‘I lost myself in motherhood
Rainbow Friends
FUELS NIGHTMARES
‘She wasn’t breathing’
AUTUMN brought us quite a few wintery days this year, but winter is now officially upon us.
In no time we’ll be longing for dry and warm weather so we can send the kids outside to run out their energy.
But it’s so important to enjoy the beauty of each season.
Throw on those gumboots, invest in some waterproof pants or overalls, and find those puddles!
Enjoy soaking up bursts of winter sunshine free from sunscreen and hats while the UV is low.
Explore your local play centres,
Steve Biddulph on raising boys with backbone and heart
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Falling into parenthood
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Ash Pollard’s dark start to motherhood
PAGES 6-7
A dazzling journey through light and art
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Mum’s brave breast cancer battle
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Unleashing the power of imagination
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Let’s do what works when it comes to sleep
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Keeping kids safe in the car
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Mum’s IVF double miracle
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Bathing your baby safely
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Rainbow Friends are nightmare fuel
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Dental dilemmas
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Your local Camberwell family dentist
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Remote dental screening in development
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Clinic’s modern approach
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museums and art galleries. Find cafes and shopping centres with indoor play zones.
Set up a home cinema, complete with candy bar, for a cheap and easy activity the kids are sure to remember.
Get the kids into the kitchen, build a blanket fort, set up a craft zone…cold and wet weather doesn’t have to mean bored faces staring out the window, longing for spring.
Our winter edition is another reason to relish the season. We’re fortunate to share some fantastic stories from everyday families and a famous face or two.
Beyond traditional parties
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Slumber party magic
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Parties with a touch of wildlife wonder
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Building positive relationships
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Bachar Houli: Enrol your kid in kinder
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Bolster skills, strength at Boulder
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Empowering young athletes and scholars
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Most expensive city for education revealed
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Growing green thumbs
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Dancing out of the dark
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Build a secure foundation
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Reality TV alumnus Ash Pollard opens up about her rough start to motherhood, and renowned author Steve Biddulph shares words of wisdom on raising kids.
Two young mums speak candidly about fertility and cancer, experts warn online games could make children anxious, and a sleep consultant calls out her industry.
So put the kettle on, grab a blanket and curl up for a bumper winter read!
Motherhood’s more than birth
PAGES 26-27
Mum chooses home for fourth birth
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Melia’s little miracle
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Read wild facts about wildlife
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Discover new children’s books
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Stonnington Boroondara Kids magazine is a Star News Group publication.
Stonnington Boroondara Kids will be published quarterly prior to each of the school holidays.
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Editorial Melissa Meehan melissa.meehan @starnewsgroup.com.au
Photography Rob Carew Group Advertising Sales Manager Mandy Clark mandy.clark@starnewsgroup.com.au
Phone: 5945 0608
Published by Star News Group Pty Ltd ACN 005 848 108.
Publisher/Managing Director, Paul Thomas. All material is copyright to Star News Group Pty Ltd. All significant errors will be corrected as soon as possible.
Throwing expectations
OUTTHE WINDOW
Together we are better with
STEVEBIDDULPH
Empowering girls through
FASHION
Cover Ash Pollard and eldest daughter Clementine. Picture: Rob Carew
By Steve Biddulph
I’M sitting in a room with 200 mothers of boys. It’s an all-day workshop and we have enough time to really dig deep into what makes some boys turn out well, and some go off the rails.
I start off in an unusual way - I ask the women a question: What would be their idea of a perfect man?
Now, in a room full of young mothers - in fact, any women really - this is a question that leads to some ribald humour. But then we get serious, and I write on a huge whiteboard what they call out.
Soon we have a list of about 40 qualities. They range from kind, gentle, loving, thoughtful, through to trustworthy, honest, loyal, calm under pressure, and many more.
There is something very poignant and moving about some of these answers. I’m aware that some of these women are describing things that their present or former partners may not have been.
Many women have had painful and hurtful experiences of the men in their lives, though plenty, of course, have positive and good partners (perhaps just needing a few tweaks!).
The reason I do this exercise is that for parents of sons, it’s very important to know where you are going long-term with raising them to be good men.
The qualities we see in good men are there for one reason alone - somebody raised them to be that way.
In fact, there are really just two main qualities boys and men need to have: Backbone and heart.
Heart is what we most often think of first with goodness - being kindhearted, caring, patient, helpful, warm, affectionate.
And also open-hearted - able to talk about sorrow, fears, hurts and concerns, in an open way.
For most of the 20th century, men weren’t able to do this and so were often a kind of walking time bomb, either frustrating to be around, or dangerous, since you felt their moods but couldn’t talk about or work through them.
The second quality that we want to and can instil in our sons (and equally our daughters of course) is backbone.
Once in a school I saw a small boy stand up for his friend against some huge bullies. He was not strong or tough, but he knew that bullying was wrong, and it lent him courage.
And in fact the bullies backed away, something about that small boy’s moral courage got through to them.
That is my idea of backbone. Doing what is right. It also includes being trustworthykeeping one’s word, showing up, being reliable. Not quitting when things get difficult. We can actively talk about these things and teach our sons how to do them.
In the recent running scandals about private school boys’ behaviour and attitudes towards women and girls on public transport, it seems to me that these kids had not been given these messages at home, at least not enough to stand up or stand apart from the mob behaviour.
To turn out well, our boys need to be given enough love and care to be empathetic themselves.
To be taught by fathers and mothers to treat others with respect, and see their dads doing that - being warmhearted, being self-sacrificing, being strong and reliable.
Having the conversations right from little boys (or girls) about what a good human being actually looks like, and behaves like.
So one day their partners will smile and say ‘I married a good man’. And thank their parents for raising them that way.
AMY BOSTON’S start to motherhood was poles apart from her daughter Sadie’s dramatic entry to the world.
Becoming a mum was always in the background for the Ashwood mum of two.
“But it didn’t become apparent to me how much I wanted it until my sister-inlaw had kids,” she said.
“She had her first one, which is my nephew. Then she fell pregnant with Audrey and I felt really upset.”
She asked herself ‘when’s it going to be my turn?’.
“It turns out I was pregnant then, but I didn’t know,” she said.
“That’s why I was so emotional.”
Sadie, now 4, had stopped growing about 39 weeks into Amy’s pregnancy.
“So I had to be induced within a day,” she said.
“That was really traumatic, actually.
“She stopped breathing and then I got prepped for an emergency cesarean.
“They gave me one last push to get her out.
“I was full of adrenaline and shaking and I managed to push her out - but she wasn’t breathing.
“I remember seeing her being carried over to the bed and she was limp.
“Then we heard her crying and it was amazing.”
Amy described becoming a parent alongside partner Ryan Wigmore as “such an incredible experience”.
“We just fell into it straight away,” she said.
“The only thing was learning about basically everything, because she was a surprise pregnancy.
“I hadn’t really thought too much about being a mum or what it was going to be like until I was thrown into it.
“Sadie was such a good baby that we just fell in love with her and being parents, both of us.
“It brought us closer in our relationship.” Sadie turned one the week before Covid lockdowns hit Melbourne.
“She learnt to walk, talk - all those big milestones were done at home,” Amy said.
“It was great because Ryan was there to see them all.
“It had its perks and then it definitely wore thin after a while.”
Amy fell pregnant with son Asher when Sadie was about two years old.
“I think we were still in lockdown,” she said. She wasn’t expecting a boy.
“We had in our minds that we would have two girls,” she said. “He’s just so different to Sadie. He’s so heavyhanded.
“He’s had the same upbringing, same pregnancy, same labour, and yet they’re such different children.”
Asher was due on 8 December 2021 but was two weeks late.
“I didn’t want to get induced because of the bad experience I had last time,” Amy said.
“There was no room at the hospital because everyone wants to have their baby before Christmas.” So she was moved from Monash to Dandenong Hospital.
“It was the most incredible experience,” she said.
“The midwives were so lovely.
“I got to pull him out myself.
“There was a big sliding door with natural air coming in.
“It was a real celebration.”
Amy said that going from one child to two was harder than none to one.
“I didn’t know what to do with Sadie when I was trying to get him to settle,” she said.
“I was really overwhelmed.”
A sleep consultant helped her to get on track.
“The only other thing I struggled with was food, feeding them,” she said.
“There was lots of information out there on food.
“I found that really overwhelming.”
From baby led weaning versus purees, to reading nutrition panels on packets and finding hidden sugar.
“I found it really hard to navigate,” she said.
“I thought ‘I’m just going to run my own race here’.
“Those ‘rules’ are just guidelines.
“It’s your baby.”
Amy found her 10-strong mum’s group an essential help with navigating motherhood.
“It was such a great, eclectic group of women,” she said.
“It’s great to get everyone’s opinions.
“They’re all so supportive and lovely.
“It’s rare to get a good mum’s group.
“I don’t know many other friends that have had the same experience, particularly women who had babies in lockdown.
“I feel like they missed out on that.
“I was nervous about going.
“It’s always nerve wracking going into a room full of women you don’t know.”
But she encouraged mums-to-be and new mums to give it a go. “I would be really lost without mum’s group,” she said.
Other mums, as well as “a bit of reading when I was pregnant” guided Amy’s parenting style.
“Just watching how they approach motherhood, how they treated their children with respect,” she said.
“I just liked that style. I’m glad that I took a gentle approach to being a mum.
“I never let them cry it out. I’m very hands-on with them. “I guess that’s the part that I’m most proud of.”
Amy was working in shopping centre marketing two days a week when we spoke, planning to increase to three days in May.
“We’ve made it so daycare and kinder are so close to home, and we live close to Mum,” she said.
“We lived in Malvern. We moved here strategically because Mum is just up the road in Ashburton.
“She has both of them on a Wednesday and then just Asher on a Thursday, so we see each other most days.”
Amy works from her company’s South Melbourne head office.
“It’s hard but I really enjoy going into the office and not having to bring everybody’s water bottles and their coats and snacks,” she laughed.
“I can focus on one task, instead of cooking dinner or taking someone to the toilet. “It’s just so much easier at work.
“They’re really flexible with working from home, or if I need to pick up the kids.
Ryan’s work is flexible as well.
“Mum was away hiking this week so there had to be flexibility to work from home,” she said.
“Most businesses are adapting to the working from home situation.
“They all need to have working from home policy because that’s what employees expect now.”
ASH POLLARD was “in a dark hole” during her early days of motherhood.
“I felt like I just lost myself totally,” she said.
“I was chasing my tail for sleep. I was chasing my tail to find myself.”
Postnatal anxiety enveloped the usually bold and vivacious TV and radio personality.
