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The Parenthood

@theparenthood

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Fighting for Aussie parents
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You returned to work before you were ready after having a baby. Childcare is one of your biggest bills. THE biggest bill aside from rent or the mortgage.

You thought your employer would offer flexibility, but since returning you’ve been quietly sidelined.

These aren’t exceptional scenarios.

They’re entirely ordinary. And they make life impossibly hard for families. And that is utterly unacceptable.

Parents in Australia literally have the future in their hands. You matter and your voice should carry weight. But does it? Are the needs of parents shaping national policy, budget decisions and workplace standards?

The Parenthood exists to ensure they do.

Since 2013, more than 80,000 parents and carers across every state and territory have joined our national, not-for-profit movement to influence decision-makers directly.

Through media, parliamentary engagement and strategic advocacy, The Parenthood represents families in the rooms where laws and policies are set.

Our focus is clear:

✔ Adequate and equitable paid parental leave

✔ Universal access to high quality early childhood education and care delivered by a professionally paid and qualified workforce

✔ Family-friendly workplaces that value parenting among men and women.

Because when parents are properly supported, children can thrive and communities are stronger.

Comment ‘PARENTPOWER’ to join us and become part of the movement shaping the future of family life in Australia. taken in Australia by @theparenthood

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7 months ago

Our fight for parents is personal. It doesn’t start in Parliament.

It starts with mums crying on the kitchen floor wondering how they can do it.

It starts with new dads leaving the house filled with dread, desperately wanting to stay home with their baby and partner.

It starts with mums and dads being sidelined when they ask for the flexibility they need.

It starts with two year old sleep regression, bed wetting, wait lists, fee increases and refreshing your bank balance at midnight.

Georgie Dent, mum of three, is CEO of the The Parenthood. Her leadership was shaped inside the same system you are navigating right now … the patchwork of early childhood education and care, the costs, the pressure to perform while carrying such a heavy, invisible load.

The Parenthood exists because “coping” is not good enough.

We are a national, not-for-profit advocacy group working to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent and raise a child.

We’re fighting for one year of paid parental leave, quality affordable early education and care and family-friendly work. When parents are properly supported, children thrive and communities are stronger.

Let’s focus our decision makers on what’s really important. Comment “PARENTPOWER” to join us. taken in Australia by @theparenthood

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7 months ago

Leaving at 3pm shouldn’t cost you your career. Two incomes shouldn’t mean financial stress. Returning to work before you’re ready shouldn’t be the norm.

In the 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗡𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟲 we're asking what feels most urgent for your family right now.

COMMENT: “𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗨𝗣” to share your experience.

Your responses inform advocacy priorities, meetings with decision-makers and national campaigns. This is how parents’ realities reach the Prime Minister, ministers and employers.

We are The Parenthood: a national, not-for-profit advocacy group working to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent.

We're fighting for one year of paid parental leave, quality affordable early education and care and family-friendly work. When parents are properly supported, children can thrive and communities are stronger.

What would make parenting easier for your family in 2026?

Add your voice. COMMENT: “𝗦𝗣𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗨𝗣” by @theparenthood

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8 months ago

Hi 👋 I really hoped my Press Club speech would strike a chord. But never, in my wildest dreams, did I imagine it would go viral.

What’s stayed with me most are the messages from parents saying: “I feel seen!” “I feel heard!” “This is my life!”

If that’s what brought you here, welcome! I am SO glad you found us.

My name is Georgie and I lead The Parenthood, a community of parents and carers pushing for longer paid parental leave, affordable, quality early childhood education and workplaces that recognise care. And I’d love you to join us.

So many parents have told us they felt heard. Now we need to make sure decision makers hear you too.

What is raising a family costing you? Your income? Your job? Your wellbeing? The chance to have another child?

Share your story in our two-minute survey and join our campaign community through the link in our bio. Share only what you feel comfortable sharing.

You can also register your interest in our November online Parents’ Town Hall. We’re planning a start after bedtime, so you can join from your couch.

