A storybook that fills more than just time - it fills Cups.

Meet The Phoenix Five, the first-ever children’s book created to nurture Needs Literacy in young readers. More than a beautifully illustrated story, this unique book introduces children to a powerful truth: everyone has different needs, and those needs are important.

Inspired by the Phoenix Cups® Framework, each vibrant character embodies one of five essential human life needs - Safety, Connection, Freedom, Mastery, and Fun. As children journey alongside these characters, they begin to recognise their own needs and develop the language to express them.

Through engaging storytelling and play-based reflection, The Phoenix Five offers children (and the adults who care for them) a gentle, empowering introduction to understanding what they feel, what they need, and why it matters.

This is not just a story. It’s a starting point for lifelong wellbeing, emotional resilience, and compassionate self-awareness.


Written by Sandi & Christopher Phoenix, and Monica Millgate

Illustrated by Katherine Appleby

How are meal times in your house?
Are you a short order cook- making different meals for everyone? Bargaining with your little one to try something new or just to have one more bite? We get how frustrating and draining the meal time battles can be with a young child who refuses to eat.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Let us help stop the constant stress of bribes and negotiation, so you can start enjoying time spent eating with your family. Creating meal times that nurture more than bellies.

It is easy in our fast-paced, competitive, consumer-driven world to forget that children are not mini-adults, projects to be managed or problems to be solved. This common-sense guide to parenting and caring for children under eight, reminds us that a child’s development cannot be rushed, or crudely measured again milestones. It takes an entire childhood to grow and there is no perfect when it comes to parenting.

In her informed, heartfelt way, popular Australian parenting author Maggie Dent takes a comprehensive look at the 9 Things that truly matter in raising children, and why they matter so much. She uses the metaphor of a wise aunty, Wilma — a voice of ancient wisdom that seems to be disappearing amidst the chaos.

With passion, warmth and humour, Maggie draws on current research and her extensive experience as an educator, counsellor and mother of four to guide parents and caregivers in their endless decision-making, to raise children who are happy, healthy, strong, kind and resilient.

“This book is a wonderful gift to parents of our time! Maggie’s genius is in weaving together research, experience and wisdom to create a very readable text that awakens our natural intuition about raising children. We are made to be good at growing up our young and Maggie captures the essence of what it is to go back to basics, go back to instincts and do right by our children.” — Dr Vanessa Lapointe, clinical psychologist and founder of The Wishing Star Lapointe Developmental Clinic in British Columbia, Canada

“I love Maggie’s writing, her previous books have already found their way into thousands of grateful parents’ hearts. Maggie’s special gift is that her writing makes hard facts, dry academic research and complex information completely accessible. She is so easy to read — that afterwards you feel so very satisfied! This book, like her others is the knowledgeable but well informed friend you always wanted.” — Jenny Mosely, author and international education consultant, and creator of QCT, Quality Circle Time, UK.

A common-sense guide to raising happy, healthy kids – from toddlers to tweens
From the queen of commonsense parenting and host of the popular ABC podcast Parental As Anything comes the ultimate guide to raising happy, healthy kids – from toddlers to tweens

How much screen time should you let your children have?
How and when do you talk about sex?
What can you do when your kid throws a tantrum?
Why should you let your children just play?
Maggie Dent has answers to your real-world parenting dilemmas.

Focusing on the most engaged-with topics from her popular ABC Parental As Anything podcast, Maggie tells us what the experts have to say, relates the experiences of other parents, and offers her own reassuring guidance to provide practical solutions to the challenges parents and caregivers face today.

This book will give you the means to be the parent you’d like to be, and help you in your quest to raise happy, healthy, thriving, resilient children.

CONTENTS
Introduction
1. Roosters and lambs: the influence of temperament
2. Managing the hot moments: meltdowns and tantrums – including your own
3. Help! How do I discipline my child?
4. Play and nature play: why they matter so much
5. Transitioning to big school
6. Raising our kids in this new, digital world
7. Anxiety in childhood and early adolescence
8. Talking to our kids about the birds and the bees in the 21st century
9. Help for feeding fussy eaters
10. Exploring death and loss in our families
11. How do I raise a resilient child?
12. Sole parenting: what helps and what doesn’t
13. Co-parenting in the 21st century
Conclusion: You’ve got this!
Acknowledgements
List of sources
Support services
272 pages
Paperback
Published by ABC Books

If we can see the world through boys’ eyes a little better, we will make different choices in the way we mother them… and we will find them less confusing, and love them more deeply.

