Sonia Neale, author of The Bad Mother's Revenge and Death by Teenager

Links

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1	Bad Mother's Club This is original Bad Mother Superior Stephanie Calman's website. Stephanie is a journalist, author and mother of Lawrence (12) and Lydia (10). It's a most politically incorrect look at long-suffering parents and how they they micro and mismanage their children's (and their own) lives. It's side-splittingly funny, utterly poignant at times, excruciatingly insightful and cuts straight to the bone without the aid of general anaesthetic (but the wine helps). Without any argument, it's the best parenting (or anti-parenting) website in the world.
2	Spark Notes If you need to swot up on a book in a hurry, this is the website for you. You get plot overview, character list, analysis of major characters, themes, symbols and motifs plus much, much more. Most fabulous, entertaining and informative, especially if, like me, you belong to a bookclub and want to find something extraordinary that isn't normally found in an airport bookshop.
3	Continuum Concept Jean Liedloff, American writer and author of the book The Continuum Concept, lived for two and a half years in the deep South American jungle with Stone Age Indians and their families and has observed just exactly how the Indians got parenting completely right and how we, Western society, have got it all completely wrong. Jean explains how we should make our lives more "child-centred" and says babies should never be put down, that mothers should "wear" their babies till two years of age, breastfeed on demand, have baby sleep in parent's bed and respond immediately to His or Her Royal Highness's immediate demands. While I applaud her enthusiasm and passion for babies and their welfare, I do have a few concerns about a couple of small piddly issues, such as what happens when one ends up in hospital with post-natal-depression or needs to go back to work in order to stave off bankruptcy and starvation. It is interesting to note Jean is not married and doesn't have children, but she does live with her two very demanding cats.
4	Mind and Life If you have an introspective bent and think contemplating your naval is better than a strenuous workout at the local gym any day, then you will enjoy reading what the Dalai Lama has to say about attention, memory, the mind and mindfulness. He might live in splendid isolation from marriage and kids, getting a bit doddery in his old age and perhaps not quite relevant enough when your share portfolio is plummetting harder and faster than a speeding GFC, your drug-addled kids have run away from home and the bank is closing in because you've defaulted on your oppressive mortgage. But it's gratifying to know that his mind and general outlook on life, is still as sharp as the ice-pick I use to break up the ice to freshen my third glass of vodka with.
5	Star Wars When everyone else around us was getting drunk and getting laid, the designer of this site, the Friendly Web Guru and I had only just discarded our Bay City Rollers tartan and were frantically writing up astronomy projects, pulling ticks off stray dogs at an animal shelter and quoting Star Wars dialogue to the rest of the audience when the movie projector broke down. The FWG and myself were Star Wars tragics, collected anything vaguely related to the movie and cut and pasted them (with scissors and glue) into scrapbooks which currently reside on my son's bookshelf. I was such a nerd I read the books before seeing the movies, much to the annoyance of the designer of this site. Somehow I had to wait in line for tickets with her without blurting out the fact that Darth Vader was Luke's father or that Luke and Leia were twins. If I had I'm sure she would have, like Luke's father, cut off my arm with her light sabre. And we never could work out why Mark Hamill didn't get an Oscar for his performance. Ah! The originals were definitely the best. May the force be with you!
6	Psych Central If you want to find out what sort of psychiatric disorder your friends or family have then this is the site for you. It's scarily comprehensive and I've spent many a happy hour surfing around it analysing and diagnosing everyone I know. It's relevant, allows lay people to write about personal issues, has an agony aunt section, uses simple everyday language and its main focus is that you are not alone and help is available. Got bipolar? There's an article with an introduction, cause, description of symptoms, treatment available, FAQ and further information. If your boss is a psychopath, then helpful suggestions that do not involve arson or assault can easily be found. My therapist recommended it to me.
7	Bear Grylls Man -v- Wild’s Bear Grylls is the man I would most relish being lost on a deserted island with, and not necessarily for his survival skills either. As a family, we’ve been hooked on this Discovery Channel programme for a long while now. From the comfort of our armchairs, we watch this ex SAS soldier and veteran of a broken back as the result of a parachute accident, launch himself into hostile territory time and time again with little more than a blunt knife, a flint and a seductively winsome smile on his handsome face. With his unruffled manner and English public school-boy charm, he is the MacGyver of the untamed wilderness and one of the few men who can actually make the gorgeous Hugh Jackman look like a pampered wuss.
8	The Friendly Webguru The Friendly Webguru is an independent web designer and fellow Aussie, now living in Oklahoma, USA. But don't hold that against her :-)