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

Commonly known as the ‘queen of common sense’, Maggie Dent has become one of Australia’s favourite parenting authors and educators. She has a particular interest in the early years, adolescence and resilience, and is an undisputed ‘boy champion’.

Maggie’s experience includes teaching, counselling, and working in palliative care/funeral services and suicide prevention. Maggie is an advocate for the healthy, common-sense raising of children in order to strengthen families and communities. She is a passionate, positive voice for children of all ages.

Maggie is regularly featured on parenting blogs, podcasts and news sites, as well as being heard on commercial and ABC radio around the country. She also appears regularly on national TV. Maggie is the host of the award-winning ABC podcast Parental As Anything.

She is the author of nine major books, plus several other e-books and a prolific creator of resources for parents, adolescents, teachers, early childhood educators and others who are interested in quietly improving their lives.

Her books include the 2022 release Girlhood: Raising our little girls to be healthy, happy and heard, Parental As Anything (a book based on her podcast released in 2021), and her bestselling boys’ books From Boys to Men and Mothering Our Boys.

Maggie is the proud mother of four wonderful sons, and an enthusiastic and grateful grandmother. She lives in the South Coast region of NSW with her good bloke Steve Mountain and their dear little dog, Mr Hugo Walter Dent.

Maggie’s main books include:

Girlhood: How to raise little girls to be healthy, happy and heard (2022)
Parental As Anything: A common-sense guide to raising happy, healthy kids – from toddlers to tweens (2021)
From Boys to Men: Guiding our teen boys to grown into happy, healthy men (2020).
Mothering Our Boys: A Guide for Mums of Sons (2018)
Real Kids in an Unreal World: How to Build Resilience and Self-Esteem in Today’s Children (2nd ed, 2017)
Nurturing Kids’ Hearts and Souls: Building Emotional, Social and Spiritual Competency (rev ed 2010)
Saving Our Adolescents: Supporting Today’s Adolescents through the Bumpy Ride to Adulthood (2010)
Saving Our Children from Our Chaotic World: Teaching Children the Magic of Silence and Stillness (rev ed, 2009)
9 Things: A Back-to-Basics Guide to Calm, Common-sense, Connected Parenting Birth-8 (2014)

Maggie is an ambassador for Telethon in WA, a champion of the Telethon Kids Institute trust established 50 years ago to financially support the medical & social welfare of children and which funds research into children’s diseases. Maggie is also a proud ambassador for Smiling Mind a not-for-profit web and app-based meditation program dedicated to having mindfulness in schools.

Maggie is a patron of the Bold Park Community School in Perth and the WA Association of Teacher Assistants (WAATA). She is an ambassador for The Sanctuary – The Hills Women’s Shelter in NSW.