Thank you for being here. Let’s make this moment count. by @theparenthood

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11 hours ago

Raising kids is hard. This hard isn’t inevitable.⁠
⁠
At the National Press Club, The Parenthood CEO Georgie Dent made the case for something millions of Australian parents already know: raising children will always require time, money, patience and compromise. But there is a difference between the work of raising a child and the unnecessary difficulty created by systems designed for another era.⁠
⁠
Over the last 20 years, the cost of running a family has risen 134%, while the money landing in household bank accounts has risen 102%. Over the same period, childcare has grown from 27% to 33% of the total cost of raising a child.⁠
⁠
That gap isn’t parents being bad at budgeting. And struggling to make it all work doesn’t mean you are failing.⁠
⁠
As Georgie put it: “No parent can meditate their way out of a childcare desert or meal prep their way out of housing stress or time manage their way into a 25th hour.”⁠
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Parents are responsible for raising their children. But the conditions in which they do it are created collectively. When millions of families face the same obstacles, it is a policy failure with profound economic and social consequences.⁠
⁠
We are The Parenthood: a national, not-for-profit advocacy group working to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent.⁠
⁠
We’re fighting for:⁠
⁠
✔ One year of paid parental leave⁠
⁠
✔ High-quality, affordable and accessible early childhood education and care⁠
⁠
✔ Family-friendly workplaces⁠
⁠
When parents are properly supported, children can thrive and communities are stronger.⁠
⁠
Australia cannot afford for raising a family to be unaffordable.⁠
⁠
What would make raising a family feel more sustainable for you? by @theparenthood

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4 days ago

I asked @senatormariellesmith to describe early motherhood in three words. She said wondrous, exhausting and tough. Same.

Marielle chairs the Senate Select Committee on Women’s Health, which is looking at postpartum care, women’s pain and fertility. And they want to hear from you.

Yes, you.

The one already thinking “other women had it so much worse than me.”

💌 You don’t need to be an expert. Think of it as writing a letter.
🕰️ There’s no time limit on your experience. Whether your baby is 12 weeks or 12 years old, your story counts.
✨ The good experiences matter too. They show what care should look like for everyone.
🔒 You can ask to have your name withheld, or keep your submission confidential.

For me, I can’t think of a more important support for maternal health than time. More time for mums and dads in that first year, so mums can actually recover and both parents can build their bond with their baby. That’s what I’ll be telling the committee.

Submissions close this Friday, 9 October.

And if you’re reading this one-handed with a baby asleep on you, or while juggling school holidays, thinking there is no way you’ll get it done by Friday: you can contact the committee and ask for a short extension. Please don’t count yourself out because of a deadline. Link in bio to make a submission. Then send this to the friend whose story needs to be heard. #postpartum #fourthtrimester #maternalhealth #womenshealth #newmum mumlife birthstory matrescence taken in Australia by @theparenthood

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4 days ago

What could change if partners were supported to take significant time off when a baby is born?
More support for mothers. More opportunity to share the care. More time to bond. And perhaps, over time, a shift in the traditional expectations around who takes on the majority of caregiving within a family.

In this conversation, Tegan from The Parenthood talks about why dedicated, adequately paid leave for partners matters, and the barriers that still make taking leave difficult for many families.

Because if we want partners to be genuinely involved from the very beginning, we need systems that make it possible.

Listen to Episode 29 of The Postpartum Season, a conversation with Tegan from @theparenthood , wherever you get your podcasts. by @theparenthood

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4 days ago

The maths doesn’t work. Every school holiday period, parents are expected to solve the same predictable gap between work and care.⁠
⁠
Australian employees in full-time and part-time roles typically get four weeks of annual leave. School-aged children get around 12 weeks of school holidays. ⁠
⁠
Even when parents take leave separately, it often isn’t enough to cover the holidays — let alone leave time for illness, appointments or a break together. Work demands continue as if nothing has changed.⁠
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And this isn’t a fringe problem.⁠
⁠
ABS data for June 2025 shows 73% of the 2.2 million couple families with children aged 0–14 have both parents employed.⁠
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Holiday care can help, but it comes with another equation.⁠
⁠
Fees vary between programs, and excursions can add to the daily cost. For families with multiple children, or limited access to programs, the cost and logistics quickly compound.⁠
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Then there are the parents who cannot work from home. Nurses, educators, tradies, retail and hospitality workers don’t have the option of joining a meeting while the kids are in the next room.⁠
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So families patch it together: annual leave, grandparents, holiday care, altered hours, working around children and screens when there are few other options.⁠
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And kids experience that scramble too.⁠
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School holidays aren’t a personal failure to plan better. They expose a structural mismatch between what families need and systems built for another time.⁠
⁠
Family-friendly workplaces matter because sustainable work and family life require more than parents becoming increasingly skilled at “the juggle”.⁠
⁠
We are The Parenthood: a national, not-for-profit advocacy group working to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent.⁠
⁠
We’re fighting for:⁠
⁠
✔ One year of paid parental leave⁠
⁠
✔ High-quality, affordable and accessible early childhood education and care⁠
⁠
✔ Family-friendly workplaces⁠
⁠
When parents are properly supported, children can thrive and communities are stronger.⁠
⁠
How does your family make the school holiday maths work? by @theparenthood

