Kids West - Winter 2023

‘I lost myself in motherhood’

ASH POLLARD

Rainbow Friends

FUELS NIGHTMARES

Seddon mum shares

BIRTH BATTLES

About Us Us

Winter has its own charm

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,

CONTENTS

IT’S YOUR LIFE

Motherhood’s more than birth

PAGES 4-5

Mum chooses home for fourth birth

PAGES 6-7

Steve Biddulph on raising boys with backbone and heart

PAGE 8

Dancing out of the dark

PAGE 8

Keeping kids safe on the road

PAGE 9

Mum’s brave breast cancer battle

PAGE 10

Rainbow Friends are nightmare fuel

PAGE 11

Ash Pollard’s dark start to motherhood

PAGES 12-13

Safe summer swimmers are made in winter

PAGE 20

A unique and thrilling dining experience

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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.

EDUCATION

Connecting kids through sport

PAGE 15 15

Bachar Houli: Enrol your kid in kinder

PAGE 15

Pathways for all students

PAGE 16 16

Alleviating transition anxieties

PAGE 17

Positive outcomes for all

PAGE 18

Empowering every student

PAGE 19

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!

REALITY BITES

Melia’s little miracle

PAGE 21

BOOKS

Read wild facts about wildlife

PAGE 22

Discover new children’s books

PAGE 22

Kids West Today magazine is a Star News Group publication. Kids West Today will be published quarterly prior to each of the school holidays.

Kids West Today Unit 6/1-9 Thomsons Road, Keilor Park Phone: (03) 8318 5777

Sales Manager Gayle Williams gayle.williams@starweekly.com.au

Editorial Melissa Meehan melissa.meehan @starnewsgroup.com.au

Phone: 5945 0666

Group Advertising Sales Manager Mandy Clark mandy.clark @starnewsgroup.com.au Published

‘Motherhood is bigger than birth’

By Casey Neill

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 r esearching 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.

Emma and Simon with children Mabel, Angus and Wynton.

“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 productivityfocused, 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.”

Fourth time’s the charm

By Casey Neill

“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.

Amanda with Hunter, Ava, Lana, Téa and Andrew. Picture: Chapter And Song Photography

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.

Amanda, Lana and Ava. Pictures: Chapter And Song Photography

Téa and Ava with Amanda and Lana.

Andrew supports Amanda during Lana’s birth.

Raising boys with backbone and heart

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 trustworthy - keeping 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 warm-hearted, 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.

Steve Biddulph is the author of Raising Boys, and The New Manhood.

It’s Your Life It’s Your Life

Keep kids safe in the car

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.

NEW MENU & NEW CHEF

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.

each ed. , Safe

Kidsafe Victoria runs ‘Safe Seats, Safe Kids’ in partnership with Neighbourhood Houses Victoria and with State Government support.

Pakenham MP Emma Vulin said encouraged all parents and carers to book in for a free child car restraint fitting or check at their local Safe Seats, Safe Kids day.

“Not only will it provide you with peace of mind, it will also help to keep your kids safe,” she said.

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 safeseatssafekids.

children, visit com.au/

OUR SATURDAY NIGHT DINING IS GREAT FUN FOR EVERYONE.

The Melbourne Greyhound’s City View Bistro at The Meadows is the perfect dining option for families chasing great value, great good and great fun. Children’s meals are just $10, seniors $15 and adult mains start at $22. Located on level one in the Temlee Dining Room, the bistro offers stunning Melbourne city skyline and track views at dusk - and combines a family night out with the unique thrill of world-class greyhound racing entertainment.

Mum’s brave breast cancer battle

By Melissa Meehan

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.”

Gymnastics, Swimming Lessons, Tennis, Junior Sports, Adult Competition Sports, Health Club, Group Fitness, Reformer Pilates, Birthday Parties, Child's Play centre and more.

I want to raise awareness that young women can get breast cancer too, and to check your boobs regularly”

- Erin Payne, cancer survivor

Erin, 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

Online games fuel kids’ anxiety

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.

Unsupervised children using devices often stumble upon content not meant for their eyes.

It is also important to have tough conversations in the playground with other parents about what their kids are watching - because 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.”

Parents need to take control of what their children are exposed to online.

It’s Your Life It’s Your Life

Ash finds her ‘new self’

By Casey Neill

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 Pollard with daughters Claudette and Clementine. Pictures: Rob Carew

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

DINING OUT

Gojo Ethiopian

Dine-in

Welcome to Gojo Ethiopian Restaurant and Cafe, located at 10 Clarke St, Sunshine, VIC 3020. Immerse yourself in the vibrant flavours and traditions of Ethiopian cuisine at our hidden gem. Our cozy and inviting space sets the perfect backdrop for an authentic dining experience. Indulge in our diverse menu featuring sambusas, injera, flavorful stews, and aromatic meat dishes. Our knowledgeable staff will guide you through the tantalizing options, ensuring a memorable meal. Open from 7:30 pm to 9 pm daily, we invite you to visit us and savour the true essence of Ethiopia. For more information, visit gojoethiopiancafe.com.au

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Special offer limited time only from 5th - 30th June 2023.

