will be at home and who is supervising the kids? What adults will be present?
will there be other siblings or adolescents present?
what are the planned activities?
where will the children be sleeping?
how will they be supervised?
what is their approach to internet use and devices?

These questions don’t need to feel intrusive. Framing them as part of ensuring everyone has a great experience helps keep the conversation positive and collaborative.

Talk to your child about safety

Before the sleepover, reinforce with your child the importance of personal boundaries and respect for others.

After the sleepover, follow through with open-ended conversations. Ask your child how they felt, what they enjoyed, and if there was anything they didn’t like.

These casual but intentional conversations strengthen your child’s confidence in speaking up and help you stay attuned to their experiences.

Children should understand:

their body belongs to them and they have the right to say “no”
privacy rules around private parts, bathrooms, appropriate sleeping attire, and other private spaces
how to handle conflict with their friends, such as disagreements over sharing toys or activities
how to stay safe online (including while gaming), such as not sharing personal details, not talking with strangers, and what content is appropriate.

Let them know they should feel comfortable speaking up if something doesn’t feel right or if they are unsure. Come up with ways together to say no excuse themselves if a situation makes them uncomfortable.

Find out what the host family’s policy is on screen time and online gaming.
Silvia Moraleja/Shutterstock

Create an exit strategy

Having a backup plan is essential, especially for younger children or first-time sleepovers.

Let your child know it’s OK to leave early if they’re feeling homesick or uncomfortable.

Remind them they can contact you at any time for any reason, no matter how small it seems. Discuss this with the host parents in advance to ensure they understand your approach.

Ensure your child has a way to contact you. If they don’t have their own device, coordinate with the host parents ways for your child to use their phone or landline.

Another option is to set up pre-arranged check-ins, where the host parents help your child call or text you at an agreed time.

You can also choose a code word with your child – if they say it during your chat, it means you’ll come and collect them.

Reassuring them they have an “out” can give children the confidence to fully enjoy the experience.

Assess your child’s readiness

Not every child is ready for a sleepover at the same age. Consider their emotional maturity and comfort level. Ask them directly how they are feeling – excited and eager or hesitant and nervous?

Can they manage basic self care tasks? Have they successfully spent time away from home before, such as with a relative or close friend?

If your child is hesitant, starting with shorter visits or sleepovers at your own home might be better until they feel more comfortable.

Sleepovers can be a fun part of childhood, and can foster independence, friendship, and resilience.

It’s worth taking the time to prepare. It’s OK to start small, ask questions and trust your instincts. Läs mer…

Videos of children opening boxes of toys and playing with them have become a feature of online marketing – making stars out of children as young as two.

Twelve-year-old influencer Ryan Kaji, for example, earns US$30 million a year on YouTube leading one of the most popular children’s channels. His empire was built on toy unboxing.

An influencer (child or adult) with more than one million followers can earn upwards of $20,000 for one sponsored post, while a person with under 100,000 followers on a social media platform may still earn as much as $4,000 for each sponsored post.

But the rise of kidfluencers around the globe raises questions about the blurred lines between play and labour, independence and control, privacy, profit and online success.

Our research examines these questions. By analysing existing research to clearly identify the challenges faced by child toy unboxers, we can guide future researchers and governments to best support children who are living parts of their lives online.

YouTube as a career goal

A 2023 global survey of children aged between eight and 12 found they were three times more likely to aspire to be a YouTuber (29%) than an astronaut (11%).

Advertisers have taken note. Social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube collectively earned nearly $11 billion in advertising revenue in 2022 from United States-based users younger than 18.

Toy unboxing has emerged as particularly popular, generating massive revenue and global audiences. These types of videos involved children who unbox, play and review toys.

Unboxing videos became popular in the 2010s, with content creators unpacking products such as tech gadgets and fashion items. Toy unboxing is now one of the highest-earning genres on YouTube.

Unboxing videos have become popular on video platforms such as YouTube.

Work, play or somewhere in between

At first glance, unboxing videos seem to follow a simple entertainer-audience relationship. The kidfluencers emotionally engage with young viewers, who are then inspired to create their own toy wish lists.

But behind the fun is a world of complexity often not obvious for young viewers (and sometimes older viewers too).

These children are hired by companies – and managed by their parents – to promote toys and other products in an job-like arrangement. This has raised concerns about child exploitation, privacy risks and unethical work practices.

But current child labour laws in New Zealand and elsewhere do not see child influencers as a type of “child worker”. And it is difficult to do so.

While kidfluencers seem to be genuinely playing with the sponsored toy, their content is managed by contracts with advertisers, and expectations set by their parents. Therefore it can’t fully be labelled as “play”.

At the same time, calling these practices purely “labour” ignores the real excitement children feel when creating sponsored content.

In 2020, the French government labelled kidfluencers a “grey zone” – where the child is not officially working, but nevertheless spends a significant amount of time making videos, or derives a significant level of income from them.

Protecting children

Another complexity is that some social media platforms require users to be over 13, yet some kidfluencers are toddlers, with parents creating and managing their accounts, including producing and posting their children’s online content.

