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You think your week has been rough?

How’s your week shaping up? If you’ve managed to get through the day without having Elon Musk call you a fascist, you’re doing better than our Prime Minister.

Albo copped the unsolicited character assessment from the eccentric billionaire mid last week, after his government announced plans to fine social media companies that refused to stop the spread of mis- and disinformation on their platforms.

Standing up to space-wandering foreign billionaires aside: there’s a lot going on in the fake news space right now. Keen readers of this newsletter will know I was out on the hustings last week, flitting between Adelaide and Brissie doing some in-classroom demos of Newshounds – our free media literacy resource for primary school kids – for the benefit of Senator Sarah Hanson-Young and Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

Within days and seemingly on cue, the government was announcing plans for a social media ban for Aussie kids. It was light on detail (including from what age the ban would apply, and to which platforms), but nevertheless enough to trigger both howls of protests and a smattering of qualified support.

And while we’re down with any measure that helps to fight the scourge of mis- and disinfo, we still believe whatever steps are taken fundamentally need to be complemented by EDUCATION – as I explain in this op-ed published recently in The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers.

A free classroom resource for primary schools, for instance, that teaches kids how to think critically about information consumption before they get a smartphone in their hands.

If only such a resource existed! Oh wait …

And so, as a little gift to those of you who have read this far down, here’s a sneak peek of the new Newshounds promo video, which we’ll be pushing out more widely in Term 4, when the renovations are complete and Newshounds 2.0 (with an updated user interface and refreshed content) is ready to roll. Enjoy …

PSA: School holidays sorted

This is a Public Service Announcement: Long road trip ahead for the upcoming school holidays? Looking for a kid-friendly distraction that gets your little ones off screens and using their listening comprehension skills?

We’ve got you covered.

Starting today and for the next fortnight, we’re in school holiday mode at Squiz Kids. 1: Because we all live in Queensland and so are following the Sunshine State holiday timetable and 2: Because Christie and I have a mountain of work to do as we prepare for the launch of Newshounds 2.0 (see above).

So, what does that mean for Squiz Kids programming?

Today in the Squiz Kids podcast feed you’ll have received the first of two Bumper School Holiday Kids v Adults S’Quizzes. This week’s is on Myths and Legends – and it’s a good ‘un, if I say so myself.

Next Monday, Christie will be punching out a quiz on Famous Inventors and Inventions.

And then, starting tomorrow and every Tuesday-Friday for the next fortnight, Christie’s famous Squiz Kids Daily Brain Teasers are back, to keep the ol’ cogs turning.

Normal Squiz Kids programming will return on Monday 30 September.

You know the drill: subscribe to Squiz Kids in your fave podcasting app to make sure you don’t miss a thing.

Meanwhile, over on The (Big) Squiz …

Over at Big Squiz, my excellent colleague Kate Watson has just wrapped her first interview series Newsmakers, where she gets to know the people behind the headlines.

The final interview is with Dr Karl – an iconic Aussie personality and ABC’s go-to science guy. The enthusiasm in the office for this interview was unmatched, and when Kate asked several team members, ‘Why?’, they said he gives the sense that no question is a stupid one and there’s a real fascination with how much he knows about stuff.

They chat about his latest endeavour, his memoir – A Periodic Tale. You can listen to the podcast here, on Apple, or on Spotify.

I know that I’ve shared a few of these episodes with you already but now that the series has wrapped up and the school holidays are with us, it might be a good opportunity to check out the many excellent Newsmakers interviews with the likes of Leigh Sales, Chris Ulhmann, Broadsheet’s Nick Shelton, Mamamia’s Mia Freedman and many more.

BOUNCE through the holiday break…*

If I told you that during these school holidays you could get your kids out of the house, and into an activity that will develop their balance, coordination, and agility, you’d say: “Where do I sign up?”

Well – you sign up at your nearest BOUNCE indoor action adventure playground, where the action is safe, supervised, and a whole lot of fun. Stay and watch your kids master new tricks with an Allpress coffee in hand, or join in the fun with them. From miniBOUNCERs to freestyle athletes, there is something for everyone at BOUNCE!

Use the discount code SQUIZKIDS10 to get 10% off your entry this school holidays when booking online!** Visit their website at bounceinc.com.au for more details.

*Sponsored content. **Terms and conditions: For bookings made between September 1 – October 31 2024, and jumped between September 1 – October 31 2024. Applicable on Child, Student, Adult, miniBOUNCER, Awesome 4some, Friday Super Session and 2 Hour Superpass tickets. Does not include BOUNCE grip socks. Available for online bookings only. Available at all BOUNCE venues across Australia, excluding miniBOUNCE Carindale.

On our radar …

We’re up to our eyeballs all day, everyday in all things kids and parenting. So when we see an article or come across a topic we think you might be interested in, we’ll post it here.

Death of campus life … News this week from Adelaide University that it was ditching all face-to-face lectures drew howls of protest from those decrying the death of campus life. The uni says there are ‘rich digital learning’ opportunities for students instead, but you gotta wonder whether COVID still has a lot to answer for.

Private vs Public … I found this article in the SMH interesting, revealing where our Federal pollies went to school. If you subscribe to the theory that MPs fight for the school system they were educated in, it’s little wonder public education is up against it in this country.

Smile on your dial …

A special nod to the monosyllabism of teenagers in this week’s Smile. I stumbled across this Instagram reel last week, in which an Irish mum has posted a series of text exchanges with her son. Rings a whole bunch of bells for this dad of two teens …

May you all have yourselves a much-better-than ‘mid’ week …

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