“When you’re a highly functioning type-A personality, to then be doing the same thing every day is hard,” Ash said.
“I wouldn’t ask for help because I didn’t want to give Clementine to anyone.
“This was in the height of Covid. Everything is just heightened.
“So I was extremely paranoid,
extremely tired, extremely unsupported with no daily help around and (partner) Pete (Ferne) at work.
“I was miserable.”
The mum of two and My Kitchen Rules alumnus has been candid about her struggles on social media, earning praise from other mums.
“When Clementine was four months old I fell pregnant again,” she told Kids Today.
“I was not in a good place at that point.
“I was on medication.
“Coming out of the newborn stage, you’re absolutely beside yourself with sleep deprivation.
“I was in a dark hole.”
After Claudette arrived, Ash “went back into a dark spot”.
“I felt extremely unsupported and
extremely misunderstood by those around me,” she said.
“I nearly had postnatal psychosis.
“The best thing I did was outsource.
“I put an ad up for a mother’s helper to come and just help me clean up around the house, look after Claudette for two hours of a morning, two mornings a week so that I could go to the gym.
“I hate exercise but I had to force myself to do it because I knew it would be better for me.”
Ash acknowledged she was fortunate to have the means to engage the help she did, but urged other mums in need to explore volunteer services and Medicare-funded aid.
“There are options for people who don’t have the finances to actually get that support,” she said.
“There are beautiful people in the
community that offer their help on a voluntary basis.
“You just have to ask your maternal health nurse.”
Claudette was 15 months old when we spoke, and Clementine was two and a half.
“I’m finally feeling a bit better,” Ash said.
“I’ve taken up cardio tennis.
“I hate exercise and I’ve tried everything.
“This is the only thing that makes me genuinely happy and fulfilled.
“You run around a court and play games with other adults.
“Through that I remembered that I was not too bad at tennis, so I’ve gone back to tennis lessons.
“I’m a reserve for a comp team.
“I’m feeling a bit more myself now - my new self.”
Ash had always wanted to become a mum.
“It’s funny because I was extremely maternal in my twenties,” she said.
“When I turned 30 something happened and I kind of lost interest a little bit.
“Maybe my career started ramping up and I started to get a taste for what I loved doing.
“I found my groove in work.
“Things in the industry started ramping up for me and I absolutely loved it.
“Prior to that I wasn’t really enjoying what I was doing.”
She was an events manager before winning fans on My Kitchen Rules in 2015.
“It didn’t bring me the same kind of happiness and fulfillment that working in entertainment did,” she said.
“I forgot about being a mum and I just really honed my focus on work.
“Things were happening in leaps and bounds.
“Things were great for me and I was loving life.”
She had her own cooking show on Channel 10, appeared on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and moved interstate for a radio gig.
“Around the exact same time I was offered a job on radio, I met Pete,” she said.
“Everything in my world just felt right.
“Off I went to New South Wales - Pete didn’t come but he was happy to embark on a long-distance relationship with me.”
Ash fell pregnant during the Covid lockdowns.
“We weren’t even trying,” she said.
“It needed to be a surprise for us because we were both so obsessed with our careers that we weren’t even thinking about kids.
“Both of my children were surprises. Neither were planned.”
Ash said work was picking up again and influencing was her main gig these days.
“I’m not a radio host anymore and I haven’t done a TV show for a few years,” she said.
“I use my platform on social media to my benefit and others’ benefit.”
Clem and Claude do join Ash in some promotional videos - “They get a cut - it goes into their bank account.”and content for fun, like Cooking with Clementine.
“I started when she was so young. She was maybe nine months old,” Ash said.
“She’s always been very intrigued.
“She’s pretty calm so she’ll sit there and watch.
“I couldn’t do it with Claude.
“Clementine listens. She’s extremely measured, very risk-averse.
“She’s not always cooking. She’s not in the kitchen every day.
“I think I have involved her by speaking to her about food and allowing her to watch me and get involved now and then.
“I did introduce her to lots of foods frequently when she was younger
“If she doesn’t like a food, I’ll still serve it to her. Exposure is very important.
“I still to this day don’t like broccoli. I remember being forced to eat it.
“To this day if it’s offered to me I will still leave it on my plate.”
Lately she’s turned to breakfast smoothies to give the girls some extra nutrients.
“I make a green risotto sometimes,” she said.
“I cook some broccoli and kale in the stock that you mix into the rice, whiz it in a blender and ladle it into the rice.
“You’ve got to find ways that suit you and your lifestyle.”
Cooking was once her escape and passion but Ash said it had become a chore.
“It’s so sad to admit that because I adored it,” she said.
“I adored entertaining people, cooking beautiful meals that took an entire day to prepare.”
But she does see a day when the joy will return.
“When the kids exit the toddler stage, they can finally eat whatever we eat,” she said.
The family will be moving into their dream home before Christmas, with extensive renovations currently underway.
“I’m so lucky that Pete’s a builder. It would have been a disaster without him,” Ash said.
“It’s not your typical beige and white kind of scenario.
“It’s going to be an adventure when you walk in the front door of our house.
“Clementine likes to go to the building site to see the builders.
“She doesn’t quite like the noises that some of the machinery makes.”
Ash is content with her family of four but doesn’t rule out adding another child to the mix.
“I don’t like to say no because if we were to accidentally have another surprise we’d just roll with it,” she said.
But family-of-four holiday packages are so convenient…
AS the winter school holidays approach, the much-anticipated Roola Boola Children’s Arts Festival is set to return to the City of Stonnington from Tuesday 27 June to Friday 7 July.
This annual festival has become a staple in Melbourne’s cultural calendar, offering an array of performances, workshops, and unique activities that will ignite the imaginations of children and families alike.
Chapel Off Chapel will be the focal point of the festival, hosting four spectacular and spellbinding performances.
From the enchanting ballet performance of The Snow Queen by Victorian State Ballet to the explosive and educational race through the alphabet with The Alphabet of Awesome Science by That Science Gang, there is something for every child’s taste.
ARC Circus presents A Bee Story, a uniquely Australian physical theatre show that combines circus, acrobatics, dance, and live music, while The Wholesome Hour brings us Polite Mammals, a delightful comedy and
cabaret show featuring singing, dancing, puppets, and plenty of laughter.
In addition to the captivating performances, Chapel Off Chapel will also host 11 workshops where children can immerse themselves in magic, puppetry, circus skills, dance, music, and more. With offerings from See Make Play, NICA, Fizz Kidz, Gumnut Music, Rebel Stepz Arts, and many others, there is a workshop to suit every child’s interests and passions.
Beyond the Chapel, the festival extends its reach with satellite activations in well-known venues and arts institutions across the City of Stonnington.
From Fizz Kidz to The Space Dance Arts Centre, Duldig Studio to Hello Music Studio, and Prahran Market to Stonnington libraries, children will have numerous opportunities to engage with creativity and artistic expression.
City of Stonnington Mayor Jami Klisaris described the Roola Boola Children’s Arts Festival as a “must-do” event for children and families during the winter school
holidays. The festival offers an interactive and dynamic program filled with free and ticketed performances, workshops, and immersive art experiences in magic, circus, dance, music, theatre, and crafts. Make sure to mark your calendars for the Roola Boola Children’s Arts Festival, taking place from 27 June to 7 July.
For more information and to secure tickets, visit www.roolaboola.com.au. Let your child’s imagination run wild and create lifelong memories at this extraordinary festival. For further information and enquiries, call 8290 1333 or visit www.roolaboola.com.au.
ERIN Payne was in her baby bubble, very much in love with her three month old son Brodie when it burst unexpectedly.
One day while feeding him, Erin felt a hard lump in her breast and was soon diagnosed with stage three, grade three triple negative breast cancer.
“I couldn’t believe I had cancer after just having a baby,” Erin said.
“I wanted to have another baby, and I didn’t want my hair to fall out – I was scared.”
Everything happened at lightning speed – she went to the doctor a day after finding the lump and had an ultrasound that same day.
Once the diagnosis, and plan, was confirmed Erin jumped into action, meeting with a fertility clinic to talk about freezing her eggs in the hope she could one day give Brodie a sibling and was lucky enough to get two healthy eggs before her treatment began.
She started chemotherapy, along with steroids, anti-nausea and reflux medication and had monthly injections to place her body in early menopause.
Her hair was gone within 10 days – deciding to shave it off before the cancer beat her to it (something she says was both scary and liberating).
Following her treatment, Erin decided to undergo a double mastectomy – her best chance of the disease not returning.
Despite waking in a world of pain and thinking ‘what have I done?’, the long road back to recovery has been worth it.
“I am currently a survivor,” she said. Her recovery has been slow, and Erin is still trying to get back her health and fitness prior to the chemotherapy.
A year after getting the ‘all clear’ Erin and her husband decided to try naturally for a sibling for Brodie.
After five months of trying, they fell pregnant and in August 2022 their “rainbow girl” Darcie Margot was welcomed into the world at 3.7kg – a manageable size compared to her brother who weighed a whopping 4.4kg when he was born.
“It’s been quite hard managing two kids, like any parent would know, but the added fatigue, physical ability and low immune system has made it even harder,” she said.
“I keep looking at my babies and feel so blessed and lucky.
“I really don’t want anyone else to go through this, but I do want to raise awareness that young women can get breast cancer too, and to check your boobs regularly.”
I want to raise awareness that young women can get breast cancer too, and to check your boobs regularly.”
- Erin Payne, cancer survivorErin, with her children Brodie and Darcie Erin says she’s speaking about her breast cancer battle to warn others that young people can get it too. Pictures: Rob Carew
MELBOURNE’S cultural calendar is about to experience a shining star with the Glow Winter Arts Festival.
Prepare to be enchanted as historic Central Park in Malvern East transforms into a magical experience of neverseen-before lighting installations and artworks.
From Thursday 15 June to Sunday 18 June, this four-night spectacle promises to immerse visitors in a world of light, color, art, live performances, and delectable snacks from food trucks.
The festival’s centerpiece is Central Park’s breathtaking gardens, where visitors will have the opportunity to explore and engage with illuminated artworks that will ignite their imagination.
The installations, created by acclaimed Australian artists, each have their own unique meaning and story, offering a profound and thoughtprovoking experience.
City of Stonnington Mayor Jami Klisaris invites everyone to seize the chance to discover Central Park in a new way, embracing the beauty of the large-scale illuminated artworks. This is an extraordinary opportunity to embark on a free night out that will leave a lasting impression.
Highlights of the festival include:
■ Escape to the Alps: A fantastical journey through a neon alpine forest, featuring skiing slopes, toboggan rides, and playful interactions with a giant Snowman. Created by Volter International, this winter wonderland is perfect for the imaginatively adventurous.