While parents play a big role in managing their child’s online presence, the child drives the toy sales, creating tension between parental control and a child’s independence.

And behind this all is the issue of money. A child’s involvement – and success – is driven by the wants and needs of advertisers. This raises questions about how much of a say the child really has in terms of creating content.

Privacy and online safety are two key issues facing the kidfluencer industry. The more content a child toy unboxer posts online, the more popular and profitable they can become. But at the same time, popularity brings very real risks.

Young female unboxers – and female kidfluencers in general – have been targeted by online predators. To stay safe, some kidfluencers use fake names and don’t share their location. But these strategies are not perfect.

Current (and proposed) policies rarely balance protecting child stars with supporting their success in sponsored content.

In recent years, however, France and individual states in the US have created laws to protect the kidfluencers’ earnings.

All governments should follow suit and create policies that recognise the challenges of the kidfluencer industry, and which support and protect the children involved. Läs mer…

Exactly 50 years ago, on Christmas Eve 1974, Cyclone Tracy struck Darwin and left a trail of devastation. It remains one of the most destructive natural events in Australia’s history.

Wind speeds reached more than 200 kilometres per hour. The cyclone claimed 71 lives and injured nearly 650, and left 70% of the city’s buildings flattened.

If you are about 60 or older, chances are you remember that day, even if the cyclone did not directly affect you.

The 50th anniversary of this disaster offers a crucial opportunity to reflect on how Cyclone Tracy not only reshaped Darwin but marked a turning point in Australia’s approach to disaster resilience.

Cyclone Tracy marked a turning point in Australia’s approach to disaster resilience.
AP

The nightmare before Christmas

Cyclone Tracy was initially a relatively small, slow-moving system. But after meandering around the Arafura Sea for three days, it rounded Bathurst Island and headed towards Darwin, getting more ferocious as it approached the coast.

Some Darwin residents later reported not knowing a cyclone was approaching. They included Keith and Christine Pattinson, whose daughter Courtney Zagel later recounted their story:

They told me […] the rain started coming sideways through the louvered windows. The power went out, and everything turned black.

Keith stood against the doors to try and keep them shut, then suddenly there was a huge explosion. The roof of the house flew off and the walls fell in. Christine was thrown back into a glass cabinet. Keith was trapped beneath one of the fallen walls.

The couple spent the night in the neighbour’s house. Christine was later evacuated for urgent medical treatment.

Resident Andrea Mikfelder would later write of the cyclone’s aftermath:

our house […] was still standing. It was a brick home, but the roof was gone. The neighbour’s house looked like a dollhouse, split in half, while the next house was completely flattened.

Cyclone Tracy destroyed 10,000 homes.
AP

The Bureau of Meteorology would later estimate peak wind gusts of between 217 and 240 kilometres an hour. A report published in 2010, employing more advanced techniques, suggested even higher speeds.

Tracy left about 10,000 houses destroyed and 40,000 people homeless from a city population of 47,000. The damage bill at the time totalled A$800 million.

More than 30,000 residents were evacuated, about 60% of whom never returned. The airlift operation remains the largest in Australia’s history.

Darwin residents being evacuated on a US Air Force plane after Cyclone Tracy. About 60% of residents airlifted out of Darwin never returned.
AP

What has changed since?

In the 50 years since the tragedy, authorities have become much better able to forecast tropical cyclones. They can now warn of a cyclone’s projected path, and the likelihood of it reaching land, several days in advance.

Cyclone Tracy reshaped Australia approach to disaster response and preparedness. The Natural Disasters Organisation – today known as Emergency Management Australia – had been established a few months before the cyclone, to coordinate national-level disaster relief efforts.

In the 50 years since the tragedy, authorities have become much better able to forecast tropical cyclones.
Bureau of Meteorology

But its role and authority were still evolving. Tracy served as a “reality check” for the young organisation.

Cyclone Tracy revealed weaknesses in disaster response at all levels of government. The scale of the damage quickly outstripped local and state resources. The federal government was forced to step in to oversee mass evacuations of over 30,000 people and lead recovery efforts.

However, the Commonwealth lacked clear powers to intervene in national emergencies at the time, complicating its response effort. Its powers have since increased.

Cyclone Tracy also gave impetus to disaster management legislation, such as Queensland’s State Counter-Disaster Organisation Act, established in 1975. Such reforms set the stage for the more structured and integrated approach to disaster response now in place across Australia.

Building back better

Darwin’s devastation prompted more stringent building codes across Australia.

Even though Darwin is naturally prone to cyclonic winds, few structures had been built to withstand them.

Afterwards, regulations requiring all reconstruction to adhere to updated cyclone-resistant building standards were introduced. It meant, for example, screws rather than nails must be used to hold down corrugated iron roofing, and buildings must be clad to withstand airborne debris.

Thanks to different building rules, Cyclone Marcus caused relatively little damage in Darwin in 2018.
Glenn Campbell

Similar regulations were implemented for new construction in other cyclone-prone areas of Australia.

Today, Darwin is a far more resilient city. In 2018 it was hit by Cyclone Marcus, the most powerful storm since Tracy with wind gusts of 130 kilometres per hour. No lives were lost, and relatively few structures were damaged.

