Seminar topics

For parents, schools, communities, not-for-profit and corporate organisations

Below are some examples of Maggie’s topics but this is an evolving list, subject to change. Please note Maggie does not do customised topics. 

 

Back to Nature Through Play

Around the world there is a resurgence in the passion and desire to create opportunities for more play in nature for children in their daily lives. The benefits of spaces that encourage engaging, adventuresome and highly creative play are undeniable. A passionate nature play advocate and parenting educator Maggie has visited dozens of amazing adventurous nature spaces in schools and communities, and what she has seen time and time again can be summed up in one word: ‘MAGIC’. In this seminar, Maggie will inspire anyone who has dreams of creating a nature play space. She explores the enormous benefits of nature play, how to build a powerful connection with nature – often at a do-able cost. Maggie shares stories and practical suggestions from those who have joined the revolution to make this vision a reality and who have also created a stronger school culture and community in the process.

9 Things: A back-to-basics guide to calm, common-sense, connected parenting Birth–8

Are you struggling with your toddler? Wondering where to next when time-outs and sticker charts don’t work? Confused by an often-angry child? Join one of Australia’s most-loved parenting authors and educators as she explores the ‘9 Things’ that truly matter in raising children eight and under, and why they matter so much. This seminar is based on Maggie’s popular book of the same name, and offers a back-to-basics, common-sense guide for anyone working or raising babies, toddlers and young children to help them be able to thrive and be ready for school and life.

Real Kids in an Unreal World: Building Resilience and Self-esteem in Today’s Children (10 Resilience Building Blocks)

Are you worried, confused or concerned about parenting in today’s chaotic world? Children need to have certain basic experiences to build the competencies that will help them manage life – the good, the bad and the ugly. Maggie has developed a common-sense, practical model of 10 building blocks that will reassure parents that what we have always known to be important in the early years of a child’s life is still important. This seminar will offer you practical, common-sense ideas and strategies to make small changes in your home, which will make a big difference to your children’s cognitive, physical, psychological, emotional and social health later in life.

Exploring Children’s Anxiety

The landscape of childhood and childhood stress is changing, and anxiety is now much more prevalent for our children.
In this keynote , Maggie Dent explores what anxiety is and what we as parents and educators can do to help reduce anxiety and fear in today’s kids. Maggie has been writing about the importance of calmness and stillness in children’s lives since publishing her 2003 book Saving Our Children From Our Chaotic World. As well as helping you better understand anxiety, Maggie shares many highly practical, helpful and simple strategies to support a calmer home or classroom and, ultimately, calmer, happier kids.

Q&A Session with Maggie

Parents are drowning in too much information! In this seminar, Maggie offers some of her resources and an opportunity for attendees to ask specific questions about anything that is worrying them. With her background as a teacher, a counsellor and a parent, Maggie gives grounded practical suggestions in a Q and A format.

From the Sandpit to Adulthood: Helping Today’s Children to Thrive

This is one of Maggie’s most popular topics as it is packed full of common sense and inspiration for parents and communities raising children throughout their childhoods and adolescence. Every parent wants their children to thrive – to grow up happy, healthy, strong, kind and capable of realising their full potential. In this seminar, Maggie explores the 10 keys to parenting that support this goal. She acknowledges there is no ‘perfect’ and that challenge, adversity and failure can actually help our kids grow stronger and smarter.

Adolescence Unplugged

From Maggie’s extensive experience of working with adolescents for more than 30 years she has created an innovative, dynamic seminar for families, schools and communities to build resilience and connectedness in 12-25-year-olds. Adolescents need adult allies to help them navigate the tricky waters of the teenage years – the art of guiding and encouraging empowerment while strengthening self-esteem and personal autonomy is one that can be learned. This seminar explores the shift in raising children to raising adolescents, and what works and what won’t.

Taming the Stress Monster in Adolescence
(suitable for teens 14+ as well as their parents/carers)

Today’s world is full of the immediacy of a busy life and it is impacting on our children and adolescents. This seminar for people who support adolescents explores the what, the why and most importantly the how of calming our children and especially our rapidly transforming adolescents. The bumpy ride to adulthood can be challenging at times. Maggie explores stress and ways for adolescents to understand and help each other to navigate big ugly feelings, ‘ANT’ attacks (automatic negative thoughts), failure and disappointment. She also explores great ways to calm and relax that will help the adolescents you work or live with to study better, think better and take the high road rather than the low road on the journey to being an adult.

Navigating Life’s Challenges

Through her experience as a teacher, counsellor and working in death and loss, Maggie has an extensive background in the area of resilience in a theoretical and practical sense. In this community workshop, she will explore some of the key differences in dealing with loss and trauma for different age groups and genders. These sessions will help build understanding and the ability to cope with the unwanted roller coaster of emotions and experiences that occurs when a community has faced tragedy and challenge in whatever form it arrives. Steps to recovery will also be explored.

Death Through the Eyes of a Child: Everyday Learning about Loss and Grief

Maggie has worked very closely with death and dying due to her extensive background in palliative care, the funeral industry, as a counsellor and as a celebrant who has conducted over 250 funerals. This seminar explores how to prepare and support children and teens through loss and death. How we manage loss will influence us for the rest of our lives. Protecting and insulating children from death can have painful consequences in adolescence and adulthood .  This seminar supports families and communities to help children understand and process loss as a natural part of life.