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5 days ago

Parenting maths doesn’t add up: kids get around 12 weeks of school holidays; full-time employees typically get 4 weeks of annual leave. School finishes at 3pm; the working day doesn’t.
ㅤ
ABC analysis found that two parents working full-time with primary-school-aged children need to find an additional 814 hours of care each year, even if they take every week of annual leave separately.
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That’s more than 107 full-time working days.
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As our CEO Georgie Dent said in her National Press Club address:
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“The gap between how work is organised and how children actually live does not close by itself. In every household, somebody absorbs it. And we know a fair bit about who.”
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What we call flexibility is too often a woman fitting paid work around everything else she is still expected to carry.
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The result is an old pattern that persists: men earn more, women care more.
ㅤ
We are The Parenthood: a national, not-for-profit advocacy group working to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent.
ㅤ
We’re fighting for:
ㅤ
✔ One year of paid parental leave
ㅤ
✔ High-quality, affordable and accessible early childhood education and care
ㅤ
✔ Family-friendly workplaces
ㅤ
When parents are properly supported, children can thrive and communities are stronger.
ㅤ
What would make work and family life fit together better for you? by @theparenthood

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7 days ago

The pressure on Australian parents is not confined to work, childcare, household budgets or the endless logistics of family life. It takes a toll on relationships too.
ㅤ
As The Parenthood CEO, Georgie Dent put it: “I know how it feels to appear capable while being completely overwhelmed. To love your children fiercely and still struggle to make it all work.”
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That struggle matters. Parents should have enough time, support and breathing room to enjoy their families and each other**, rather than spend these years constantly trying to solve** the next impossible equation.
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We are The Parenthood: a national, not-for-profit advocacy group working to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent.
ㅤ
We’re fighting for:
ㅤ
✔ One year of paid parental leave that families can afford to take
ㅤ
✔ High-quality, affordable and accessible early childhood education and care
ㅤ
✔ Family-friendly workplaces
ㅤ
When parents are properly supported, children can thrive and communities are stronger. by @theparenthood

157

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8 days ago

“Raising children will always require time, money, patience and compromise. But there is a difference between the inherent work of raising a child and the unnecessary difficulty created by systems designed for another era.” — Georgie Dent, CEO of The Parenthood

This line from Georgie Dent’s recent National Press Club of Australia address has stayed with me.

Because when parenting feels impossibly hard, it can be so easy to look inward. To wonder why you’re not coping better, why you can’t keep up, or what you’re doing wrong.

But as Tegan Gilchrist from The Parenthood says in tomorrow’s bonus episode:
“You often feel like you are the one that’s failing and not keeping up… You are not the one that is failing. It is a system that is failing parents.”

Tomorrow, I’m sharing a special bonus episode of The Postpartum Season with Tegan, one of the Senior Directors at The Parenthood, about the realities facing families and their current campaign to create a system in Australia that better supports parents.

We talk about paid parental leave, the cost and availability of early childhood education and care, flexible work, and why supporting families shouldn’t rely on parents simply finding a way to carry more.

Bonus episode out tomorrow. by @theparenthood

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9 days ago

Raising a family is personal. Making it possible is national.
ㅤ
At the National Press Club, The Parenthood CEO Georgie Dent made the case for something millions of Australian parents already know: raising children will always require time, money, patience and compromise. But it should not be this hard.
ㅤ
The cost of running a family has risen 134%, while the money landing in household bank accounts has risen 102%. Raising one child now costs around $17,800 a year. For two or more, it is more than $36,500.
ㅤ
And parents are running out of more than money.
ㅤ
They are running out of time, attention, space and energy.
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This is why Australia needs a pathway to 52 weeks of paid parental leave, moving towards replacement wages. It needs universal, high-quality and affordable early childhood education and care. And it needs family-friendly workplaces that treat caregiving as a normal part of working life.
ㅤ
These are not generous extras.
ㅤ
They are the infrastructure required for a country that depends on parents being able to both raise their families and provide for them.
ㅤ
We are The Parenthood: a national, not-for-profit advocacy group working to make Australia the best place in the world to be a parent.
ㅤ
We’re fighting for:
ㅤ
✔ One year of paid parental leave
ㅤ
✔ High-quality, affordable and accessible early childhood education and care
ㅤ
✔ Family-friendly workplaces
ㅤ
When parents are properly supported, children can thrive and communities are stronger.
ㅤ
Australia cannot afford for raising a family to be unaffordable.
ㅤ
👉 Comment 'PARENTPOWER' to join us.
ㅤ
What would make raising a family feel more sustainable for you? taken in Australia by @theparenthood

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11 days ago