Conference Keynote Topics
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. For conference enquiries, we suggest you email conference details via the contact form including the theme and Maggie’s team will send a list of recommended topics.
Little Boys in Early Childhood, Birth-6 (for early years’ educators)
This is an important topic as 99% of ECECs are women and so building a greater understanding, compassion and empathy for our boys is essential if we are to help them thrive. Following the success of her bestselling Mothering our Boys book, Maggie wants to bring the latest research about boys’ development and behaviour and address the main worries educators have about boys. Maggie will outline the keys to improving communication with boys, examining expectations and helping boys overcome common vulnerabilities. (NQS – Outcomes 1, 2, 3,4,5). NB Please allow 1.5hours for this topic when delivered as a webinar.
Helping All Boys Shine in Our Schools – Year 7-12
In this seminar for educators, Maggie presents the latest research and strategies to address the decline in boys’ achievement and to re-engage the disengaged lads we are seeing far too often. Maggie will help you appreciate the key differences in boys’ adolescent development and behaviour, and explore the additional stressors impacting today’s boys in schools. She outlines keys to improving communication, examining expectations and helping boys experience external forms of success so they can shine. Maggie will also address creative ways to help boys when they fail, and how to help boys explore vulnerability and manage big ugly feelings so they can thrive in their school years. NB Please allow 1.5hours for this topic when delivered as a webinar.
Dear Little Girls (for early years’ educators & parents)
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.
Dare to be Exceptional as an Early Years Educator
The most successful educators are a blend of professional knowledge and competence as well as having the ability to engage, connect and communicate that knowledge to students using relational safety. This keynote explores the importance of high-quality early childhood educators in today’s busy, uncertain world. From a strong background in the classroom, counselling and drawing on research, Maggie will positively affirm the incredible impact and influence that early years educators have on little ones and their parents and caregivers. (NQS-Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
Dare to be an Exceptional Educator (K-12)
This seminar explores the importance for educators in today’s busy and rapidly changing work to be better than average – indeed to step up to be exceptional. From a strong background int he classroom and drawing on research, Maggie will challenge your thinking and expectations in an entertaining and practical way. Many educators have called this – “the best PD I have ever attended”. (NQS-Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
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.
Q&A Session with Maggie
Parents are drowning in too much information! In this webinar, 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. Questions need to be sent in before the webinar and the webinar will be available for participants to watch after the live event.
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.
Mothering Our Boys
Mothers of sons are worried about raising their boys in a world where negative images of masculinity are front and centre of our media, almost every day. Also, statistically our boys are still struggling in many ways. In this keynote address, one of Australia’s favourite parenting authors Maggie Dent explores the power of mothering our precious boys in a warm, firm, fair and fun way from birth to adulthood. A mother of four sons herself, Maggie draws on research and personal experience – and over four decades work as a teacher, counsellor and now author and speaker – to help build understanding, empathy and compassion for our boys. Although aimed primarily at mums of sons, the seminar will be useful and insightful for dads and other father figures, to help build a better understanding of the importance of cooperative intimate relationships.