Dine-in Order 2 mains the 3rd main 20% off (for lesser of equal price).

Bookings 6+ people, sweet on us (a scoop of vanilla ice cream each).

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Enrol your kid in kinder

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.

Sport builds connections

WYNKIDS offers a range of interactive and engaging programs, promoting the development of essential skills through physical exercise and fun.

We believe that sport is a wonderful way for kids to connect with each other, learning lifelong social and interpersonal skills, improving communication, and gaining teamwork and leadership experience.

Holiday sports sessions

Designed for children aged 5 to 11 years, the WynKids Holiday Program includes a fun-filled session of hockey, soccer, basketball, music, an indoor

jumping castle and lots more games and activities!

Work onsite in one of our fit-forpurpose meeting rooms or cafe while your child/children enjoy the session, led by WynActive staff.

Birthday parties

Invite your friends along for a fun-filled birthday that you will never forget!

With a selection of activities and packages to suit your birthday needs, the WynKids team will help you facilitate a memorable day.

WynKids believe sport is a wonderful way for kids to connect with each other.

Pathways for all students

SUNBURY Downs College is a vibrant Year 7 to 12 coeducational secondary college, offering a rich educational experience in an environment that encourages excellent outcomes for all students.

The college offers a wide range of programs catering for all students, with a strong emphasis on developing individual wellbeing and positive interpersonal relationships.

Students belong to one of two ‘mini schools’ - Middle Years (7-9) and Later Years (10-12) - with year-level coordinators working with homegroup and classroom teachers.

Sunbury Downs College has a comprehensive educational program including English, mathematics, science, humanities, health and physical education, arts, technology and languages (Italian).

The college also offers a range of VCE subjects, including Vocational Education and Training (VET) together with a

structured VCE Vocational Major program in Years 11 and 12, catering for students with an interest in applied learning.

Sunbury Downs College offers an Accelerated Curriculum and Enrichment (ACE) program, extending students through a challenging curriculum including early commencement of VCE. The ACE program is a select entry course with enrolment from feeder primary schools for students in Years 7 to 9.

The college offers a wide range of inclusive activities and programs which cater to all students, including debating, maths club, band and choir.

There are year level and specialised camps and excursions that compliment the teaching and learning program.

It offers instrumental music and presents a highly acclaimed musical production, enabling students to excel in an environment that fosters participation, responsibility and

teamwork outside the classroom.

Students are allocated to one of four houses (Aitken, Evans, Jackson, Mitchell) on enrolment, with an interschool sporting program offering students the opportunity to represent the school at the local level.

The college values of Respect,

Resilience, Ambition and Community are embedded within the school’s teaching and learning practices.

These core values support a culture of participation and excellence based on developing positive relationships and personal growth by all community members.

Principal Warwick Beynon with the college captains.

Education Alleviating transition anxieties

SMOOTH and successful transitions from primary to high school are pivotal for students and families alike.

An intelligently designed transition program can alleviate the anxieties associated with this period. The transition program at St Aloysius College, North Melbourne is a commendable example of this, embracing the values of Mercy education and reflecting the school’s motto ‘Be Curious. Become Brilliant.’

By incorporating these guiding principles into their transition program, St Aloysius College fosters an environment that supports students and families to confidently navigate this key time. Embodying the Mercy values of compassion, respect, hospitality, service, courage and justice, the transition program at St Aloysius College has been developed to foster a welcoming

and nurturing environment.

The Year 7 space is thoughtfully designed to provide a safe and unique space where students can express their curiosity freely. Classrooms and lockers are strategically placed in close proximity, fostering connections among students and facilitating collaborative learning experiences.

Forging strong partnerships with students and their families plays a pivotal role in familiarising incoming students with their new educational environment.

The St Aloysius Transition Program facilitates multiple future student visits to the college throughout Grade 6, allowing them to interact with their future teachers, establish connections with peers, explore the campus and familiarise themselves with the day-today of high school.

These early engagements enable students to feel valued and integrated into the school community well before their official commencement at the beginning of Year 7. A robust wellbeing program is indispensable in providing students with the necessary support services and resources to navigate any challenges that may arise.

St Aloysius College exemplifies this commitment with an extensive wellbeing program, run by a director of student wellbeing, supported by pastoral leaders, a school nurse and two college psychologists.Taking the time to understand incoming students’ individuality is vital in tailoring the support they require.

