Geelong Coast Kids - Winter 2023

‘I lost myself in motherhood’

About Us Us

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 CONTENTS

IT’S YOUR LIFE

Angie’s Catch-up with Hayden Findlay

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Steve Biddulph on raising boys with backbone and heart

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Herne Hill mum’s little miracle

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Mum’s IVF double miracle

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Mum’s brave breast cancer battle

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DENTAL

Remote dental screening in development

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HEALTH

Rainbow Friends are nightmare fuel

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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

A workout for the brain

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Support for new parents

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Dancing out of the dark

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Bachar Houli: Enrol your kid in kinder

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REALITY BITES

Ash Pollard’s dark start to motherhood

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Let’s do what works when it comes to sleep

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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!

Geelong Coast Kids magazine is a Star News Group publication.

Geelong Coast Kids will be published quarterly prior to each of the school holidays.

Geelong Coast Kids

1/47 Pakington Street, Geelong West Phone: 5249 6700

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

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au 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.

ENTERTAINMENT

What’s on at Geelong Arts Centre

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BOOKS

Read wild facts about wildlife

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Discover new children’s books

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with Geelong’s Grovedale boy’s happy life

milliner mum after rocky start

Twenty first century dads are stepping up

COVER: Herne Hill’s Lexi and Frankie rug up for winter.

Picture:

Louisa Jones

Hayden’s happy with his brood

By Angie Hilton

A 39-YEAR-OLD father of two and now step father of three, Hayden Findlay is a passionate man of the land.

Owner of Ravens Creek farm, Hayden has nailed the niche market of farming free range pigs along with free range eggs.

Having grown up on Ravens Creek farm with his mum, dad and two sisters, Hayden now shares the 90 acre property with his mum and dad and has transformed the farm into the only true free range pig farm in the region.

After a tough marriage breakdown in 2018, single dad Hayden was running the farm on his own whilst co-parenting his beautiful daughters Pip and Lou. He certainly wasn’t looking for love - until he laid eyes on his now wife and singing sensation Chelsea Gibb while she was performing NYE at the Piano Bar.

Fast forward three years and they are now married. They’ve blended their families, built a new home and Chelsea has traded in her microphone for RM Williams.

You could say they’re as happy as pigs in…a free range farm.

What’s a typical day look like on the farm?

Well every day from around 7am, Chels is out collecting the eggs we have from 1800 birds in two trailers and feeding her goats (she’s been making some amazing goat soaps) and l head out to start feeding pigs and our new calves.

We then both come in and get the kids sorted for school, lunches, morning routine.

Then we come back for a second collection which makes it around 1500 to 1600 eggs for the day that we then take down to the egg packing room for grading, packing, and cleaning.

We have to move the trailers every week or every fortnight depending on weather conditions and ground just to keep them rotating all the time.

When it comes to the pigs, we’re feeding them, checking their waters, checking electric fences. Like the chooks, everything on the pig side of things is portable and gets rotated onto fresh ground so that they’re healthy and also the land gets that recovery period to grow some more grass.

We start the feeding of the pigs with the sows (mother pigs) that have come in to give birth in the farrowing area. They’ve got an individual paddock and hut to give birth for the first two or three weeks. So we’ll go through, feed them all and check their waters and see if there’ve been any new births that we need to record.

For example, there were 11 born this morning and 10 yesterday.

The mum will then stay with her babies and will be weaned at a later age, so they stay with their babies for over eight weeks. The pigs are then teenagers by then, and eight litters will move into another area where they hang out together, which we call the grower group until they’re fully grown adults.

Our pigs are fully outdoors and free

range, so they are slower growing because they’re not just sitting in a shed and basically getting force fed. They grow as nature intends, which is more work, but that also gives them a great quality of life and creates a better product in terms of eating quality and flavour. Our pigs have one bad day and apart from that, they spend their life happy and free outside as it should be. So would you say a happier pig makes for tastier meat?