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. Not only that, but statistically our boys are still struggling in many ways.

Even though we live in a time where we recognise that nothing in gender is fixed, it remains a fact that the influence of a mother on her son is massive.

A mother of four sons herself, Maggie Dent draws on her 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.

Maggie shares her five key secrets that every mum needs to know, and uses the voices of men she has worked with and surveyed to reveal what really matters in a boy’s relationship with his mother and other mother figures.

Maggie is one of Australia’s most popular parenting educators and her seminars about boys have sold out all across Australia and in the UK. She is finally sharing her insights, her reflections, and (as always) her humour around mothering boys in this book that will help you be the mum your son needs you to be.

For boys, adolescence can be a confusing minefield and parents are often bewildered as to how to best guide their precious sons.

Many parents wake one day to find that their beautiful little boys have grown into silent, withdrawn, sometimes angry and often unmotivated tweens and teens.

Well-known Australian author, parenting and resilience educator, and one of Australia’s favourite boy experts Maggie Dent, offers parents and guardians a compassionate and practical guidebook, packed with advice and ground-breaking techniques on how to stay calm and:

Communicate effectively to defuse conflict
‘Unstick’ an unmotivated son
Teach them to cope with loss and failure, and how to recover
Help them foster healthy friendships and intimate relationships
Navigate technology and the digital world.
From Boys to Men empowers parents with insights, tips and a common-sense approach to help all boys – and their families – thrive as they progress through adolescence, offering hope for a future of adventure, stability, engagement and connection.

The early years of a little girl’s life will shape her future in powerful ways.

Maggie Dent, Australia’s queen of common-sense parenting, has investigated the development period from birth to age eight. Drawing on nearly 5,000 survey results, the latest research, and her own extensive experience as an educator, counsellor, facilitator, mum and grandmother, Maggie shows us how to help our girls build an emotional and psychological base for life. Secure foundations, Maggie argues, will help insulate our girls against anxiety and other mental health challenges as they grow into their teens and feel more capable and resilient while keeping their own authentic voice as they enter womanhood.

Written with all the rigour, compassion and humour we have come to expect from one of Australia’s best-loved parenting voices, this is both a deeply practical guide to raising girls birth-8, as well as a celebration and intimate meditation on the state of being female, which women of all ages will relate to.

Parents, this is the one thing you need to know
Edited by Sam Jockel and Kerri Ryan

Any parent knows raising kids can be as confusing, challenging and maddening as it is profoundly life-affirming. We can’t possibly have all the answers, all the time, but there are some parts of parenting you absolutely should not drop the ball on.

In this book, ParentTV’s Sam Jockel and Kerri Ryan have sought the wisdom of thirty-three experts to solve parenthood’s most diabolical head-scratchers. With diverse backgrounds in children’s health, education and psychology, these experts are armed with the data and insight to tackle everything from kids’ resilience to their relationship with food and the influence of music on developing brains.

Includes contributions from:

Sandi Phoenix • Christopher Phoenix • Dr. Arne Rubinstein • Dr. Charlotte Reznick • Dr. Kaylene Henderson • Karen Young • Maggie Dent • Pinky McKay • And many more

We know that when we are running on empty, we need to put our own oxygen mask on first because you can’t pour from an empty cup. We connect with these phrases. We get that sometimes you feel like you’ve got nothing left or you’re running dangerously low and need to refill. We’ve heard these sayings many times before. But what is it - this cup that we seem to notice most when it’s bone dry?

Are you ready for a great big light bulb moment? Are you ready to take the next step in looking after yourself and in turn the people you love? Are you ready to see your own behaviours and those of the people around you in a whole new light? Then sit down, grab your favourite pen and let’s turn on that light bulb, shall we?

What's in it?
* 28 pages
* A5 mini booklet with full colour pages
* The first 15 pages gives a full overview of The Phoenix Cups framework including what the Cups are, what does the Will to Fill and Skill to Fill mean, and what is a Phoenix Cups profile.
* The rest of the booklet is designed for you to fill out and develop a Cup filling plan for your wellbeing and fulfilment.

