Greg: a Wiggles lesson in coping as a busy parent

G’day. If you’re born after 1970, then you will share my delight in meeting a very humble hero; the very famous and oh so humble yellow Wiggle, Greg Page. Now if ever there was a busy superstar Greg was it! Greg Page, the Yellow wiggle, was a student of mine when the Wiggles were doing Early Childhood teacher training in Sydney.

I asked Greg when he was at the height of his busy career to pen a few thoughts on parenting. Here is part of his reply.

“Being a Wiggles means being away from home a lot, and in turn, being away from my family. This puts a great deal of stress on the relationships within my family at various times. Even when I am at home, we still may be performing during the day, or having meetings, or recording, filming or just looking after general business issues.

This does not leave a lot of time for me to spend with Michelle. When I do happen to have a day off with no meetings or photo shoots, then Michelle usually marks it in my diary for me as a day for us to spend together.

Of course, like many parents we face the same issues of dealing with children's behaviour. For me, this is where the Early Childhood teaching course was invaluable. One thing that we learnt was that you always set boundaries and never let the boundaries be broken. In other words, in our house if a rule is made, it is made for a reason, and should not be broken.

And of course, with punishment comes the obligatory, "you all hate me", well yes, we get that too. Again, teacher training has helped me here. We were always taught never to say anything negative about the person, if there is a problem, but focus on the behaviour, it is usually the behaviour that they are exhibiting which is the problem.

Sometimes when I am the person handing out the punishment I am met with comments like, "I wish you were away on tour", or 'Mum would let me do it". This is really hard to deal with because there is a part of you that actually believes that you are not wanted, and a part that sees it just as a way of getting to you. Whatever the reason, you just have to deal with it the best way you can. Usually, I just keep very calm, and don't let the anger show, and say something like. "Well, I'm not on tour, so you'll just have to do it" or "I'm not mum, and either way, a rule is a rule", not a very clever answer to the problem, but again, it is a controlled response with no inappropriate or violent response.

Greg, you’re just human, and a very authentic one at that! What an incredible contribution you have made to the loves of so many for so long. It is with great humility and respect that I welcome you to the Humble Heroes Hall of Fame.