Absolutely! The flavour of the meat is miles apart from anything that’s just grown in a shed. Commonly bought pork comes from pigs where the mums never or barely see outside and the piglets are taken off mum at two or three weeks of age. They are then put into either sheds 10 pigs in a pen the size of a footprint at two cars side by side, so you will never get the same healthy meat as you do from a true free-range farm.

Ours have grown up in a very different way and I suppose this allows them to express their natural behaviours. They’re really healthy animals that don’t need to be given growth hormones or antibiotics.

Sunlight’s a big key to a healthy environment for any animal. Our pork is extremely succulent, not dry pork like you buy at the store.

The breeds that we run are Berkshires and Durocs which are like the Wagyu of the pork world. They have that marbling quality. The bacon, ham, sausages - any of the products you make, the flavour of it will carry through.

What’s the history of your time at Ravens Creek and did you always want to be a farmer?

We moved here as a family when I was in year nine and I was always passionate about farming. So we started running some cows and producing calves and doing that (pretty simply) each year. Then I went off to uni to study an ag business course which got me into more corporate ag. I found that sitting in an office and driving to Melbourne every day wasn’t really for me.

This sent me on a journey of doing a whole lot of research on small-scale family farms that have stacked enterprises. So they don’t just run cows, they’ve got egg-laying hens, sheep, cows, pigs – multiple things.

Inspired by this, I gave up the corporate world and started redeveloping this farm in its layoutplanting 8000 trees that are both productive, but also give shelter and habitat to create a really healthy farming environment that’s also aesthetically pleasing to work in. Then came the pigs, the chooks, bees and our upcoming skin care range ‘Farm Balm’.

Let’s talk about family life. You’ve certainly had a lot of change in the last few years. You went through a tough separation in 2018. You then had to run the farm on your own while coparenting your beautiful girls for two years. And in 2020 you laid eyes on your future wife for the first time. Tell me about that moment.

A friend dragged me out New Year’s Eve to the Piano Bar on a bit of a matchmaking adventure.

I walked into Piano Bar (bear in mind I never really went out). I walked in the door and heard the most incredibly stunning voice singing the song Shallow. I remember thinking ‘how did they get a singer this good to Geelong?’ Then I saw her and I was equally gobsmacked. How could she sing like that and look equally as stunning? I had a few nervous words to her that night backed by Dutch courage and what I discovered was that her personality was equally as incredible as her looks and voice. What happened from there?

Well over the coming weeks, months, I discovered Chels is one of the most caring, loving, talented individuals I’ve met. And most importantly she is an incredible mother.

With kids on both sides, we took our time dating and getting to know each other before connecting with the kids. We wanted to be really respectful of the children and where they were all at individually and as a family unit on both sides.

We eventually told the kids that we were seeing each other and reassured them that it wouldn’t be a big change happening quickly. We were not going to just jump in and tell them ‘we’re doing this and doing that’.

Ari was 15 at the time and Elliot 13 - older children who were obviously coming into young adulthood which was all new to me. So I’d gone from a two year old and six year old to having

How would you say Chelsea’s fitted into farm life?

It’s a huge change from her stage life. She grew up with two older brothers and a dad who’s just a mad fisherman and a hunter. Chels, growing up, was the tomboy who always wanted to get out and be one of the boys more so than doing the girly things. Her dad says she was out shooting and fishing with the boys whenever she got the chance, so I think she probably had an urge anyway, to connect with the land and growing things and she really loves animals.

So she’s really been like a duck to water. She enjoys the freedom of being able to get out there, clear her head and step away from other stresses of life. That feeling that you can step out into the fresh air, get a job done and feel like you’ve achieved something, refreshed and renewed.

Although it’s stressful at times and the job list doesn’t get any shorter, but she loves it. Obviously the last couple of years she hasn’t been able to perform or sing as much as she’d like to, but hopefully that

back when it’s meant to. When you run a farm, you work from home and you’re always here, it can sometimes be tiring as anyone who runs a farm will know. But if we have to work on a Sunday, we then take ourselves out for lunch as a bit of a reward. So then it’s not all just work, work, work.

