Mihal Greener

Writer

Australia

Mihal is a freelance writer from Melbourne

Portfolio
The Age
11/20/2016
Who owns the family name: what happens when a marital tie comes undone

I ran the gamut when deciding whether to change my last name after getting married. I contemplated honeymoon bathing suits with "Mrs" tastefully inscribed across the rear in Swarovski crystals, before compromising on dual identities, one for work and one for home.

Topics
Why gluten-free may not be the healthy choice you think it is

Avoiding gluten may be the health fad of the moment, but there's nothing healthy about many of the products labelled 'gluten-free'. When my daughter was diagnosed with intolerance to gluten, I looked at replacing the bread in her diet with naturally gluten-free grains like corn, rice and quinoa.

The Sydney Morning Herald
08/30/2016
"We both had mushroom haircuts": the BFFs from age 5

Psychologist Amelia Frid (left), and learning and development consultant Yulia Zlatkin, both 41, have been best friends since arriving in Melbourne by boat from Russia as five-year-olds and meeting on their first day of school. YULIA: My first memory of Amelia is starting prep together in Melbourne and saying, "Good morning teacher Vivian."

Washington Post
07/25/2016
Parenting lessons I learned from raising kids overseas

The Dutch are tough. Go-home-a-few-hours-after-giving-birth tough. Tylenol is the favored form of pain relief, whether you have the flu or have just had a C-section. Think your child has a virus? Best to administer the pain relief at home and wait three days.

Daily Life
08/17/2016
How bitter experience makes us the best advocates for change

Through her tragic personal experience Rosie Batty reframed the national conversation on domestic violence. Photo: Thom Rigney He's a self proclaimed "crocodile farming, raging red neck" from far north Queensland, yet Liberal Party MP Warren Entsch confounded expectations when he introduced a private member's bill legalising same sex marriage into parliament last year.

Salon
08/13/2016
Happy vs. high achieving: What ought to be our parenting objective?

Happiness was the last thing on my mind when the Netherlands welcomed me with a cocktail of jet lag and neck pain. The jet lag subsided, but my neck still hasn't forgiven me for seven years of straining to make eye contact with the impossibly tall Dutch.

Salon
07/03/2016
Parenting as an expat: The Dutch taught me how to loosen up and give my kids some much-needed...

Parenting as an expat in the Netherlands means surrounding your own children with some of the most confident, self-possessed and happy children in the world. On good days, I feel like I've gifted my children with the opportunity to experience a childhood straight out of a "Leave It To Beaver" episode, where kids are free to play in the street, cycle over to their friend's house and come home when it's time for dinner.

Essential Kids
03/24/2016
Helping children to say goodbye

"Are you getting a divorce? Did someone die?" My 10-year-old daughter looks at me with a panic that alerts her younger sisters to the seriousness of the family talk we're about to have. "Of course not, and no, why would you think that?" I ask.

Mildred
Where to Travel | Roaming Round Russia

Forget escaping to white beaches, or skiing down black runs in the French Alps, a mid-winter escape calls for vodka and semi automatic weapons. At least that was my thinking as I set off to visit St Petersburg and Moscow. On the advice that St.

Kveller
12/21/2015
How German Christmas Markets Are Actually Pretty Jewish

I've lived in Europe for the past seven years and not a winter has passed without us bundling our three kids into the car, throwing in a pile of jackets, hats, scarves, and gloves behind them, and setting out to freeze as we visit a Christmas market somewhere in Germany.

The Mid
06/24/2015
Why Dutch Children Are The Happiest In The World (And What We Can Learn From Them)

Dutch children are regularly found to be the happiest in the world, according to those who measure these things. And as an expat raising children in the Netherlands, it's easy to see why. The Dutch approach to parenting combines old-school family values with a very modern respect for children's autonomy and opinions.

xoJane
06/15/2015
I Had a Dutch-Style Home Birth and Here's Why It Was Awesome

When I had my first baby I wasn't taking any chances. I wasn't only delivering her in hospital, under the care of my very experienced (and good looking) OB/GYN, but the hospital had to have emergency facilities for both the baby and me. I wasn't leaving anything up to the universe.

The Huffington Post UK
05/22/2015
Winning at Life: Five Ways the Dutch Do It Better

The Dutch are a contented lot, but it's not tulip fields and clogs that are keeping them happy. Over in the Netherlands they've worked out the ways to make life for themselves just that little bit better. 1.

The Huffington Post UK
02/13/2015
Why Dutch Children Are the Happiest in the World (And What We Can Learn From It)

Dutch children are regularly found to be the happiest in the world, according to those who measure these things. And as an expat raising children in the Netherlands it's easy to see why. The Dutch approach to parenting combines old-school family values with a very modern respect for children's autonomy and opinions.

