Maggie Dent heads to TV for new ABC parenting series The Role Of A Lifetime

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Maggie Dent heads to TV for new ABC parenting series The Role Of A Lifetime

Maggie Dent is one of Australia’s best-known and most respected parenting gurus. She’s written books, hosted seminars, worked as a counsellor, and her ABC podcast, Parental As Anything, remains hugely successful, a resource for frazzled parents of kids all ages.

Dent’s latest project sees her stepping into the television space for the first time — she’s lending her expertise to The Role Of Lifetime, a unique series aimed at helping parents “make sense of modern parenting”, hosted by Amanda Keller.

“I was really impressed (when I saw preview episodes),” says Dent, who is speaking to The West *********** from her home on the east coast.

“I have just finished the whole five (episodes), and I just know how much this is going to improve communication in homes.”

The series focuses on issues affecting parents of school-aged children in today’s world, raising questions like: when is a good time to give my teen a phone? How do I help my child if they are being bullied online? Why is my kid obsessed with gaming? Dent is on hand to weigh in, joining other experts in various fields to provide insight into the best course of action.

Alongside the practical advice, actor Kate Ritchie and comedian Nazeem Hussain are acting out scenarios, playing parents of a tween and a teen, illustrating common parenting scenarios through the lens of a fictional ‘sitcom family’ — they then hop out of character to chat with the experts as themselves (both are parents in real life).

It works surprisingly well.

Camera IconThe Role Of A Lifetime features a sitcom family. Credit: Supplied/ABC

“The sitcom bit, that’s brilliant,” says Dent, “Because (the things they are acting out), that’s exactly what is happening, in every home — and oh my God, they play it out so well!”

Dent says she was convinced to take part in the series because of the involvement of the show’s producers, which included creative Debbie Cuell who was also behind the hugely successful and award-winning Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds.

“They are such a good team — they had done that one with the elderly and kids and teens, and if it was anyone else, I would have said no,” Dent explains.

“But because they are of that high quality, I was already in.”

Producers worked with Dent to help flesh out the direction things would take — she’s thrilled with how everything came together.

“It is so engaging,” she says of the five-part series.

“I don’t think you’d have to force an adult to stay on the couch (and watch), and you wouldn’t have to if you had a teen watching it … they will be sitting there, nudging their parents, saying, ‘See, this is what it’s like. You do lecture me, and you do nag at me — it’s not helpful’.

“And it will be the other way around as well, with parents saying, ‘See, I do need to set boundaries’.”

At the end of the day, Dent hopes the series will help open up this vital avenue for communication, so important during those confounding tween and teen years.

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Camera IconJo Lamble, pictured with Ritchie and Hussain, is one of the experts on hand. Credit: James Gourley/ABC

“It is so much harder today, as a parent,” she explains. “And particularly in this window.

“Reassuring parents that the fact they are pulling their hair out, and laying awake for hours — that means (they) are really doing a good enough job in this space.

“Because everything is moving and shifting all the time, and the world is portrayed — because we have this 24/7 news cycle — so that the negative side of the news is portrayed so much more.

“No wonder it pulls kids down, and they are starting to feel disillusioned with being in the world — we are not marinating the good stories.”

And at its heart, this is one of them: a good news story. It’s a series full of hope and optimism for parents navigating this tricky time during a tricky time in history — they’ve got this.

“I think when we realise we are not alone in the complexity of what we are dealing with, that it is not us against our teens, that we are in it together, it’s so helpful,” she says.

“What (our teens and tweens) absolutely need is exactly what they needed as toddlers: and that is a safe base to land on, because they are meant to make mistakes.

“It’s not the parents’ problem alone, and it’s not the teen’s problem alone — we have got to work out how to work together to get them over this bridge to adulthood in as positive a way as possible.”

The Role Of A Lifetime starts Tuesday February 18 at 8.30pm, with all episodes dropping on ABC iview.

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