St Aloysius College’s transition program employs personalised approaches to identify each student’s strengths and potential, leveraging this

insight to develop targeted programs to extend areas of strength while addressing any gaps in knowledge. St Aloysius College’s Transition Program not only facilitates a smooth and successful transition from primary to high school but also integrates and celebrates the core values of Mercy Education.

By forging partnerships, creating a welcoming environment, emphasising wellbeing, and individualising support, the program and the college itself cultivate an environment where students can embrace curiosity, develop their brilliance, and thrive academically and personally.

Applications for Year 7 2025 coeducation enrolment at St Aloysius College are now open. More information is available at www.aloysius.vic.edu.au.

The transition program at St Aloysius College fosters a welcoming and nurturing environment.

Positive outcomes for all

IMAGINE the finest possible education for your child…

We are no ordinary learning environment.

A stimulating, intimate, and inclusive setting, committed to small student teacher-ratios, we are passionate about academic rigour, positive student outcomes and confident self-image for every young person.

Our educators are highly experienced professionals, dedicated to excellence and continuous improvement for their students and for themselves.

Every Year 12 student (bar none) discovers a highly positive pathway, be it academic or vocational and we

congratulate them all, for they are our future.

These fine people will always be members of our proud community.

Last year’s dux received an ATAR above 95 and more students received an ATAR over 80 and over 90.

And our students have the opportunity for early university entry during Year 12.

Secondary education is an adventure that should flow seamlessly from the primary years providing excitement, growth, and joy into adolescence and beyond.

Therefore, positive student engagement, careful guidance, and

genuine, authentic human relationships in learning is our priority.

Our young people come to us as children and we wave them off as young adults who continue to create their future.

We take this awesome privilege very seriously indeed.

Our families are our partners and we join with you closely throughout your child’s learning experience. We provide great care, reassurance and close communication every step of the way.

With continued infrastructure enhancement at the college and in our local area, and our proximity to the

At Lalor North Secondary College - we value our community and provide an innovative learning experience for each of our students. Our new Logo - “The leaf represents a nurturing cupped hand. Our Darebin Creek being the life and learning of a students’ journey.”

Principal Timothy Cottrell

wonderful natural heritage of Darebin Creek, we are blessed with surely one of the most beautiful campuses in Melbourne.

We offer very substantial student scholarships in every area of achievement, and these are designed to maximise academic, social and emotional growth and opportunity for our young people.

It would give me great pleasure to meet with you and your children to share the wonderful educational environment that is Lalor North Secondary College.

Timothy Cottrell, Principal

Secondary education is an adventure that should flow seamlessly from the primary years.

Empowering every student

EMPOWERING every student

Copperfield College’s mission is to ‘empower every student to aspire and achieve’ - the key word being ‘every’.

The college team lives its values of Collaboration, Inclusiveness and Growth, and embrace all learners into the Copperfield family, knowing that every student can learn, every student can progress and create opportunities for themselves and others.

The college does this by investing in people to provide wrap-around support for each child.

There are home group teachers, team leaders, campus leaders, campus principals, wellbeing staff, expert literacy, numeracy and EAL teachers, pathways staff and staff who support for extracurricular activities and, of course, expert classroom teachers.

Student survey data reflects the school’s success, with data being in the top quartile of the state for teacherstudent relations, safety, not experiencing bullying, motivation and interest and high expectations.

This is also reflected in the college’s median ATAR of 28, which is above state average. The large school offers a huge range of course options. In fact, senior students have the choice of 37 VCE subjects and 33 VET options.

The new VCE Vocational Major (VM) certificate was modelled on Copperfield’s successful vocational educational programs.

Although Copperfield is a large school, because it’s on three campuses, students get the benefit of being with a smaller cohort, so they are seen, known, and know each other.

The school community’s diversity is also a strength, with families coming from many different countries.

Copperfield’s community liaison staff work closely with our families, providing translations and information sessions in community languages.

This brings a richness and vibrancy to the college as the school body lives its values every day.

the school and its systems and process and participate in a fun-filled day of inter-home group competition.

Copperfield College also has a two-year scholarship program for students starting Year 7.

There are three areas - Academic Excellence, Performing Arts and Leadership/ Community scholarships. Students who demonstrate excellence in their field are encouraged to apply as this is a wonderful opportunity for students to be supported in playing to their strengths.

In addition to financial support, successful students also receive a school recommended device.

Information is available on the school website.

Copperfield College has a motto: ‘one family, three homes’.

The school prides itself on its positive retention rates. Once students become part of the Copperfield family, teachers nurture them until they realise their potential and leave us as well-rounded, caring citizens with a positive life pathway.

Copperfield College invests in people to provide wrap-around support for each child.