Essentialkids
12/23/2014
Travelling alone after kids

EK Family Travel The joys of solo travel ... Photo: Getty The first time I travelled by myself overseas there wasn't a Contiki tour, cheap beer or youth hostel in sight. There was a great apartment, chosen primarily because the couch looked so inviting, duty-free gin and lots of sleeping in.

www.womensagenda.com.au
03/27/2015
What I've learnt from (nearly) a decade of parenting

For a few moments, around the time my eldest daughter was halfway through her first year, I felt like I was on top of my parenting game. I had a six month old who ate well, slept like a champ (finally), had mastered a mean commando crawl and was showered with attention as the first baby of the next generation in our families.

Essential Kids
06/01/2015
13 signs the toddler years are behind you

Kids Development Goodbye to the toddler years. Photo: Getty For the first few years of parenting the milestones are so clear and momentous. First foods to first steps are all eagerly tracked and documented and, if you're fortunate, these milestones unfold as the baby development emails popping up in your inbox suggest they should.

Essentialkids
01/16/2015
Helping children transition to a new home overseas

EK Family Travel Moving nerves ... relocating overseas can be a hard transition for children. Photo: Getty When we packed up our lives to move overseas my husband and I used to joke that we had decided to have this adventure about five years too late.

Essential Kids
02/23/2015
The upsides of dyslexia

Education for Older Kids Confidence boost: Focus on what students with dyslexia can do, not only on what they can't. Photo: Getty The signs may all be there: A child who avoids reading, writes letters backwards, has trouble remembering times tables or gets frustrated when sounding out words, but a diagnosis of dyslexia can still leave parents and children reeling.

Theunderground
Meet the Ambassador: Neil Mules AO (Australia)

Mihal Greener meets the Australian Ambassador to the Netherlands Nestled on Tobias Asserlaan amongst other embassies, the Residence of the Australian Ambassador almost appears too grand a space for any one person. In the three months since his arrival in The Hague, Australian Ambassador Neil Mules AO has already put his personal stamp on the Residence.

Mamamia
10/02/2011
EUROPE: An insider's guide to life in the Netherlands | Mamamia

When I met my now husband I couldn't get him to travel outside of Australia. It took four long years before we set off on our first overseas adventure together but somewhere in Europe something clicked. Over the next few years we traveled some more (Mexico, Cuba), saw our friends get married (Hawaii), got engaged (New Zealand), honeymooned (Jamaica, Panama) and conceived (Miami).

Thehoopla
03/13/2012
WHAT I TELL MY GIRLS ABOUT MARRIAGE -

I was born with the luxury of being heterosexual. I never had to come out to my parents, fearful of whether they would ever look at me again with the same eyes. I didn't have to hide my partner from my grandparents. Or conceal my schoolgirl crushes from my friends.

Mamamia
12/19/2011
The muff march

Hot wax, tweezers, excruciating pain and that's all before the expense and insidious itch of regrowth. What is it about Brazilian waxes and why are we doing it to ourselves? The issue moved out of the beauty salons and into the streets earlier this moth when the first ever 'Muff March' was held in central London.

Mamamia
12/10/2011
A German Christmas ... | Mamamia

The reasons to visit Europe in December make for a short list: No queuing at museums and the possibility of a white Christmas. But an absolute highlight not to miss are the Christmas markets. The markets pop up in late November/early December across Europe and most close just before Christmas.

Mamamia
04/26/2012
Could you have a drinking problem?

After the wine started flowing, so did the confessions. In the suburban book club, buoyed by the intimacy of shared confidences amongst mothers in similar circumstances, the women started opening up about their private drinking habits.

Australiantimes
12/24/2014
Are Aussie expats all the same?

Expat Australians around the world encounter common Aussie stereotypes all the time. But MIHAL GREENER, living in the Netherlands, questions what does it really mean to be an Australian? By Mihal Greener THERE is, of course, no good time to be pulled over by the police.

Mamamia
07/02/2012
Pop culture fads that make you go meh | Mamamia

By MIHAL GREENER Many moons ago when planning my first trip to Europe I was met with a unanimous chorus of "whatever you do, don't miss Prague." Knowing I couldn't miss what was undoubtedly going to be the highlight of the trip, I squeezed it into an already packed itinerary.

Australiantimes
12/06/2014
The Wiggles farewell the UK in style

If 21 years ago The Wiggles had any idea they would still be performing to pre-schoolers around the world today a few things may have been done differently, according to Red Wiggle Murray Cook. There may have been a female Wiggle and Murray may have chosen a different colour skivvy.