■ Monsters Love You...But Might Eat
You: A massive, colorful inflatable artwork that celebrates the joyful and powerful spirit of human beings while encouraging us to embrace our differences. Originally created by Goldberg Aberline Studio and now brought to life at Glow.
■ Conservatory: An extraordinary live performance reflecting moments of loneliness and joy in the life of a solitary character residing within a plant-filled biosphere. Co-created by Melinda Hetzel and Co and Niow, this mesmerising installation explores the interconnectedness between humans and our rapidly changing world.
■ Tree Man: A glowing beacon of inflatable light that symbolizes the importance of nurturing and connecting with the environment. Crafted by the multi-award-winning art and technology studio ENESS, this sculpture references our digitaldriven culture through its screenshaped head.
■ Glittering Night: An enchanting installation that evokes a place from our dreams, where the moon is full, and stars harmoniously sing. This
artwork, created by Skunk Control, invites contemplation of its significance and why it re-emerges during the winter season.
As visitors indulge in the mesmerising art, they can also enjoy warming hot chocolate and delicious snacks from food trucks on-site.
Local businesses in the surrounding precincts are also joining the celebration, offering festival-goers a delightful selection of refreshments to complement their journey.
The Glow Winter Arts Festival at Central Park, located at 148 Burke Rd, Malvern East, will illuminate the nights from 5pm to 10pm (with extended hours until 11pm on Friday and Saturday) starting Thursday 15 June until Sunday 18 June.
For more information, visit www.glowfestival.com.au.
YOUR instincts are key when it comes to your child’s sleep, says Lauri Goodhardt.
The Caulfield North mum of three, teacher, and infant and child sleep consultant says parents need to dial down the noise from the sleep world.
“What’s really hard about sleep is it’s not a regulated industry,” she said.
“The sleep industry takes advantage of parents where they’re most vulnerable because everyone’s exhausted.”
There’s no degree, and most services are based on personal philosophies.
“There’s very little information on what is actually biologically normal,” she said.
“I don’t think there’s enough about sleep education in the hospital system.”
She said parents took their baby home with next to no understanding of developmental milestones and how they might affect breastfeeding or sleep.
Even a paediatrician once told Lauri her son’s sleep troubles were due to “feeling abandoned” at night because the house was so full of life during the day.
“I literally left and cried,” she said.
“I had confidence to know what was ridiculous.
“Use your intuition.”
Lauri helps parents to understand whether their expectations are realistic and biologically appropriate.
“I’m not there to solve a problem, I’m there to figure out why there’s a problem and solve that,” she said.
“It’s really about tuning into what the individual wants and needs.
“I’m just sad for parents who feel stressed about something that should be enjoyable.”
Lauri said parents felt shame no matter their sleep journey, whether they support their child to sleep, or prioritise independent sleep.
“It’s ridiculous because it’s your parenting journey,” she said.
“Why are we so fixated on making kids sleep independently when we sleep with a partner every night?
“It’s because it’s so drilled into us that independence is key.
“Why can’t we do what works?
“It’s also a very westernised idea of sleep.
“Nowhere else in the world are they concerned about sleep in this way.
“On the other hand, we also don’t have the luxury of not having independent sleep.
“We don’t want our kid in bed all night before work, it’s exhausting.
“I need the day to end and I need my space.
“We have bigger houses, we have the means.
“I just think it should all be legitimate and justified and fine.”
Lauri recalled one client who was told ‘do not rock your child to sleep, they won’t be able to settle independently’.
But a paediatric physio identified that the child had a weak vestibular system, which is associated with balance.
“As soon as we brought rock to sleep in, it was all they needed to sleep through the night,” she said.
“Don’t be fooled by people saying you’re creating a rod for your own back.
“There really are different ways of doing things.”
MORE than 80 percent of child car restraints in Melbourne’s West are incorrectly fitted or used, Kidsafe Victoria says.
CEO Melanie Courtney urgently called on all parents and caregivers to regularly check and adjust their child car restraints, and to book in for a free fitting or inspection through the ‘Safe Seats, Safe Kids’ program.
The program checked more than 900 child car restraints in Wyndham and found 91 percent were incorrectly installed or used.
Just under half (49 percent) required an adjustment, while 40 percent needed a complete refit.
Only two percent needed to be replaced due to being more than 10 years old, having damaged or missing parts, or being an overseas model below Australian standards.
In Hobsons Bay, more than 120 were checked. Ninety-three percent were incorrectly installed or used, with 49 percent requiring adjustment, 42 percent requiring a refit, and 2 percent needing replacement.
In Brimbank, 84 percent of the more than 170 checked were incorrectly fitted or used, with 42 percent adjusted, 41 percent completely refitted and 1 percent replaced.
The program checked more than 320 in Maribyrnong and found 88 percent incorrectly fitted or used.
More than half (52 per cent) required adjustment, 33 percent required complete refit and 3 percent needed replacement.
Kidsafe Victoria CEO Melanie Courtney said the risk of life-threatening injuries was four to six times greater when child car restraints were incorrectly fitted or used.
“Ensuring child car restraints are properly installed can be challenging for parents if they haven’t been shown how to do so, which is why the ‘Safe Seats, Safe Kids’ program is so important,” she said.
“Many parents and carers who attend one of our free checking days simply don’t know that their child isn’t restrained safely.
“Our accredited fitters ensure the restraint is correctly fitted and also provide education and advice to help parents continue to keep their kids safe on every trip.”
Typical issues identified included:
■ Top tether straps twisted, connected to the wrong vehicle point, or not connected to an anchor point at all;
■ Twisted harness straps or harness straps at the incorrect height;
■ Seatbelts threaded through the incorrect path;
■ ISOFIX attachments not secured correctly; and
■ Children in the wrong sized restraint. Transport related incidents are one of the leading causes of accidental death for Australian children.
About seven children aged under 15 years are killed on Victorian roads each year, with about another 300 injured.
Kidsafe Victoria runs ‘Safe Seats, Safe Kids’ in partnership with Neighbourhood Houses Victoria and with State Government support.
Neighbourhood Houses Victoria CEO Keir Paterson said ‘Safe Seats, Safe Kids’ provided a vital service to local communities that many families might not otherwise be able to afford.
Visit www.safeseatssafekids. com.au to book a free appointment to have a child car restraint installed or inspected A free e-learning tool for choosing, installing and using child car restraints
correctly is available at safeseatssafekids.com.au/courses/ child-car-restraints.
For information and advice on the best practice guidelines for safely transporting children, visit safeseatssafekids.
At Mini Maestros your child will learn how to participate and co-operate with others in a classroom setting. They’ll also learn how to listen and follow directions, and get a headstart on important literacy and numeracy skills.
Mini Maestros also has Online Courses for babies to 5 year olds, so that you have the opportunity to share the learning & fun with your child at home in your own time.
SOPHIA and Briana Borg are not your average twins.
Not that being twins is at all average.
But one thing that makes them extra special is that they were each conceived differently.
After a long journey to get and stay pregnant, their parents Kate and Simon were ecstatic to find out they were pregnant.
They had implanted one embryo after years and failed IVF attempts - and couldn’t believe their luck.
But they never expected to find out they were pregnant with twins - one of them conceived naturally ‘spontaneously’.
Married in 2016, Kate hadn’t experienced a normal cycle for many yeas, so was concerned about her fertility.
After trying to conceive for six months, she knew it was time to seek assistance.
“I was referred to a local gynocologist and fertility specialist who diagnosed me with polycystic ovaries,” Kate told Kids Today.
“He suggested that if we wanted the fastest result to begin IVF.”
Lucky for the couple, Kate’s polycystic ovari meant she was over producing eggs and the process was able to collect nine embryos.
“They say it takes an average four attempts at IVF to have a successful pregnancy,” Kate said.
“And we stayed with the clinic for five transfers that were all unsuccessful.”
During that time, Kate had three miscarriages. The initial clinic she attended were unsupportive to try new methods to improve their chances of pregnancy, so Kate and Simon decided to try “fertility queen” Lynn Bermeister.
Dr Burmeister was surprised that the couple had been unsuccessful and suggested to try using one of the four remaining embryos they had left with a new technique she had learnt in the USA.
Sadly, it didn’t take.
“We had now completed six transfers,” Kate said.
“Our bank account, my body but more importantly our hearts were breaking.”
A decision was made to discard the remaining embryos and try again.
This time they were able to collect four embryos, which were then sent to the UK for genetic testing.
There was no underlying reason why Kate would miscarriage - but Dr Burmeister discovered she had the inability to turn folate into folic acidwhich was vital and embryo health.
In January 2019, they went through another cycle of IVF. It was successful.
But when they had the ultrasound, they found out that it was a blond pregnancy - all the symptoms of pregnancy with no growing baby).
“At this point I could feel our dream slipping away and I was physically and emotionally drained,” Kate says.
“We started researching adoption and surrogacy and took at holiday to Hawaii - all our friends and family were starting families and here we were not able to talk about our pain and losses.
“But Lynn never gave up on us.”
In May, they went back again.
They transferred a single embryo.
And because she was told she could never fall pregnant naturally, Kate and Simon went about their lives as normal.
“After seven heartbreaking calls and over 50 blood tests I wasn’t hopeful (that we’d be successful) and figured the result would be negative,” she said.
“I called Lynn’s office and booked an appointment with her. We had a laundry list of questions on “what do we do next” and “whats the problem... is it me?”
The appointment came around and Dr Burmeister took one look at Kate and declared she was very much pregnant.
Both Simon and Kate nearly fell off their chairs.
A week later, they returned to Dr Burmeister’s office, worried that Kate had experienced a bleed a few days earlier and convinced, again, that they had lost the baby.
But Dr Burmeister turned to Simon and held up the peace sign.
Two little heart beats. Two seperate sacs. Two babies!
“We could not believe it,” Kate said.
“After the hundreds of tablets and hundreds of self administered injections we had not one baby - but two!”
One of the girls conceived through IVF, the other conceived naturally.
According to Kate, calculating their conception there is a five day difference between one baby being a spontaneous pregnancy and the date they transferred the single embryo.
Kate was scheduled for a C-section delivery on 7 January 2020 and Sophia and Briana were born one minute apart.
“We feel so blessed as our journey was difficult and very emotional,” Kate said.
“We said if we were successful with one pregnancy we would not try again for a 2nd so feel eternally grateful to the universe for completing our dream and giving us two for one.”
MANY babies love a soothing bath.
They’ve been living in warm amniotic fluid for the majority of their existence and find comfort in a warm bath.
Some babies don’t like being naked – in this case try draping a warm, damp washcloth over their chest and stomach as this can help them feel more secure.