ISBN: 978-0-6487058-8-8

This product comes with a complimentary login to the 28 day wellbeing challenge online course. You can see more about this course here https://phoenix-support.thinkific.com/courses/wellbeing-challenge

Dr Louise Porter's Children's Behaviour Book Pack

Young Children's Behaviour
This text is the equivalent title to Parental guidance recommended, written for early childhood teachers and centre-based care workers. It contains many of the ideas that are recommended for parents but also discusses issues that are specific to working with groups of children, such as managing group story and sleep times, resolving disputes between playmates, programming for children with disabilities or giftedness, collaborating with parents, and developing a centre policy on discipline.

Parental Guidance Recommended
This book replaces the popular Children are people too. Written for parents, it explains that although we often share the same values of the guidance approach, we end up instead using the controlling practices of rewards and punishments. This is mainly because we ourselves were raised that way, and because we get into a dance with our spirited children of coercion on our part and rebellion on theirs. However, the more we try to control these spirited children, the worse their behaviour gets. The book will help parents to prevent behavioural problems in children, support children who are distressed, be assertive when our own needs are not being met, and solve problems collaboratively. It also offers ways to solve persistent behavioural problems and reminds us to be compassionate towards ourselves.

Perfect for Groups, Teams, Families, and Individuals, the Phoenix Cup Filling Cards pack comes with 52 cups cards designed to educate, inspire and create awareness. Printed on thick, matte laminated card, these cards are neatly organised in a recycled card box for easy storage.

Instruction cards are included and an additional support resource, 'the Phoenix Cups, My Cup Filling Plan', will be included with your cards. This resource includes facilitator information on the meaning of each of the cups.

The Cards:

These cards were designed to inspire thoughtfulness about basic human needs with an underlying mood of gratitude and thankfulness. Inspired by Dr. William Glasser’s choice theory, these cards will evoke productive conversations that will motivate new ways of thinking about self-care and mindfulness while fostering more fulfilling relationships.

Who are the Cards for?

These cards are great for a group, team or family to encourage open communication, foster respect and to raise awareness of the level of your cups and the cups of others.

The Phoenix Cup Filling Cards are ideal for:

-Teams

-Groups

-Families

-Individuals

How to use Phoenix Cup Filing Cards?

* Use the cards to support reflective conversations in team meetings

* Use the cards to inspire thoughtfulness about other people’s basic human life needs

* The cards are designed to support awareness of their own basic human life needs and to increase a sense of wellness and wellbeing.

* Using the cards will focus conversations in staff meetings so they are solution focused and strength based.

And much more!

ISBN: 978-0-6487058-3-3

GTIN: 9369999808327

RRP $48

As human beings, we all have needs that need to be met. When they aren’t met, life doesn’t function the way it should. our behaviour changes, our mood is affected, and we often feel empty and lost. The Phoenix Cups Framework will help you understand how to meet your most important life needs, and the needs of those around you, by discovering what Cups you need to keep full, how they influence behaviours and how you can use them to build relationships in all aspects of life.

Perfect for Groups, Teams, Families, and Individuals, the Phoenix Cup Filling Cards pack comes with 52 cups cards designed to educate, inspire and create awareness. Printed on thick, matte laminated card, these cards are neatly organised in a recycled card box for easy storage.

Instruction cards are included and an additional support resource, 'the Phoenix Cups, My Cup Filling Plan', will be included with your cards. This resource includes facilitator information on the meaning of each of the cups.

The Cards: 

These cards were designed to inspire thoughtfulness about basic human needs with an underlying mood of gratitude and thankfulness. Inspired by Dr. William Glasser’s choice theory, these cards will evoke productive conversations that will motivate new ways of thinking about self-care and mindfulness while fostering more fulfilling relationships.

Who are the Cards for? 

These cards are great for a group, team or family to encourage open communication, foster respect and to raise awareness of the level of your cups and the cups of others.

The Phoenix Cup Filling Cards are ideal for: 

-Teams

-Groups

-Families

-Individuals

How to us Phoenix Cup Filing Cards? 

* Use the cards to support reflective conversations in team meetings

* Use the cards to inspire thoughtfulness about other people’s basic human life needs

* The cards are designed to support awareness of their own basic human life needs and to increase a sense of wellness and wellbeing.

* Using the cards will focus conversations in staff meetings so they are solution focused and strength based.

And much more!

ISBN: 978-0-6487058-3-3

BONUS: This resource comes with a complimentary hard copy of our A5 booklet, The Phoenix Cups 101