Getting to grips with the mental toll

Cyclone Tracy had a deep psychological impact on survivors.
AP

Cyclone Tracy left deep mental scars on survivors.

A study of residents who were evacuated to Sydney after Tracy revealed 58% displayed signs of psychological disturbance in the days following the cyclone. Women and older individuals were particularly affected.

Decades on, survivors described ongoing anxiety and depression, often triggered by the sounds of wind and rain.

Today, the psychological impact of natural disasters – on survivors, volunteers and first responders – is much better understood.

Initiatives such as the National Disaster Mental Health and Wellbeing Framework reflect this progress. It recognises that mental health needs after extreme events are complex, and support is needed at the individual and community level.

Volunteers are key

Cyclone Tracy also showed how community efforts and volunteers are essential in disaster recovery.

In the cyclone’s aftermath, local emergency services were overwhelmed. Volunteers quickly became the backbone of the relief effort, setting a precedent for future disaster responses.

Today, volunteers – alongside established relief organisations – still provide food, shelter, medical care and other crucial aid after disasters. As extreme weather becomes more frequent and severe under climate change, the need for community mobilisation will only grow.

The recent Senate inquiry into Australia’s Disaster Resilience recognises the ongoing need to strengthen volunteer participation and management in disaster scenarios.

Volunteers help clean out a home damaged by Cyclone Jasper in 2023.
NUNO AVENDANO

A more resilient Australia

Under climate change, tropical cyclones conditions may occur less frequently. This means Australia is expected to experience fewer tropical cyclones in future.

But a greater proportion of those that do hit are expected to be high-intensity, with stronger winds and rain.

The tragedy of Cyclone Tracy means Australia’s disaster preparedness is more advanced than it might have been. However, building a disaster-resilient nation requires continuous efforts to strengthen infrastructure, refine evacuation plans, and address vulnerabilities in communities.

Achieving this is a responsibility which should be shared between governments and communities alike. Läs mer…

As the holiday season approaches, many people ponder the same question: how can you give a gift that truly stands out? For some, gift-giving is a genuine joy, while for others, it feels more like a chore. In the rush to find something suitable, many of us have resorted to the last-minute gift card, whether for a spa day at one of 253 partner wellness centers or a couple of laps around a race track in a luxury sports car.

No matter the choice, the holiday season often involves a significant financial commitment. According to a CSA survey for Cofidis (Christmas 2024), French consumers plan to spend an average of €497 on holiday expenses, including €323 for gifts and €132 for food. While the monetary value of a gift undoubtedly plays a role in its appreciation, it’s not the only factor. Our research highlights a less obvious yet impactful aspect of gift-giving: vicarious pride.

The value of personal investment

Vicarious pride arises when recipients mirror the pride felt by the gift-giver after putting thought and effort into creating something unique. A gift holds greater value when the giver invests personally in its selection or creation. Personalisation, whether by adding initials, choosing specific colours, or selecting scents for a custom perfume, is a powerful way to enhance a gift’s significance. It transforms a mass-produced item into a unique and meaningful object tailored to the recipient. In a market saturated with generic products, personalized gifts stand out as a thoughtful and intentional choice

Sometimes, friends simply buy gifts; other times, they go the extra mile by “creating” a gift that reflects their relationship with the recipient. By doing so, they showcase creativity and effort, crafting something unique that fosters pride and strengthens the bond.

Brands leading the way

Pride doesn’t stem solely from one’s own achievements – it can also come from appreciating the effort of others. That’s why the “best gifts” evoke joy and surprise while requiring sacrifice and altruism from the giver. Personalisation elevates a gift from an object to a meaningful experience.

Recognising this, many brands now offer platforms for customising items ranging from watches and mugs to calendars and T-shirts. For example, 24Bottles allows customers to add text, logos, or designs to their lightweight stainless steel bottles, aligning them with their eco-friendly ethos. Similarly, French cosmetic brand Aroma Zone offers natural ingredients for DIY skincare and shampoo customisation. These platforms not only cater to personalisation trends but also create opportunities for brands to connect deeply with their customers.

Making personalisation simpler

For personalised gifts to become a more accessible option, brands need to simplify the customisation process – especially during the hectic holiday season. Streamlining this process can help alleviate the time crunch many shoppers face. Brands can also enhance the gifting experience by encouraging personalisation through thoughtful details, such as labeling items with the giver’s name or sharing a brief story about the customisation process. These small touches reinforce the connection between the giver and the recipient, making the gift even more memorable.

Research shows that recipients tend to cherish personalised gifts longer. The emotional connection to the item, given the effort behind its creation, often leads recipients to handle it with care, repair it if it breaks, and delay replacing it. Personalised gifts are no ordinary objects – they carry sentimental value and foster a deeper bond between the recipient and the giver.

Whether it’s a custom chocolate bar or a handmade piece of jewelry, well-thought-out gifts create lasting impressions. They embody care, creativity, and effort, leaving a meaningful impact that goes beyond the holiday season. Läs mer…