When you’re preparing the bath, ensure the water is about the same temperature as their body or slightly warmer – about 37 degrees celsius.
A waterproof thermometer is helpful, otherwise hold your wrist under the water to make sure it’s not too hot or too cold.
It is not necessary to use soap to wash your baby, however if you do decide to use a soap product, ensure that it’s gentle and designed for young skin.
Newborns don’t actually need a bath every day and in some cases, it can dry their skin out.
If you choose not to give your baby a bath each day, you can use warm water and a cloth to wash their face, hands, and bottom.
Make sure that everything you need
is within reach before placing your baby in the water.
Remember to never leave your baby unattended in a bath.
For a newborn this means you need to have your hands on your baby at all times.
Older children should never be left to supervise a newborn or small baby in the water.
It’s also helpful to warm the room before you undress your baby and place a towel over them.
This helps them remain calm and settled.
Scan the QR code to order your free copy of Bump, Birth and Bub – the ultimate resource for pregnancy, childbirth and those early days with a new baby, by Epworth Maternity midwives.
perfect
By Melissa Meehan, AAP
CHILDREN as young as four are being exposed to nightmare fuel that could set them up for a lifetime of anxiety.
Animated online games such as Rainbow Friends, and video clips of people playing them, might seem innocuous but their benign names often hide more sinister content.
Rainbow Friends is a Roblox horror experience that turns a seemingly welcoming environment into a terrifying nightmare.
It’s similar to content such as Piggy, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Poppy Playtime, or the more well-known Huggy Wuggy.
The gamer poses as an unnamed child who has been kidnapped during a school trip to an amusement park called Odd World.
Some videos of Rainbow Friends animations on Youtube have had as many as four million views while the game itself - which is played on Xbox, mobile devices and PCs - has had more than one billion visits.
Despite being PG-rated for mild violence - its creators claim it’s suitable for children over nine years old - children aged much younger are being exposed.
While there is no substantial research on the issue, anecdotal evidence from a number of child educators suggests children accessing such content are more prone to act out, sometimes violently, or display anxious behaviour.
A kindergarten teacher in
Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, who declined to be named to protect the identity of her students, said last year several boys in a class for four-year-olds had seen Rainbow Friends.
“My colleagues and I were seeing them play and talking about some characters. We had never heard of it before so did some research and it really shocked us that they knew so much about it,” she told AAP.
The main concern was that four- and five-year-olds were being exposed to age-inappropriate content, although it was noted that they often had older siblings which made it easier to access.
Child psychologist Deirdre Brandner said stories of children as young as four accessing similar content were concerning because their developmental age meant the line between pretend and reality can be blurred.
“It starts with something quite benign and engaging and it’s actually the shift from that to the darkness that is the most distressing for children,” she told AAP.
“By then, they have developed trust in that character and then it turns out to be something they are not expecting.”
She said characters in these kinds of online content force kids to lose trust and brings a cautiousness that develops across everything they do.
This could include being scared while watching a Disney show or even Bluey, she said.
“That’s when we see increases in anxiety and, you know, there is a correlation between what children are being exposed to, and anxiety and the fact that particularly for this age group - it’s a very, very vulnerable place that these children find themselves in,” Ms Bradner said.
“It is important to talk to your kids, and other parents, about what they are watching or what their friends are watching.”
Cybersafety expert Susan McLean says it’s paramount that parents take control of what their children are exposed to online.
“If we applied the same rules to parenting in the real world - if we let our three-year-old aimlessly wander the streets and hope for the best, you know that wouldn’t work,” she said.
“So why do parents think that the internet is different? It is not. It is far more dangerous than the real world for little young people.”
She said unsupervised children using devices often stumbled upon content not meant for their eyes.
An example of this is Shrek the Rapist, which comes up when searching for videos of the G-rated Shrek movie.
It is also important to have tough conversations in the playground with other parents
about what their kids are watchingbecause often what one parent thinks is appropriate, isn’t necessarily appropriate for another child.
Roblox is a user-generated content platform, which means the games and virtual experiences on the platform are not built by Roblox but by a community of more than 12 million creators and developers.
Roblox told AAP in a statement that it encouraged parents to determine what experiences were appropriate for their children by providing a suite of Parental Control features.
Those controls can be used to restrict what games and experiences kids can access, as well as who they can interact with and how much they can spend.
“Parents can set restrictions based on the age recommendation assigned to individual games and experiences on Roblox, with three age categories to choose from: content recommended for “All Ages”, content for users “9+”, or content for users “13+”,” it said.
“In the case of Rainbow Friends, the game is not playable for accounts that have been age-restricted to either the “All Ages” or “9+” categories.”
THERE are lots of orthodontic issues to look out for in the early years, according to the Australian Dental Association.
Some can be left to manage later in life but others require early intervention, and managing them in a young child can be challenging.
Oral habits
Thumb or digit sucking and dummy use are an almost normal part of early childhooWd.
The consequences of these habits, the ADA says, have the tendency to self-correct as long as the habit stops by about four to five years of age.
Some children, particularly those who persist with an oral habit beyond this age, will develop irreversible ‘damage’ to their developing bite.
The ADA says it’s important to educate parents of those children who are at risk of this.
Various methods can be implemented to help curb the habit, such as positive encouragement, reward systems, nail-biting deterrent polish, taping or covering the offending finger or hand, and cutting off the tip of the dummy.
Space loss
Tooth extraction is the typical treatment of choice for primary teeth with infection, significant tooth decay or after
severe dental trauma.
Trying to salvage a primary tooth with a hopeless prognosis is a recipe for disaster, the ADA says, and is usually best extracted despite the inevitable consequence of space loss.
Extraction of primary incisors rarely causes space loss, and the permanent successors usually still erupt without issue.
But early loss of a primary molar, the ADA says, can cause space loss which can create spacing issues for the permanent successor.
The decision to place a space maintainer depends on the severity of space loss expected, medical history, caries risk, cooperation, finances, and the presence of other orthodontic issues.
Lower anterior crowding
Commonly referred to as ‘shark teeth’, lower anterior crowding is a very common issue.
Often parents attend a dental practice worried that a primary tooth remains despite its permanent successor erupting. But the ADA says this situation very rarely needs any intervention from a dental practitioner.
In more than 90 percent of cases, the primary tooth will eventually fall out, and the permanent tooth will still erupt fully and migrate forward with tongue pressure.
Removing the primary tooth is only of benefit if it’s not mobile at all despite the permanent successor being fully erupted; six to 12 months has been given beyond the normal stage of development the tooth is expected to fall out by; there is evidence the permanent successor will not erupt and become impacted or erupt severely ectopically without this extraction; and/ or the primary tooth is significantly impacting normal hygiene and dietary practices.
The ADA says it’s important to not extract a primary tooth unless it is absolutely necessary as this is often the child’s first exposure to a dental procedure.
Crossbites
Anterior and posterior crossbites are caused by dental or skeletal discrepancies, or a combination of the two.
A dental crossbite usually involves one or two teeth, whereas a skeletal crossbite generally involves multiple teeth.
Other factors such as a high palatal vault, mouth breathing, cleft palate and skeletal malocclusions (class II or class
III) more commonly have skeletal crossbites.
The ADA says crossbites usually do not need early correction unless the crossbite is causing a functional shift or it has been indicated by a medical specialist, usually an ENT specialist or sleep physician, for obstructive sleep apnoea.
Any crossbite correction is typically done once the first permanent molars and permanent incisors have erupted so that it is easier to maintain the correction and any incisor irregularities can be corrected at the same time.
In general, single tooth crossbites do not need early correction unless there is evidence of trauma to teeth or gingival recession occurring.
Ectopic first permanent molars
Ectopic first permanent molars are identified when these teeth do not erupt or remain partially erupted and are found to have part of its crown stuck behind the second primary molar.
The ADA says they have a prevalence of about 4 percent in the general population, are more common in the maxilla, and about 70 percent of the time they self-resolve.
LOCAL Camberwell dentist Dr Bob Cvetkovic and his team provide a comprehensive range of dental services over your whole life.
These start with routine check-ups, emergency care when needed, including cosmetic, preventive and restorative dental treatments.
The team effectively manages pain, discomfort, and damage to help keep
you well and enhance your overall oral, dental health and smile.
They bring care and commitment to your oral and dental health, providing dietary, oral hygiene and lifestyle counselling in ways that foster positive change to your oral health.
The team listens to your concerns and work together with you, and support you at your times of need.
Dr Bob has provided volunteer dental services through charity organisations for more than 40 years, and has been a president of the Australian Dental Association – Victorian Branch and involved as a councillor for 10 years.
He is a fellow of international honour dental societies including The International College of Dentists, The Academy of Dentistry International and the Pierre Fauchard Academy.
He is also a member of The International Association of Communication in Healthcare, the American Academy of Communication in Healthcare and The International Team for Implantology.
Dr Bob has also been involved in practical research with EviDent – a charitable scientific research organisation based in Victoria.
Dr Bob is a dedicated family man, and understands the importance of care.
He has three adult children and five grandchildren, enjoying their frequent company.
He also has fun playing and listening to music, photography, art, and going bushwalking and camping as often as possible.
Visiting a family-oriented dental clinic offers the ideal environment for
receiving top-notch oral care while fostering a comforting atmosphere that prioritises the unique needs of individuals and promotes a sense of belonging and trust within the family unit.
All are welcome at your local Camberwell family dentist.
To make an enquiry or book an appointment, call the practice on 9882 3366 or email admin@ camberwelldentalassociates.com.au.
Dr Bob Cvetkovic – Camberwell Dentist is at 681 Burke Road, Camberwell.
DENTAL professionals could soon use an app to remotely screen children’s teeth.
The Australian Dental Association (ADA) in February reported that researchers at The University of Western Australia successfully completed a feasibility study on the app. It was created in response to restrictions on healthcare delivery during the height
ORTHODONTIC treatment is a highly beneficial and necessary procedure for individuals who want to improve their oral health and overall well-being.
The Modern Orthodontics team is dedicated to providing the highest quality of care to its patients, and believes that orthodontic treatment during adolescence can have numerous benefits.
During adolescence, teeth are still growing and developing, and therefore it is the optimal time to address any orthodontic concerns.
Correcting any issues early can help prevent more serious problems from developing in the future.
One of the primary benefits of orthodontic treatment during adolescence is that it can help improve the alignment of teeth and the bite, which can result in improved oral
hygiene, better function, and a more confident smile.
Modern Orthodontics uses state-ofthe-art technology to create individualised treatment plans for its patients.
We offer a range of treatment options, including traditional metal braces, clear braces, and Invisalign clear aligners.
