Health — Dad's Health Education

This section is a working curriculum in child physical health, built on the advice of Leo's GP. It draws on the most authoritative paediatric sources available — The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, the Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, Raising Children Network and Healthdirect — and turns them into something a parent can actually work through: a topic map, a checklist, a red flags page for the fridge, and a dated log of what has been read and applied.

Said plainly: a competent parent should know what ordinary illness looks like, what an emergency looks like, and everything in between — and should be able to show their working. This is the working.

VideoDad, in a minute — why this section exists

The Five Parts

1The Resource LibraryEvery source, what it is best for, and how to use it — Australian first, international second, GP third. 2The CurriculumTwelve domains covering everything a competent parent of an adolescent should know about physical health. 3The ChecklistThe trackable version — each item stamps its date when ticked, saved privately on this device. 4Red FlagsThe single page used under pressure: when to watch, when to see the GP, when to call an ambulance. 5The Learning LogThe dated record — what was read, when, what it changed at home, and the questions it raised for the GP.

Why This Exists

Leo's GP recommended that the education start with the Royal Children's Hospital Kids Health Info library — over 340 clinician written fact sheets — alongside services like Cubcare for paediatric telehealth. Around that core sits a small set of equally authoritative sources that together cover the whole territory. This section does three jobs at once: it is a reference for day to day decisions, a curriculum that can be completed and shown, and a dated record of sustained engagement with evidence based guidance.

The First Month

Week one covers the emergency layer: red flags, fever, dehydration, first aid, and enrolment in a parent first aid course. Week two covers the everyday layer: common infections, gastro, respiratory illness, pain relief dosing, and when to see the GP. Week three covers the adolescent layer: sleep, nutrition, exercise, screens, growth, and a teenager's right to confidential healthcare. Week four covers the mind body layer: how stress produces real physical symptoms, and how to respond without dismissing or catastrophising. Each week closes with a dated log entry.

Three Rules That Keep the Record Honest

Entries are dated on the day and never backdated. Questions taken to the GP are logged along with the answers, so education and care stay connected. And the whole curriculum is revisited quarterly, because guidance changes and currency matters more than completion.

Start with the Curriculum →