But she loves it. I know if I was sick or went away, she could just step in and jump on the tractor and be off feeding pigs and doing all those sorts of things and would be well across it.

What’s life like for the kids on the farm? The beauty of being on land is that you have a natural playground at your doorstep. We really encourage getting away from screens and getting out to get hands on with nature, build forts etc. We’ve got a vegie patch and they really enjoy planting potatoes and then digging them up. They love picking beans and cucumbers for an after-school snack. They still get a real kick out of collecting the eggs and feeding the pigs. Although the pigs are pretty big, weighing about 65kg, so the young ones still need to be carefully monitored.

We’ve got some baby calves that we’re rearing at the moment, so they really love feeding them. I think It gives

them a taste of responsibility from a young age, making sure things are fed, watered, sheltered and locked up so the fox doesn’t eat them. Getting married again must have been a big decision. Was it important to you both to take that step?

Yeah, it was something important to us both. It was a surprise to Chels that I proposed, though. She thought we were going away to Port Ferry for the weekend, but I’d had a few things planned. I think it was essential to cementing our life moving forward. We could have lived together and not got married, but I think it’s a statement. It’s showing your commitment to one another.

It’s giving the children stability, too. It’s not just like, ‘oh, so you’re just still dating this guy or this girl’ and you don’t know what’s going to happen next year or are they going to stick around? We were starting a life together, bringing two families together and blending them while also building our house. It was a natural progression, but it was also something we both valued, that we wanted to celebrate and make a commitment that’s going to be lifelong.

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Would you say you share the same parenting philosophies?

Yeah we do, and that’s been a breath of fresh air, to meet someone with the same values in terms of parenting, ethics and beliefs. We were very much aligned with everything from organically sourced food we love to cook with, to how we’d like our family home to run and who we raise our kids to be.

Can you tell me a bit about your parents living on the same property and how they parented you? Have you taken on any of that into how you parent your own children?

I had a childhood that was very blessed with loving and caring parents Col and Anne, who did so much for both myself and my sisters Amy and Jane. My mum Anne certainly showed me that love is kindness, thinking of others and how to provide a nurturing home and cook from the heart. She is unbelievably

Hayden Findlay at a glance:

Three words to describe the children:

■ Pip 9 - outgoing, resilient and caring.

■ Lou 5 - independent, caring and loving.

■ Luka 9 - creative, caring, funny.

■ Arielle 18 - loving, creative, outgoing.

■ Elliott 16 - reserved, intelligent, informed.

If you could have three people living or passed over for a pig on the spit, who would you invite?

■ Joel Salatin, farmer from the US.

■ English celebrity chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from the show River Cottage.

■ Another English celebrity chef - Rick Stein.

What’s your guilty pleasure?

An espresso martini.

Go-to karaoke song?

Probably Footloose.

Favourite coffee spot in the region?

We like going down to Salty Dog in Torquay, grabbing a coffee and then going for a walk along the beach with the kids and taking the dogs for a swim.

selfless and generous and an inspiration to me. I think there’s definitely elements of how my mum raised me that I’ve taken into the way l now raise our children, but I think you also get to learn things that you would do differently. For example, when l have a conversation with Mum or Dad now (later down the track) and they say things like ‘I wish I’d spent more time when you were younger together just doing simple things instead of working all the time’…l definitely listen. That one especially is advice I know l should take.

What advice would you have for people around keeping things amicable with an ex-spouse?

I think the big thing is putting the children first. Divorce is not easy for children and you may not always agree on things after you separate, but we both choose to always put the girls

first. I also believe it’s so important to speak to the girls in a positive way about my ex-wife, as she’s their mum and they love her. And for our home, creating a nice, warm, loving and safe environment for them is really key.

Trying to give them some peace around the fact that you’re not going anywhere and you love them is paramount. In terms of moving on, I think it’s important for them to know you need to be happy too and that life can move and change and happiness and love can be found again. This means meeting someone and blending a

you need to be happy too and that life can move and and family…having those tough conversations, but being open about them is key.

Any plans for the future of Ravens Creek?