The team of highly skilled orthodontists works closely with patients to ensure that they receive the most appropriate treatment for their unique needs.
Another important benefit of orthodontic treatment during adolescence is that it can help improve overall oral health.
Misaligned teeth can lead to problems such as tooth decay, gum disease, and jaw pain.
of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the university said it had “ongoing potential for use in remote and lower socioeconomic areas”.
UWA researchers Dr Somayyeh Azimi, Dr Jilen Patel and Dr Mohamed Estai led the collaborative study with Telethon Kids Institute and Joondalup Health Campus.
They had 42 families take goodquality photos of their children’s mouths.
They were uploaded to the app and made available to dental professionals via a secure server.
Dr Azimi, from UWA’s School of Human Sciences, said this method “enabled high-accuracy screening of healthy children without tooth decay and those with evidence of cavities”.
The ADA said he spoke about the impact this could have on dental care in rural and remote regions.
“It has the potential to prioritise dental needs, mainly where dental care access is limited, and to reduce waiting times for consultation and travel times to dental clinics,” he said.
“It may also lead to better determining the urgency of the need for treatment and the nature of treatment required, as well as potentially reducing the complications of untreated tooth decay, such as dental infection.”
Dr Azimi said future work would explore incorporating AI technology “to further accelerate examination and referral.”
By correcting these issues early, patients can reduce the risk of developing these problems and maintain good oral health for the rest of their lives.
The Modern Orthodontics team understands that orthodontic treatment can be a significant investment.
That’s why the clinic offers flexible payment plans to make treatment more affordable for its patients.
The clinic also works with most insurance plans to help cover the cost of treatment.
Modern Orthodontics is committed to providing the highest quality of care to its patients, and believes that its personalised treatment plans and state-of-the-art technology set it apart from other orthodontic clinics.
The experienced team encourages anyone considering orthodontic treatment to schedule a consultation to learn more about how it can help improve their oral health and achieve their dream smile.
You can reach the clinic on 1300 367 678.
THE Reptile Encounters mission is simple: to be a voice for those that don’t have one.
The team is passionate about inspiring and educating the next generation on conservation, because it believes that together we can make a difference.
For more than 16 years, the Reptile Encounters team has been bringing wildlife up close, providing unforgettable experiences for its guests.
Its headquarters houses a diverse range of Australian animals that its team cares for every day of the year.
Reptile Encounters specialises in educational programs for kinder to Year 12, engaging students in interactive learning experiences that foster a deep appreciation for our environment. Furthermore, the team takes pride in making kids’ parties extra special by bringing a touch of wildlife wonder.
The aim is to have fun, create memories, and leave a lasting impact on the world.
Make your child’s party memorable with a selection of wild animal parties from Reptile Encounters!
FIZZ Kidz, Australia’s premier party business, is renowned for creating hands-on party experiences that bring immeasurable joy to children.
With an array of interactive activities and themed parties, Fizz Kidz engages young imaginations and leaves a lasting impact. Fizz Kidz goes beyond traditional parties by offering hands-on experiences that ignite children’s curiosity and excitement. Whether it’s creating bubbling potions, making glam products, designing crafts, or participating in interactive games, Fizz Kidz ensures that each child is actively engaged, fostering a sense of wonder and leaving them with cherished memories.
Their expert planning services ensure a seamless and stress-free celebration, allowing parents to relax and witness the delight on their children’s faces.With a commitment to safety and a dedication to
personalized touches, Fizz Kidz are experts in kids entertainment.
Whether that be kids’ birthday parties, corporate or council events, holiday programs or school workshops, they can’t wait to bring your event to life.
To book a party or for further information, visit fizzkidz.com.au.
The experienced team will bring a mobile zoo directly to you.
Your guests will be dazzled by interactive shows, ensuring your party is a huge success.
With every encounter, Reptile Encounters strives to create lifelong memories and a deeper connection with the natural world.
Its team of experts are committed to providing engaging and informative experiences that leave a lasting impression.
Whether it’s meeting a python, holding a lizard, or observing a crocodile, Reptile Encounters aims to spark curiosity and cultivate a sense of wonder.
Join Reptile Encounters as it embarks on an exciting journey of education, exploration, and conservation. Have fun, create memories, and make a difference for the planet we call home. For bookings or more information, visit www.reptileencounters.com.au or call 1300 427 627.
IN the heart of Melbourne, I am filled with immense pride as Slumber Tribe celebrates its 8th year of bringing magic and wonder to children’s slumber parties.
As the founder and director behind this extraordinary venture, I have poured my heart and soul into creating the original and ultimate kids’ slumber party experience.
Every detail matters to me, and that’s why I offer a full styling set up and delivery on all bookings, completely free within a 10-kilometer radius of our Hawthorn headquarters.
Your convenience is paramount, which is why our hire packages are available from Friday to Monday, accompanied by pack-down instructions for effortless collection.
With a range of 10 teepee themes and our breathtaking Boho Luxe canopy theme, the possibilities for creating an enchanting atmosphere are endless.
However, there is more to come!
I am developing a brand new theme, expanding our theme offerings and accommodating larger teepee parties of up to 14 kids.
Slumber Tribe is not just a business; it’s a passion project.
It brings me immense joy to provide everything you need for a stress-free and unforgettable kids slumber party experience.
From cozy bedding options to captivating decorations, I have carefully curated each element to ensure every child’s dreams are brought to life.
I created Slumber Tribe to provide Melbourne kids with amazing slumber party experiences and I am so grateful for the opportunity to share my love and dedication with you and your children.
Contact me today via info@ slumbertribe.com.au or 0491 916 533 for all of your kids’ slumber party and sleepover party hire needs.
Fiona Millar, Founder and director.
AT Our Holy Redeemer School, we are thrilled to celebrate more than 100 years of academic excellence.
Our school has a rich history of providing a high-quality education that helps children grow, learn, and succeed in all aspects of their development.
At Our Holy Redeemer, we are committed to fostering a strong sense of community among our students, parents, and staff.
We believe that building positive relationships is essential for creating a supportive and inclusive environment that fosters student well-being.
As a Catholic school, we also place a strong emphasis on faith and strive to create a faith community for every child.
Our broad curriculum is designed to enable our students to become active global citizens.
We provide a range of programs that promote literacy and numeracy excellence, as well as a renowned reputation in the community for our emphasis on public speaking.
We also offer weekly specialist classes in science, STEM, physical education, performing arts, and Mandarin,
allowing our students to explore their passions and develop new skills.
In addition, we believe in the importance of incorporating technology and innovative strategies to support our students in becoming critical, creative, and innovative thinkers.
We provide a range of opportunities for our students to develop their problem-solving and critical thinking skills, including an annual intensive swimming program, a camp program for Years 3 to 6, and participation in the Inter-school sport program as a member of SSV.
At Our Holy Redeemer, we understand that parents lead busy lives, which is why we offer before and after-school care programs that are run on-site.
We want to ensure that our families have access to the support they need to make their lives easier.
We are proud of our school’s achievements and would like to invite parents to come and see for themselves what makes Our Holy Redeemer such a special place.
Regular school tours with myself are conducted on a weekly basis. Please
make an appointment to visit the school, where you will learn about the many programs we have on offer and tour our amazing facilities.
Enrolments for 2024 are closing soon, and with limited vacancies available, I encourage parents to act quickly to secure their child’s place at Our Holy Redeemer School.
Contact our office today to schedule a school tour and begin the enrollment process.
We look forward to welcoming you and your family to Our Holy Redeemer School. For further information, please visit us at 4 Barton Street, Surrey Hills, call us on 9898 2315, or email ohradmin@ohrsurreyhills. catholic.edu.au.
We look forward to hearing from you and welcoming you to Our Holy Redeemer School.
Frank Dame, PrincipalOur Holy Redeemer provides a range of opportunities for students to develop their problem-solving and critical thinking skills, including participation in the Inter-school sport program as a member of SSV.
PARENTS of all cultures and backgrounds should get their kinder applications in for next year, says former AFL star Bachar Houli.
He joined with Early Childhood and Pre-Prep Minister Ingrid Stitt at Altona North Children’s Service in May.
“Early education has allowed my two girls to mix with kids of different backgrounds and cultures, and to learn more about themselves and others,” he said.
“My son Mohamed is so excited to be starting three-year-old kindergarten in 2024, and I can’t wait to see what he learns about the world.”
Before starting school, children can attend three-year-old kindergarten for five to 15 hours per week, followed by four-year-old kinder for 15 hours per week - and it’s all free.
“What a child experiences between the ages of three and five can make a big difference to their development and wellbeing,” Ms Stitt said.
“Free kinder supports every Victorian child to get the best start in life, no matter where they live.”
Many councils with central enrolment processes will start allocating kinder places in July.
Research shows play-based learning is a powerful way to support a child’s learning and development, with two years of kindergarten better than one.
Play encourages children to use their imagination and make discoveries while learning to listen, share and take turns.
Children also learn about numbers, words and language, develop social and emotional skills, and build essential skills that go on to serve them for life.
“Everyone benefits from kindergarten,” Ms Stitt said.
“Children get to experience new adventures while getting quality early education and families, in particular women, have more flexibility to return to work if they choose.”
Families are encouraged to visit their local kindergartens to meet staff and see the services in action.
Parents should also look for a Kinder Tick, so they can be confident their child will be attending a funded kindergarten program.
Visit vic.gov.au/kinder or contact your local council for more.
I am delighted to introduce Australia’s largest multi-sport program for children aged 1.5 to 6 years.
At Ready Steady Go Kids, we believe in the power of early childhood development.
Our program, meticulously designed by paediatric physiotherapists and occupational therapists, aims to foster children’s gross and fine motor skills and instil a love for sports in a noncompetitive environment.
One of the hallmarks of our program is its comprehensive approach to skill development.
We expose children to 10 different sports, enabling them to acquire a broad range of skills.
This diverse curriculum not only builds a solid foundation of sporting
knowledge but also ensures continued interest and enthusiasm throughout the program.
By offering this variety, we strive to nurture a lifelong love for physical activity.
Our program goes beyond sports training. We integrate basic counting and colour concepts into our classes, fostering cognitive development alongside physical skills.
Through teamwork and sportsmanship, children learn the value of collaboration and fair play, while also building social skills that will benefit them in their future interactions.
Our carefully designed activities also enhance listening skills and concentration, laying a strong groundwork for success in the early school years.
EMBARK on an extraordinary bouldering journey at Boulder Project, where strength, flexibility, endurance, problem-solving, and decision-making skills flourish.
Especially beneficial for young minds, bouldering enhances their physical abilities while nurturing their cognitive development.
