Patricia Edgar & Don Edgar
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Books
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Recent Articles
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 Peak: Reinventing Middle Age. Society is changing faster than policies and attitudes are keeping up with. People are living longer, retiring from work later, and remaining active and valuable contributors to the community well into and beyond their 50s and 60s. Peak: Reinventing Middle Age focuses on Australians in the 50–75 age bracket: their contributions to society and their needs and expectations for their own lives. It is an insightful look at employment, relationships, education, housing, finances, lifestyles, health and aged care, and the need for reinvention both on a personal level and in terms of social policy. It includes ten short biographies of Australians who have embraced their middle age in a variety of interesting and inspirational ways. They are living fulfilled lives, contributing to their communities and, most importantly, not succumbing to outdated notions of winding down or stepping back from life in this exciting stage of life. More at Text Publishing  In Praise of Ageing. Retirement is not the time to cut all ties and head off to live in a warm climate but rather to ask: Who do I want to be near? How will my relationships be reaffirmed? What do I care about? What can I create and contribute to the world? In Praise of Ageing flyer in pdf format (800KB) 
Read an edited extract Old and Invisible from the Weekend Australian, September 2013, and in pdf format (380KB)
Read Lunch with Patricia Edgar from the Age, September 2013 Listen to the podcast of The Conversation Hour on Ageing with John Faine, ABC Radio, October 11 2013  Big Fat Porkies and Little White Lies. Humorous children's story illustrated by 11 year-old in quirky watercolors. Tim starts telling fibs. He can't work out how his Mum always knows when he lies. Grandma helps Tim learn the difference between 'little white lies' and 'big fat porkies'. Available for purchase at Amazon  The Fairies of Plant Street. An original children’s story by Patricia Edgar based on the actual correspondence between Emily and Ace and the tooth fairies who live in their garden. Gloriously illustrated in vibrant water colors by Don Edgar who has brought fairyland to life. 'When Emily and Ace move house they discover tooth fairies live in their garden. They write to them and become good friends, learning many secrets about fairyland and the ways fairies care for children. All things are possible for those who believe' Available for purchase at Etsy  The New Child: in search of smarter grown-ups, (read review, The Age) by Don & Patricia Edgar, is a challenging book on how Australian childhood is changing, and what needs to be done by parents, teachers and policy-makers to meet the needs of the 21st century child. Every day we read in the media about the crisis of contemporary childhood: today's kids are out of control - too fat, too indulged, too knowing, and too quick to grow up. But is the crisis real or invented? In this fascinating book Don Edgar and Patricia Edgar argue that the crisis is real and has its roots in recent changes in the way we live. Ordinary family life has transformed. Online media technologies in which children are immersed from an early age have proliferated. The growth of individualism, an 'it's all about me' culture, together with the exploitation of children as consumers, have changed childhood dramatically. Between them the Edgars have a wealth of expertise about childhood - as teachers, researchers, policy advisors and in children's media production. In The New Child they offer both parents and policy makers a positive action plan that addresses the whole problem, not just parts of it. This up-to-the-moment book also discusses what parents need to know about new media such as video games, and introduces the latest ideas in early childhood development - the sort of ideas that are guiding the Rudd government in its 'education revolution' and its plan to introduce co-located children's services. "While certain aspects of childhood endure, every era, and especially a rapidly changing one, needs to monitor changes in family, media, and life opportunities. With a welcome blend of social science, common sense, cultural observations and personal reflection, Don Edgar and Patricia Edgar help us to understand the children of today, and of tomorrow." (Howard Gardner, Professor of Cognition and Education, Harvard University) More about The New Child ... |
Patricia Edgar and Don Edgar in The Age/Sydney Morning Herald
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Dr Don Edgar is an internationally known authority on family change,
marriage trends, community development and the work/family balance.
His PhD in Sociology from Stanford University led him to teaching at
the prestigious University of Chicago in the United States,
and at Monash and La Trobe Universities in Australia.
In 1980, he was appointed foundation Director of the
Australian Institute of Family Studies,
where his pioneering research helped shape government policy
towards Australian families over two decades.
He is a member of the Victorian Children's Council.
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Dr Patricia Edgar is without peer in Australia as a media
researcher, producer of children's television, and policy
expert on media. She is the recipient of many awards and the
author of nine books. She taught the first film courses in an
Australian university and was the architect of the
Australian Children's Programme Standards.
As founding Director of the Australian Children's Television
Foundation she kick-started an industry, producing an
outstanding slate of internationally recognized programs.
She founded the World Summit Movement on Media for Children,
which she chairs.
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