Well, we have a restaurant area with a commercial kitchen that we’d love someone to take over and make a

restaurant out of.

Our Geelong favourites are Neck of the Woods and Box Office. Do you have a life philosophy you live by?

Choose to be positive. Life will always throw you curve balls and challenges.

I suppose l always choose to be grateful for what we have on a daily basis. For me it’s things like saying to Chelsea how amazing she is, instead of just thinking it.

I think guys can have a tendency to just think about stuff and never say anything. I have been guilty of that, so I make a daily choice now to remind myself how lucky l am, and tell her that whenever l think it.

If you had a full day to yourself to do whatever you wanted, what would your perfect day look like?

Oh, I think to start by taking Chelsea out for a coffee, then just relax, maybe read. I love escaping to read English Country Living Magazine. So I’d probably sit on the couch in our snug and read that, then go somewhere nice for lunch. Then it would be coming back and sitting down in front of the fire watching Rick Stein, episode after episode. And having a glass or three of French burgundy (he always talks about that).

We also have a product we’re about to release called Farm Balm, which is something I actually developed to treat my own eczema. Chels is now adding to it as lip balms, perfumes, and salves. It’s all natural, only three ingredients, which are beeswax from our bees, organic olive oil and organic coconut oil. We are really excited about launching this into stores soon.

It’s all natural, three this into stores soon.

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.

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

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC BUY DIRECT

A two for one blessing

By Melissa Meehan

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.”

Sophia (Pink) and Briana (Aqua).

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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.”

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

Remote dental screening app

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 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.”

A new app could help dental care for kids.

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.

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.”

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

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

Support for new parents

NEW mums and dads will soon have better access to early parenting support in a purpose-built facility, with construction progressing on the new Early Parenting Centre in Geelong.

Health Infrastructure Minister MaryAnne Thomas announced in April that the multi-million-dollar facility at the McKellar Centre in North Geelong was on track to be completed early next year.

With concrete poured and steel framing underway, the building will start to take shape over the next three months.

Designed to help families with children aged up to four years, the new centre will have 10 residential family units and four day-stay places, providing both short-term and longer residential stay programs to improve the health, wellbeing and developmental outcomes of children.

“The specialist early intervention and prevention programs offer parents targeted support in the first four years of a child’s life - delivering lifelong benefits,” Ms Thomas said.

The new centre will give parents and carers the advice and care they need, including support with sleep and

settling, feeding and extra care for babies and toddlers with additional needs.

Sleep and settling is one of the biggest challenges facing new parents, with about one in two Victorian parents who are attending the early parenting centres reporting problems with their child’s sleep.

“Being a new parent can be hard and the new centre will help parents in the Barwon region with sleep and settling issues, supporting hundreds of local families a year,” Ms Thomas said.

This can lead to post-natal

depression, isolation and stress for parents and affect a child’s behavioural, mental and physical development.

The Victorian Health Building Authority (VHBA) is delivering the centre in partnership with Barwon Health, the Tweddle Child and Family Health Service, and builder Bowden Corporation.

“The Geelong Early Parenting Centre will be a great addition to the health services already available at the McKellar Centre in North Geelong, with more support for local families to achieve their parenting goals,” Lara MP Ella George said.

Change your brain

WHOLE Brain Learning Centre offers educational kinesiology and Brain Gym sessions and workshops.

Director Claire Hocking helps people of all ages at the Lara centre.

“I specialise in maturing retained primitive reflexes and sensory integration using educational kinesiology,” she said.

“The retention of primitive baby reflexes are the underlying cause of many learning, behavioural and wellbeing difficulties and concerns in childhood and adulthood.

“When these developmental baby reflexes do not integrate and inhibit as expected, and remain active in a person’s system, they are the underlying causes of many learning, behavioural and wellbeing problems.”

Claire’s been in business for more than 30 years after starting out as a local primary school teacher.

She came across the Brain Gym (BG) movements and started using them with a cerebral palsy student in her class. Claire was impressed with the results, so introduced BG to her students with various learning and behavioural challenges.