Boost your confidence, self-esteem, and mind-body connection through the joy of climbing.
Revel in the dynamic environment, with fresh routes every week and a wide range of difficulty levels to suit all climbers.
Don’t miss Tuesday promotions, offering two-for-one entry and discounted early bird climbing from 6.30am to 11.30 am. Plus, indulge in exciting kids’ classes on weekends, complete with free shoe hire and complimentary climbing for the rest of the day after the class.
For newcomers, seize the opportunity to pay for your initial session and receive a free seven-day climbing pass.
This cannot be claimed in conjunction with other offers or specials.
Climbing serves as a remarkable avenue for student engagement, promoting active learning and cultivating virtues such as courage and diligence.
The Boulder school group program offers deals, including a $15 per head rate (with $5 shoe hire) for groups under 25 and an even better deal of $12.50 per head (including free shoe hire) for groups of 25 or more.
Safety induction, coaching, and bouldering skill assistance are provided to all participants.
Unleash your potential and thrive at Boulder Project, where bouldering transcends the boundaries of physical activity, creating a transformative experience for all.
To book your climb or receive further information, visit www.boulderproject. com.au.
At Ready Steady Go Kids, we understand the importance of individual attention.
To ensure optimal learning outcomes, we maintain a low studentto-instructor ratio of 1:7, with class capacities limited to 14 children.
This allows our dedicated instructors to provide personalised guidance and support to each child, tailoring the activities to their unique needs and abilities.
We believe that this individualized attention fosters greater self-confidence, enhanced self-esteem, and a genuine sense of achievement, all of which contribute to the overall well-being of our young participants.
We pride ourselves on our unwavering commitment to delivering our program, come rain, hail, or shine.
With our indoor facilities, we guarantee that every class will proceed as scheduled, regardless of inclement weather. We also offer multiple makeup classes at any one of our locations at any time should you ever be unable to attend a class.
This reliability ensures that your child’s progress and development are never hindered, offering peace of mind to parents and a consistent learning environment for our eager participants.
Come and join us for a FREE TRIAL class at one of our Balwyn North, Templestowe Lower, Hawthorn or Doncaster East locations.
Visit readysteadygokids.com.au for more information.
Lachlan PriceFranchise owner - Balwyn and Hawthorn Regions
There’s a wide range of difficulty levels to suit all climbers.
AUSTRALIA’S most liveable city is now also the most expensive for public school education.
As more families tighten their belts due to inflation, the cost of education is soaring with some parents to spend upwards of $100,000 just to send their child to school in Melbourne.
Research conducted by the Futurity Investment Group estimates the total cost of a government education in Victoria’s capital will be $102,807 over 13 years for a child starting school in 2023.
That figure is 17 per cent above the national average of $87,528.
Futurity’s Cost of Education Index analysed data collected from 1525 parents surveyed across the country.
It found school fees make up five per cent of the total cost of a government education, with 95 per cent spent on
ancillary costs such as uniforms and sporting equipment.
Parents are likely to spend up to three times more on outside tuition ($1350) than school fees ($368) in Melbourne this year.
Adding to the total cost are electronic devices ($1013), musical instruments ($781), textbooks ($337) and school camps ($303).
Australia’s capital Canberra is the most affordable for government education at $77,002 followed by Brisbane at $80,419.
With the average household income about $58,448 annually according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Futurity Investment Group executive Kate Hill said the rising cost of education is exacerbating financial stress on families.
“What we do know is the cost of education with school fees has increased at twice the rate of inflation over the last ten years,” Ms Hill told AAP.
“It’s coming to crunch time for Australian families and parents who are looking at what their options are around education, which is just another one of those costs that’s increasing on top of everything else and really hurting Australian families.”
The cost of public school education in regional Victoria is significantly lower at $75,217 over 13 years, which Ms Hill said could motivate Melburnians to relocate, particularly with more flexible working arrangements post-COVID.
The survey also found when it comes to Catholic education, Canberra is the most expensive.
A child starting Catholic school in Canberra in 2023 will require about
MORE kids can get active and grubby in school gardens thanks to extra funding.
The State Government announced in March that its annual grant to the Victorian Schools Garden Program would increase from $95,000 a year to $145,000 a year.
“I’ve seen first-hand how school gardens offer great opportunities for primary school students to learn in an outdoor setting, providing a tremendous boost to their health and wellbeing,” Education Minister Natalie Hutchins said.
“Sharing the importance of sustainable living and fostering a love
of gardening is vital to ensuring that the next generation takes a hands-on approach to caring for the environment.”
Now in its 46th year, the Victorian Schools Garden Program has provided rewarding outdoor education initiatives to generations of Victorians.
The Department of Education and Nursery and Garden Industry Victoria have worked closely together to cultivate the program and grow its student engagement.
The additional funding will deliver school-based activities and on-site learning at 35 participating primary schools – benefiting about 3500
students.
The program includes grants to encourage schools to start new gardens or improve existing ones; an awards scheme that recognises and rewards student and school community achievements; and professional development workshops for teachers and volunteers to learn the basics of running a school garden.
The program also connects schools with horticulture industry experts to help with large-scale garden projects.
The awards and grants programs are open to all Victorian government, Catholic and independent schools. Visit vsgp.org.au for more information.
$197,667 over 13 years, which is seven per cent above the national average of $184,545.
Sydney and Melbourne were the cheapest cities for Catholic education at $178,478 and $184,366 respectively.
Meanwhile, the cost of private school education in Sydney during the next 13 years would be $357,931, which is 19 per cent or $57,698 above the national average of $300,233.
Non-metro South Australia is the most expensive region for private education at $238,625 over a 13-year period, while Perth is the cheapest city at $213,889. School fees make up 52 per cent of the total cost of private schooling, with 48 per cent spent on ancillary costs – a more even proportion compared to government education.
Mibenge Nsenduluka, AAPLearning together prepares students for a world that has changed beyond imagination. Ready to succeed in a world of work that requires the confidence and skills to communicate, collaborate and problem solve. Plus the self-assurance to bring their own unique perspectives to the table, regardless of gender or cultural experience.
Learning together celebrates difference and nurtures students to become well-rounded individuals who contribute as equals.
Kingswood College is a welcoming, diverse and inclusive community where every student belongs.
Kingswood College is an independent school where students from kindergarten to Year 12 develop confidence and skills for lifelong learning.
www.kingswoodcollege.vic.edu.au or call 9896 1700
At Kingswood College we believe students should learn as they live – as young people together, side by side.
DANCE helped Zac Van Grondelle to find his tribe.
“I started when I was 10 because my grandparents owned a dance studio years ago and then my mum wanted to take me to dance classes to continue the family tradition,” the dance teacher said.
“I had no interest but my mum made me go.
“From the first few classes I loved it, and I kept going.
“As a kid, I thought it was just an activity I really liked doing.
“I really liked the music, I liked meeting other people of all ages.
“Looking back on it now as an adult, it was probably not quite fitting in at school…”
Zac met people with the same hobbies and interests through dance.
“Looking back now, I think ‘what would I have been like if I hadn’t met those people?’,” he said.
Meeting people as an adult who didn’t get the chance to find their tribe really solidified his appreciation.
“I was so lucky to have that opportunity to be me and meet other people who were like me,” he said.
“I had my own interests. I didn’t have to fit in.”
As an adult, Zac wanted to give other kids in Geelong the opportunity he had - and more.
He didn’t want other young dancers to have to choose between travelling or giving it up.
Zac’s seen all kinds of children and teens give dance a go.
GUIDED by principles of the contemporary Catholic faith, Genazzano FCJ College in Kew is a progressive, vibrant community where girls learn to view the world critically, embrace diverse cultures, history and social inclusion.
Genazzano FCJ College’s early learning centre provides a secure foundation for your child’s future.
Highly-trained and caring teachers integrate fun and play into early education, fostering a life-long love of learning.
Junior school at Genazzano offers an innovative, diverse curriculum from ELC to Year 6.
The college principles will foster your daughters’ critical thinking and academic potential, where they are encouraged to lead and inspire.
The college curriculum is supported by literacy and numeracy teams, learning enhancement programs, and specialist teachers for languages, performing and creative arts.
Genazzano is an authorised provider of the highly-acclaimed International Baccalaureate (IB) Primary Schools’ Program (PYP) and the Middle Years’ Programme ( MYP).
An IB education offers globallyrecognised academic programmes in history, geography, health, civics, citizenship and religion.
More information can be found at www.genazzano.vic.edu.au/teachinglearning/our-college/early-learning-elc.
The college’s junior school curriculum is supported by literacy and numeracy teams, learning enhancement programs, and specialist teachers for languages and the performing and creative arts and Genazzano offers stimulating co-curricular programs including STEM, the arts, social justice, languages and global Innovation.
Genazzano FCJ College is located on vast grounds in the heart of Kew.
Junior school students are introduced to a wide range of sporting facilities.
The generous grounds provide a large oval, indoor heated 25 metre pool, indoor basketball court, seven tennis courts, three netball courts, and an elite physical performance centre.
Genazzano’s commitment to parents is to optimise your daughter’s academic potential and social and personal wellbeing, ready to take on the future.
Selected places at its early learning centre and junior school are available for 2024 and 2025.
The college warmly welcomes you to its open mornings, followed by a morning tea, on the 26 July and 6 September. For registration, please go to www.genazzano.vic.edu.au/enrolments or contact the registrar on 8862 1207 or registrar@genazzano.vic.edu.au.
“The kids who come through here are really musically inclined. They love singing and moving to music,” he said.
“We also have kids who are really shy and don’t know how to socialise or express themselves that well.
“I think dance suits both those types of personalities.
“We have kids who are doing other sports like football and basketball, but also enjoy dance.
“It helps with other skills like balance and coordination for those other activities.”
There are also option competitions, for kids and teens who like to put their skills to the test.
Zac said dancing taught resilience and helped young people to accept feedback and try to improve.
“For me, as an adult, that’s a skill that I’ve taken into other jobs,” he said.
Social skills are another benefit from dance classes.
“A lot of kids don’t have as many social skills, especially post-covid, in this technology age,” he said.
“Through dance classes they learn to speak to adults and talk about themselves.
“Dance, particularly, can make you feel vulnerable.
“Standing in a room with people you don’t know…
“That teaches you a good skill as well.
“I can stand up in front of other people and be confident.
“Dance in itself keeps you active and moving - it’s a good physical activity.
“Long-term it instils this enjoyment of being active and being fit.
“Exercise doesn’t have to be absolutely pushing yourself to the max until you drop.”
THE decision to have a family wasn’t an automatic yes for Seddon mum Emma Preece Boyd.