It begins during their primary school years with the opportunity to attend college events, participate in peer tutoring and meeting teachers.

The beginning of their first year includes a transition program where they get to know

s, e school ay. ram has udents who ary e

The Year 7 transition program has proved very popular with students who endorse it strongly.

every student

aspire

achieve”

Safe summer swimmers are made in winter

THE Paul Sadler Swimland team has a deep passion for helping children learn to swim and in reducing the drowning toll in Australia and the world.

One key area that Paul Sadler has long been an advocate for is year-round swimming.

Regular formal swimming lessons can reduce the risk of drowning by up to 88 percent – which is a HUGE amount!

With the cooler weather upon us, the Paul Sadler team understand that people can feel hesitant to continue swimming, but wanted to share the benefits - and likewise the risks of stopping lessons through the winter.

Top benefits of year-round swimming…

For many swimmers, the only access to the water during winter is through their regular formal swimming lessons. This makes lessons SUPER important in order to maintain progress.

Swimmers who start and stop lessons don’t pick up from where they left offtheir skills regress. Meaning that it will ultimately take longer to reach their goal of being a safer swimmer.

Paul Sadler pools offer perfect conditions for swimming all day, every day.

With pool temperatures set to 32 degrees and the deck set for 27 degrees, it’s like a little summer holiday each and every day.

Summer swimmers really are made in the winter.

By swimming through the year you are putting yourself and your family in the best place to enjoy a safer summer.

Regular physical activity can reduce the likelihood of illness.

Top tips for swimming throughout the cooler months…

Wrap up nice and warm for the walk to the car. Think zip up towels, ugg boots and a beanie!

If your little one is prone to ear aches, grab some swimming ear putty or ear bands.

A unique and thrilling dining experience

IF you’ve never taken the family to The Melbourne Greyhounds at The Meadows and dined in the City View Bistro, it could be time for a treat.

Aptly named after its Melbourne city skyline views, this bistro is a hidden gem (thanks to it being a little hard to find) and recently shifted its offer up a gear when it comes to catering for local families and friends.

Located on the mature tree-lined Northcorp Boulevard, in the heart of the Northcorp Industry Park Broadmeadows, access is off Camp Road, close to the Sydney Road end.

For those who have already dined in this elevated bistro dining room with racetrack views, you’ll be pleased to learn an all-new menu was launched in April, crafted and curated by new head chef Steve Collins.

He and the racing association’s new hospitality manager Harry Thackray and CEO have all worked diligently over the last few months to take the City View’s dining concept to a whole new level.

Google reviews are already singing the praises of the transformation that’s taken place and the new menu on offer.

The desserts have come under particular praise from diners, as have the reimaginings of some fabled bistro classics. In the case that a great dining experience doesn’t sound enough for you to get off the couch, don’t forget Saturday nights also revolve around all the excitement of world-class metropolitan greyhound racing action.

A 12-race card provides a very unique night of entertainment, where your table in the bistro remains yours for the entire evening (seatings start from 5.30pm and races run from 6.30pm to

If you are unwell for a lesson, mark yourself absent via the Paul Sadler portal or app at least 30 minutes before your scheduled lesson.

That way you’ll receive a make-up token to use when you’re feeling better.

So, while you may not be a superhero…by enrolling your child to swim all year, you could be a lifesaver…and that’s AMAZING! To enrol in swimming lessons with Paul Sadler Swimland visit www.paulsadlerswimland.com.

10.30pm) and allows you to explore the venue and engage in the racing on offer.

It’s not just dinner - it’s a whole night of fun. Complimentary track entry and parking are provided and the bistro dining room bar prices are very kind on the hip pocket.

The more adventurous can also

delight themselves with an expertly made cocktail.The bistro can get popular, therefore table reservations must be made.

Please note, The Meadows City View Bistro is only open on Saturday nights. Visit www.themeadows.org.au or call 9355 5222 for more information, to make a reservation or view the menu.

Paul Sadler pools offer perfect conditions for swimming all day, every day.

Reality Bites

A little miracle

By Casey Neill

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.”

Melia with Addison, Lexi, Shane and Frankie. Pictures: Louisa Jones

Books Read wild facts about wildlife

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

fastest swimmer of all penguins, 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.

Children’s books...

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.

Poo Face

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

Bluey: The Big Blue Guy’s Book of Dad Goals

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

Spot and Friends

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

The book is divided by continent.

The meerkat

The gentoo peguin is a chamption

Author Tania McCartney. he is cute but fierce

e fastest swimmer of

The book is

The is a swimmer

Custom Benchtops for Trade and DIY Renovators

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Our packages help create a personalised party that your child will love. Whether your child loves all things glitter and sparkles or is amazed by science we have the perfect party for your child!