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Our Ambassadors

Steve Biddulph

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"Playing is how young children learn.  Playing with each other and caring adults is the best, fastest and most lasting way to grow kind, smart and loving human beings.  Nothing provides this as well as playgroups, where mums, or dads, and children socialize and play in new and stimulating ways.
As a young Dad I loved going with my kids to playgroup, as a psychologist I recommend them, and I think they are the greatest grassroots movement in Australia today for promoting human wellbeing and community.
In thirty years being a psychologist working with families all over the globe, I have remained convinced that being home with loving parents is the best place for babies and toddlers. However in the way we live now, it can be lonely, and both children and parents need a chance to experience that "village" feeling of being with others and learning through play.
The expertise and resources that Playgroup Australia have developed never take away from the fact that this is about mothers supporting mothers, and children being with children, the biggest grassroots network in Australia.  Today of course, fathers’ playgroups, special needs playgroups, work with refugee and immigrant groups, and groups to give respite and input for mums of babies, all add a depth and quality to what is offered. 
Without Playgroups, Australian parents and children would be a lot less happy and a lot less stimulated and learning.  It’s the beginning of a new sense of community as we turn away from self interest as our main motivation, and to realizing that we are all here for each other.  You can learn this very young if you start at playgroup."
Steve Biddulph is a family psychologist whose books are in four million homes round the world. He is a strong advocate for loving families, the importance of parents and his books include The Secret of Happy Children, and Raising Boys. 

Dr John Irvine

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Dr John Irvine is Australia’s most heard, seen and read child psychologist. He had his own one teacher school at the age of 18, taught in NSW schools for many years before becoming a child psychologist and was awarded the Shell Prize for Arts and the University medal during his studies at the University of New England. Dr John initiated preschool training in Toowoomba at the University of Southern Queensland where he also set up the state’s first and most comprehensive family day care and family support scheme and has a community house dedicated to his name for services rendered to families in the region.
Dr John is a consultant child psychologist at the READ clinic, which he and his brother Warwick initiated in Gosford. He is the consultant psychologist for Central Coast Grammar School and he has written several books, including 'A Handbook For Happy Families'. Last year he produced four DVD’s to accompany that book (0-5 DVD, 6-11 DVD, 12-16+ DVD and his famous and unique child management method called the Reparations DVD). He is a regular on many current affairs and news TV spots and appears weekly on Channel 10’s program '9am with David and Kim'. Dr John also writes for several newspapers and has a radio segment 'Coping With Kids'.