“On the one hand I adored my own mum and just thought she was so incredible and sacrificial,” she said.
“I was the youngest child - nice and selfish and spoiled.
“I couldn’t imagine being like my mum. I couldn’t live up to her.”
Emma had never been “clucky” and she loved her work as a trauma counsellor with refugees and asylum seekers.
“I wanted to travel the world and do international development,” she said.
“Motherhood just wasn’t in the plan.”
Having a “wonderful partner who was keen on having a family” in husband Simon Boyd changed her thinking.
“I actually really love being a mum much more than I expected to,” she said.
Emma did “so much birth prep” before welcoming their first child, Angus, now 5.
“It was absolutely going to be a vaginal, unmedicated birth with him,” she said.
“I was ideologically invested in that.”
She went into spontaneous labour, but Angus was suffering significant heart rate decelerations.
“The cord was wrapped around his neck very tightly,” Emma said.
“He wasn’t handling the contractions because of that.”
So Emma was rushed in for a caesarean.
“It was a really hard way for me to enter motherhood,” she said.
“It wasn’t what I expected.
“Birth narratives and education can fail women.
“We set up this really glorified view of birth.”
Fast forward 18 months and Emma was pregnant with Wynton, now 3.
She was a good candidate for a vaginal birth after caesarean (VBAC).
“The cord issue was a fluke. It’s just bad luck, not like something wrong with my pelvis or that I didn’t dilate,” she said.
“But I was still so depressed. I was struggling with my mental health at that time.
“I felt like if I tried for a vaginal birth again and I failed again, I couldn’t live with that.
“I hadn’t gotten over that idea that there was one successful way to birth.
“I worked through the decision a lot with a psychologist, which was really helpful.
“What I wanted more than anything was a birth that was within my control and a positive birth.
“I started researching positive caesareans and gentle caesareans.”
Wynton was born via scheduled caesarean.
“They dropped the drapes for me so I could see him be born,” Emma said.
“He came straight onto my chest and fed straight away.
“That was such a wonderful experience.”
Fast forward another 18 months to Mabel’s birth. She was 10 months old when we spoke.
“I started to think ‘I just don’t want to have major surgery again,” Emma said.
Her GP and the hospital both said ‘no’ to a VBAC due to an increased risk of uterine rupture.
She felt sad that her options were so limited.
“With Wynton, that’s what was right for me at the time,” she said.
“Now I was OK with the idea that a VBAC could end in a ceasar.
“I had shifted and a positive birth could be either.”
She searched for a care provider willing to support her through a VBAC and landed with a private obstetrician.
“Mabel was born through a very uncomplicated, long labour with no birth injuries - just a wonderful experience and very good recovery,” Emma said.
“In the birthing world there’s a lot of black and white.
“It’s taken me three births to realise ‘actually, we might not need to be that way’.
“I also realised that birth is a moment in time. Motherhood is bigger than birth.
“No matter what mode, it’s how a woman feels she’s being treated.
“We should focus less on mode of delivery and more on how to help women feel empowered.”
Welcoming Angus had turned Emma’s world upside down.
“I found it really hard to accept motherhood and accept that change in identity and what my life looked like,” she said.
“I could only see what had been taken away, not what had been given.”
In hindsight, Emma said she was suffering with postnatal depression for the first 18 months of motherhood.
“As a high-achieving, productivityfocused person, I took it on as a new challenge, and tried to be really good as a mum,” she said.
“I found it wonderful and really hard at the same time.”
Emma knew being a mum would be “a hard gig” and wanted to share the load with Simon.
“I had ambitions around that - both of us did, actually,” she said.
“Overall I realised that it feels like it’s a lot more work to try and divide the labour sometimes.
“There’s lots of promises that you can have it all.
“They’re empty.”
Emma and Simon really enjoyed growing their family from one child to two.
“Going to three has been a huge jump. It feels like going from two to five,” she laughed.
“We both come from families of three, so for us that’s what family looked like.
“It really feels different to the norm in the inner city of Melbourne. I go to school drop-off and everyone has one or two kids.”
There are “a lot of logistics and noise and hands needed” with three kids.
“It’s a different experience of parenting. There’s a lot I’ve had to let go,” Emma said.
“I’m a lot calmer and less productivity-focused, having three.
“I’ve had to come to terms with what’s possible.”
An au pair has helped enormously.
“Au pairs live with you, and give you a little help in the morning and afternoon,” Emma said.
“I actually really like it because I’m quite extroverted and I find motherhood really isolating.
“It’s been life-changing, just to have an extra pair of hands.
“She might be around helping prepare for dinner while I’m breastfeeding Mabel, or helping Gus with his homework.”
Or she might take the kids into the back yard so Emma can prepare dinner in peace.
“I have that craving less because I’ve had less of the dependence on me all day,” she said.
“I actually can lean into ‘the kids really need me right now’.”
Emma said that in other cultures, there was always an extra pair of hands available.
“So much of what I find hard about motherhood, other cultures, I can see how they do that a lot better than us,” she said.
“Western society and capitalist norms around motherhood are really unsustainable and I think they rob everyone, actually, of a lot.
“Western society is absolutely preoccupied with putting on a show: ‘I’m a competent individual. I’m independent, I can do it myself.’
“Motherhood is so humbling in terms of realising ‘actually, you can’t do everything yourself’ but you have to present that you can.
“That just ends up imploding relationships, partnerships and families.
“I’ve been really humbled by parenthood and had to become a lot more honest with myself and others.
“I found it really hard to say ‘I actually need help and in this instance I will pay for it’.
“We’ve effectively put a price tag on knowledge and care that in other cultures would be provided by family and friends and community.
“That saddens me a bit.
“We put a price tag on that to make it a valid thing for a woman to do.
“This is a really important job. If parents don’t parent well, society fails.”
“THE second she was born, I wanted to do it again.”
It takes most mums a little longer to consider another pregnancy.
But Amanda Colverson’s fourth birth was unlike most births - even her own three previous births.
She welcomed Lana into the world in her Kalorama living room with husband Andrew and children Ava, Tea and Hunter by her side.
“I love that they were able to be there,” she said. The experience was a far cry from Ava’s entry to the world almost eight years earlier.
“Being our first baby, we thought we’d go private with her,” Amanda said.
“A lot of our friends had gone down the private hospital line.
“We thought ‘that’s what you do’.
“Even during the pregnancy I found the obstetrician didn’t really have a lot of time for my questions and felt a little bit rushed in the appointments sometimes.”
Her waters broke four days before her due date so she went into hospital for a check, then home to wait for labour to start in earnest.
Amanda labouted at home during the night and returned to hospital in the morning about 5 centimetres dilated.
“The midwife I had was an agency midwife that I’d never met before,” she said.
“With going private, you know your obstetrician, but at the end of the day
it’s the midwives you have with you.”
She felt like she needed to push but was only 5 or 6 cm dilated - the baby’s position was causing the urge.
Amanda tried ‘the gas’ - nitrous oxide and oxygen gas - and morphine but they did nothing to alleviate the painful pressure, so an epidural was recommended.
“It wasn’t really what I wanted but I was told it’s what I had to have,” she said.
“After a few hours my obstetrician came in and checked on me and left.
“I was told I was 10 cm and to start pushing.
“But I couldn’t feel anything so I really struggled with that.
“I was pushing for 2.5 hours.”
Amanda was told her baby’s head was “coming down a little bit but seeming a bit stuck” and that forceps and an episiotomy were needed.
“I didn’t feel like I had too much of a choice at that point,” she said.
“She came out OK but I felt quite disconnected from the whole experience.
“It was almost a shock once she was out and there.
“The next day it sort of hit me that things maybe hadn’t gone how I thought.
“I think it really affected the first few weeks with my baby, affected my bonding.
“I felt like I couldn’t enjoy those first few weeks because I was in a lot of pain and just processing what was going on.”
The experience left Amanda scared to have another baby.
“I had a friend who had been with the midwifery group practice
program and she really recommended her midwife,” she said.
“She actually got me in and had a bit of a debrief about the birth.
“She was so supportive and talked through why things had happened and what things may have helped or not helped.
“That was really helpful and made me feel a lot more confident going into the second birth.
“Having that mid wife that I trusted and that I knew - and I knew she was going to be the one there on the day - was really reassuring.”
Tea held out on her arrival until eight days after her due date.
“So it was the longest wait of my life, but her labour was a lot quicker,” Amanda said.
She had “some inklings” in the morning and used techniques she’d read about and learned at a breathing class to manage her pain throughout the day.
About 6pm Amanda felt like she needed to push, and reached the hospital about 6.30pm.
Her waters broke “straight away” and a check by her midwife found she was fully dilated and ready to push.
Tea arrived about 30 minutes later.
“It was, in some ways, healing from that first birth as well, having such a different experience,” she said.
Amanda applied for the midwifery group practice program the day she found out she was pregnant with Hunter.
“I did wonder about home birth for the third one considering the second one had gone so well, and I had a few friends who’d had home births,” she said.
“My husband was very against the idea, worried about how it would go and it not being safe.”
So they stuck with a hospital birth.
Once she hit eight days overdue, she started feeling a lot of pressure for induction.
“That was just the expectation,” she said.
“They wanted me to come in every day for monitoring after the 41-week mark.
“The monitoring was always fine, sometimes the fluid levels were even better than the day before.
“Third birth I felt more empowered to be able to say ‘I don’t want to be induced yet’.
“Being in that midwife program, she understood what I wanted. She was happy to support what I wanted.”
When Amanda hit 14 days overdue, she had to sit down with a doctor, listen to the risks of continuing her pregnancy, and sign forms to confirm she understood them.
“The day of 42 weeks I woke up and had started to lose some of my mucus plug so that was really r eassuring,” she said.
She’d had a stretch and sweep at 41 plus six, and had another followed by an acupuncture appointment.
“In the evening I felt like I was having some contractions but then they went away,” she said.
“So I went to sleep, woke up about 7.30am and felt like I was having some contractions.”
Her mum picked up her daughters and Amanda jumped in the shower.
Her contractions were about six minutes apart but the gap quickly shortened to two minutes.
She went to the hospital and her waters broke almost as soon as she reached her room.
“I felt like this was going to be exactly the same as my second birth,” Amanda said.
“I really wanted to have a water birth.”
So the midwife ran a bath for her. She was pushing with every contraction but nothing was happening.
She got out of the bath so her midwife could do a more thorough check, and learned the baby’s head was coming down, then moving back up.
Amanda tried some different positions to try to get him moving.
“Nothing was working, he wasn’t progressing down at all,” she said.
“After about two hours, the midwife said she needed to get a doctor to check on me.”
