Kyle MacDonald: How to talk to kids about mental health
Answering the "What do you do at work, Daddy?" question can seem a little more complicated for someone in my occupation, or at least it has seemed that way in my head.
"I talk to people" I would say. "About what?" comes the inevitable reply.
Recently, a friend and colleague gave me the useful phrase "I'm a Feelings Doctor" and that seemed to fit, at least for a while.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12...
Kyle MacDonald: PTSD and processing tragedy of Christchurch attacks
It feels like things might never be the same again. Like something fundamental has changed in our country, a wound that might never be truly healed.
Since Friday afternoon I've frequently wept. For most of the weekend I felt like I was hovering - constantly - on the edge of tears.
This is just a hint of what the shock of trauma feels like.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12...
Kyle MacDonald: What Kiwis are missing about tax, love and charity
f recently you took the time to click through to the Kiwibank Facebook page and add the "I am Hope" frame to your Facebook profile, thank you. And thank you Kiwibank, too, for the $100,000 dollars it contributed to the Gumboot Friday counselling fund for young New Zealanders.
That's about 1000 hours of counselling. We will never know for sure, but it will likely save lives.
In part, that's why I find conversations about the relative merit of companies giving money to charities and its impact on their "brand" - whether it's "slacktivism" to change your Facebook profile and feel good about it, or whether we should reject such tactics as simply cynical marketing - so confusing.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12...
Kyle MacDonald: Climate change march: Should kids be allowed to wag?
What are acceptable reasons to "wag" school in New Zealand?
Royal visits? Definitely okay. Trips to Fiji with your family, or the last day of a test match - especially at the Basin? Mostly acceptable. And certainly any parade in celebration of a sports event like the Rugby World Cup or America's Cup.
What about catastrophic climate change and the death of our planet?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12...
Kyle MacDonald: Is the Portugal Model a good approach to drug use for New Zealand?
As the debate about next year's cannabis referendum slowly heats up, the "Portugal Model" has become a sort of shorthand for a liberal and permissive approach to drug use.
But is it? Is it the best way forward for New Zealand? Should we change our legal response to all drugs, not just cannabis?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12...
Kyle MacDonald: The best thing you can do with your darkest secrets
"Secrets make you sick" has always been one of the guiding values of my show, The Nutters Club. While it's clearly true, science is helping us understand more about the how.
Over our 10 years of talking with both guests and callers - and allowing them to tell their stories - The Nutters Club radio show (founded by New Zealander of the Year, Mike King) has shone light into areas few other interviewers would dare go.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12...
Kyle MacDonald: Is early rising really better for your health?
Just like everything, self-help ideas are subject to trends, and the latest bright idea seems to be that getting up early is the "secret" that all billionaires share.
And indeed a recent study did seem to suggest there is some evidence at a genetic level for improved wellbeing of early risers, or "larks."
I'm sceptical though, and not just because I'm naturally an "owl," and most of my life have had to drag myself - slightly reluctantly - out of bed every morning.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12...
Kyle MacDonald: How to start being kind to yourself
We all have times when we could be a little kinder to ourselves. But how, if you're someone who has a very loud or mean "self-critic", do you actually do that?
To some extent, we all have that voice inside us, that can give us a hard time, whisper mean things, bring us down if we dare to feel too good. And of course, for some that voice is so overwhelming, it grinds their life to a halt and can make feeling good, feel impossible.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12...
Kyle MacDonald: Roast Busters ringleader Joseph Parker and a lesson in saying sorry
Sorry. Such a small word, but one completely foreign to Roast Busters' ring leader and aspiring musician, Joseph Parker, it would seem.
The latest performance by this young man, who in my opinion is clearly troubled, was almost the textbook "Public Relations Sorry". It was a "sorry if I hurt people, but I just want to put it behind me" apology.
It was a media appearance that looks to have been fuelled by his own needs - not out of any genuine desire to set things right.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12...
Kyle MacDonald: Why 'toxic masculinity' and gender roles harm everyone
This week the topic of masculinity hit the headlines, from two very different quarters.
The American Psychological Society late last year issued a set of treatment guidelines for men, but an article in their own magazine brought it to the media's attention.
They described the growing literature showing that the culture of traditional masculinity is harmful to men.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=12...