The doctor concluded he “seemed a bit stuck” and Amanda was soon prepped for theatre.
“That was a bit unexpected when the second birth had gone so well,” she said.
“I’d done everything I could but I was still at this point, it was out of my control.
“It was kind of helpful in terms of the first birth. It was helpful to answer those what-ifs.”
She was hooked up to the spinal block and relished the relief from the pain.
Hunter had come down far enough that another forceps birth - including another episiotomy - was recommended.
He weighed about 4.43 kilograms - about a kilo bigger than his siblings.
“I think his size was part of why he wasn’t coming down,” Amanda said.
“They wanted to take him to special care to monitor his breathing.
“They gave me a minute to have a look at him and then took him off, so my husband went with him.
“They stitched me up. So I ended up in recovery all on my own, after I’d been quite confident that this birth was going to go well.
“I didn’t get to see him for a couple of hours.
“Even though in some ways that birth was the hardest, the postpartum was a lot easier and I felt a lot better.”
Amanda fell pregnant with Lana when Hunter was nine months old, “which was a bit of a shock, but I had secretly wanted to have a fourth baby so I was thankful”.
“I really wanted to have a home birth,” she said.
“My husband asked ‘why, after the last one went so badly?’.
“I said ‘I want a home birth because the last one went so badly’.
“I needed to do something differently.
“The private midwives are amazing. They know everything about different positions and different ways to get babies out.”
Yarra Valley Midwives answered all her questions and even met with Andrew to talk through his concerns.
“He felt reassured - it still wasn’t his first choice but he respected that it’s what I wanted to do,” she said.
“It did cost a fair bit of money, but we decided that was something we wanted to do.”
Amanda felt “really terrified” in the weeks leading up to the birth.
“Given what had happened with the third birth, I was really worried about something going wrong,” she said.
“After I said that out loud I felt a bit better.”
About 36 weeks, the midwives came to Amanda’s home with a birth pool and a list of items she would need to make her home birth dream a reality.
“I felt really overwhelmed,” she said.
“Once I had everything sorted I felt a lot better.
“And I knew that on the day if I felt like I needed to go to hospital, I could.
“I was still registered in the hospital system.”
Two days before her due date, she felt Braxton Hicks contractions.
They were 10 minutes apart, but soon went away.
Amanda went to bed and woke to potential contractions at 5am.
“I lay in bed for an hour wondering,” she said.
“I got up and jumped in the bath to see if they’d go away.
“It was getting a little uncomfortable but I didn’t want to wake anyone up.”
About 6.30am she decided it best to text her midwife and doula.
She got out of the bath about 7am and “things jumped up really quickly”.
“All of a sudden the contractions were two minutes apart,” she said.
The kids were just getting out of bed and her husband was trying to fill up the birth pool.
“I had used most of the hot water in the normal bath so the hot water ran out really quick, so he was having to boil the kettle and water on the stove to fill up the birth pool,” Amanda said.
Amanda’s midwife was on her way about 7.15am, and her photographer friend Emily was en route to capture the birth.
Her doula was a couple of hours away.
“Mum was going to come and help with the kids but was 1.5 hours away in Rosebud,” she said.
“I didn’t want anyone to have to hurry.”
She got into the bath about 7.40am.
“I felt like I needed to push but I didn’t want to push without anyone here,” she said.
Emily arrived about 10 minutes later, and 10 minutes after that the midwife pulled into the driveway.
“At that point I let my body just push,” Amanda said.
“I was leaning over the bath and (the midwife) asked me to feel where the baby was.
“I could feel the baby’s head, which was so surreal.
“My little two had come down and were sitting on the couch.
“My eldest daughter was still upstairs. I think she was feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything. Then she came down too.
“Then with the next push I could feel the head coming down and I could feel that ring of fire that everyone talks about.
“Then her head came out into my hand.
“With the next push she came out into my hands and I lifted her out of the water all on my own.
“The kids were all there watching.
“After she’d come out, they gave her a little pat.
“We sat there for about an hour.
“The second midwife arrived just as she was born. Mum arrived after that.
“My doula came a little bit after as well. It was nice for them to be part of that moment.”
They kept the cord connected to Lana for a good few hours.
“After the placenta had come out they got me out of the bath and moved me onto the bed,” she said.
“The kids all got to cuddle the baby, it was really special.
“I felt really lucky to have that experience. It took me four births.”
Before Lana was born, Amanda was feeling “OK that this is the end of my pregnancy journeys”.
“The second that she was born, because it was so incredible, I just thought ‘I would do this again’,” she said.
MELIA HAUGH hadn’t given motherhood much thought - until it was taken off the table.
The Herne Hill mum was diagnosed with leukaemia at age 19.
“I was so sick that they didn’t have time to do egg retrieval,” she said.
“I got a childhood leukaemia that I was basically too old to get.
“The doctors made up their own protocol for me. They did some epic things to save my eggs.”
They put her reproductive system into menopause, injecting drugs into her abdomen using a “massive needle”.
Chemotherapy is attracted to fast-growing cells like eggs, so doctors hoped pressing pause on ovulation would keep them safe while they treated her cancer.
“As soon as I started treatment I felt better,” Melia said.
“I’d been sick for a few months and nobody knew what was wrong with me.
“No one knew until the last minute, when I was basically unable to move.”
Melia didn’t know whether the attempts to save her eggs had been successful until she fell pregnant almost 10 years later, at age 28.
“I’d had a relationship with an IVF doctor because I understood the process that might occur in the future,” she said.
“Before I could see her I knew I had to be off the pill and trying for a certain amount of time.
“I made a future appointment, only to find I fell pregnant naturally.
“We thought it was going to be a long process.
“When it happened after only a few months, I was like ‘crap, am I ready?’.
“At the same time it was a little miracle.
“It was awesome and it was stressful because I’d just started a business.”
The Soft Hospitality Group managing director described the period after welcoming Lexi, now 5, as stressful and high-intensity.
“When Lexi was born, I really wanted to keep working,” she said.
“She was an easy baby and I was lucky.
“Having her with me, I got the best of both worlds.”
Melia was already step-mum to Frankie, now 11, from her husband Shane’s first marriage.
“Having Frankie in my life when I met Shane was part of the reason I wanted to have a baby of my own,” she said.
“I met her when she was 4 and it was a joy to have her in our household.”
Melia then welcomed Addison, who’s almost 2.
“They’re the perfect sisters,” she said.
“With Addison it felt like I was losing my identity a little bit.
“I needed to figure out what the new norm was.
“That balance with a baby, a four year old and a pre-teen…it was hard to navigate in the beginning.”
She had to re-centre and accept things needed to change.
“I think it was about me actually taking some time off from the business - I needed some maternity leave this time,” she said.
“I needed to relax, get my body better.”
Melia had always wanted to open a cafe.
“I’ve been a career hospo girl ever since I can remember,” she said.
She and Shane were living in Melbourne when the opportunity to open Soft in Geelong arose, so they moved to follow her dream.
“My cafe is my baby as well,” Melia said.
“It’s such a community atmosphere.
“I love the adrenaline.
“While you’re in the middle of it, it’s crazy.
“As a family, we’ve always been going to cafes and to restaurants.
“That was our ‘camping’. That was what we did.
“I want to bring that atmosphere to other families.
“It was always part of the venue, but it’s grown. I see how my kids interact with it.
“I can take my kids in there at any point and they can enjoy the atmosphere while I’m working.
“The staff are like aunties and uncles to my kids.”
Melia said juggling a business and a family could be nuts.
“I’m so lucky that my husband works nine to five, because I don’t,” she said.
“It’s a modern day marriage. He does the cleaning and the washing.
“I’m out on Saturdays. We have Sundays as a family.
“It’s about creating a schedule and having that communication.
“I’m working my arse off and having the career I wanted and showing all of them if you work hard, you can get what you want.
“It’s important that as a mum you have your career goals and your passions and you don’t give it up necessarily, if you don’t want to.
“You can do whatever you like.”
A PIG-BEAVER-HIPPO-COWCAMEL hybrid that eats its own poop?
Discover this wild creature and more in the Wildlife Compendium of the World, which features awe-inspiring animals from every continent.
From amphibians and reptiles to monotremes and pilosa, discover the world’s fauna in this illustrated book by Tania McCartney.
Continent by continent, readers can take a global tour through the wildest, weirdest and cutest animals.
Each animal profile includes the Latin name, type, diet, size, weight, conservation status, curious facts, and the collective noun or baby name.
Meet a slug that resembles a banana and a fuzzball mammal with 90 strands of hair per follicle.
Marvel at an ant that burns like fire, and the creature with the shortest lifespan on Earthonly five minutes.
Discover that a group of bears is called a sloth and a baby lizard is a hatchling.
The gentoo penguin is the
reaching up to 36 kilometres an hour.
They can dive up to 200 metres 450 times a day in search of food, and ban unfaithful mates from the colony.
Africa’s meerkat wins the ‘Most Skilled Guard’ award. It’s cute but fierce, willing to fight for its territory and ceaselessly scanning the sky.
Meerkats are immune to most venom, so dine on snakes and scorpions.
Closer to home, the shortbeaked echidna is found all over Australia.
The spiky monotreme can did one metre down to find food and can even dive underwater.
The book also features sections on animal types and environments, animal rights, and a glossary.
Canberra-based author Tania McCartney has made more than 60 books for children and adults and has illustrated, edited and designed many of them too.
Jonathan Bentley and Andrew Daddo
A hilarious and irreverent toilet training book from a popular Aussie author that will have pre-schoolers giggling all the way to the poo – and the zoo! We’ve all got one because we all do one. Every day.
Somedays twice a day. Somedays more.
Everyone has a poo face! Whether it’s a dog or cat, a lion, an elephant, wombat, fish, giraffe or frog, they’ve all got a poo face – even you!
RRP $17.99
Mr Men Little Miss: Little Miss Sunshine on a Rainy Day
Roger Hargreaves
A brand new story about a Little Miss with a very sunny disposition!
Little Miss Sunshine is the sort of person who can see the good side of everything and everyone. But not all her friends are the same. Mr Grumble is the complete opposite and he grumbles from morning to night. How will Little Miss Sunshine show him that every cloud has a silver lining?
$14.99
A Father’s Day Book
Dive into the Big Blue Guy’s guide to being the best dad ever and find out how to kick some dad goals!
A gorgeous hardback book for kids of all ages.
$14.99
Tabbed Board Book
Eric Hill
Join Spot for a day at nursery with all his friends in this new tabbed board book.
Join Spot for a day at nursery with all his friends in this new tabbed board book.
Spot is going to nursery today - and he can’t wait to see his friends! What fun games will they play together?
$16.99