“Children love to do the Brain Gym movements at home as they are quick, easy, and fun to do, and often feel the benefits straight away,” she said.

She said the results encouraged her to train as an educational kinesiologist and Brain Gym consultant.

“It was a huge relief to finally be able to effectively help children and adults switch-on and mature their brain to overcome their learning and

behavioural challenges in such a quick and easy way,” she said.

“Educational kinesiology really does change the brain by forming more efficient and mature neural connections in the brain.”

She said a local doctor asked her to work in his clinic with children who had been diagnosed with ADHD but whose parents did not want them put on medication.

Claire was then offered a job as a secondary school special needs teacher, where she used educational kinesiology to aid students for six years.

She now works with all types of special needs and disabilities - from challenging behaviours to ASD, ADD/ ADHD, dyslexia, anxiety and anger management - in her clinical sessions, preschool and childcare centres, schools, aged care facilities and health centres.

Claire regularly works with clients in her clinics with mental health challenges including depression, anxiety, phobias, eating disorders, addictions, and bipolar disorders.

“Kinesiologists communicate with the body’s innate intelligence to identify and clear underlying stresses,” she said.

Whole Brain Learning Centre is at 10 Greenleaf Drive, Lara, and is open 10am to 6pm Thursdays to Sundays and other days and times by arrangement.

Email claire@wholebrain.com.au or call 0419 569 071.

The centre is designed to help families with children aged up to four years.

Dancing out of the dark

By Casey Neill 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 Ballroom Baby Geelong director 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.

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.

“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.”

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.

12607845-ACM24-23

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

Winter warming family fun

AS we say goodbye to autumn and welcome in winter, there’s never been a better time to explore the abundance of immersive arts experiences on offer inside Geelong Arts Centre.

Geelong Arts Centre’s Family Magic program has the entire family covered this winter with a very special, heartwarming performance from the Windmill Theatre Company, as well as the highly-anticipated July school holidays workshops with the best in the ballet business, The Australian Ballet.

JULY SCHOOL HOLIDAYS – AUSTRALIAN BALLET WORKSHOPS

The July school holidays bring an abundance of opportunities for kids to get connected and explore the world of dance through warm-ups, exercises and choreographic games with The Australian Ballet.

From 4 to 6 July, children aged 3 to 12 years are invited to learn The Story of

FAMILY MAGIC WHAT’S ON

We respectfully acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land on which Geelong Arts Centre stands, the Wadawurrung People of the Kulin Nation. We pay our respects to Elders past, to Elders present and to emerging leaders, recognising their continuing connection to land, water, culture and community.

Please note: All information within this ad is correct at time of print.

Pomi and Gobba. In this hands-on workshop, youngsters can expect to hear about all things costume design, music, and storytelling from one of the industry’s most highly regarded dance institutions This workshop is designed to support the development of confidence, resilience and team work skills across a range of individual needs and skill levels.

No previous ballet experience required!

Following these interactive sessions, attendees can present their Australian Ballet Workshop ticket to gain entry to the free, live performance of Pomi and Gobba; a contemporary adaptation of the Wiradjuri Dreamtime story ‘Gobbagumbalun and Pomingalarna’.

Follow the story of two young non-binary frogs that live on opposite sides of the Murrumbidgee riverbed, Wiradjuri country and discover just how

powerful resilience and strength can be, even in the most unlikely situations.

HICCUP

Then, on Saturday 26 August, Windmill Theatre Company presents HICCUP; a hilarious rocking musical extravaganza for children aged 4 to 8 years and their adults about working together, finding friendship and how to, once and for all, stop the hiccups.

Another celebrated puppet work from the award-winning Windmill Theatre Company (‘Grug’, ‘Grug and the Rainbow’ and ‘Beep’), this truly unique theatrical experience features gorgeous native Australian animals and super catchy songs from award-winning composer, Ross McHenry.

STAY IN THE LOOP

It’s never been more important to make sure you are signed up to the Geelong Arts Centre fortnightly e-newsletter via

geelongartscentre.org.au and ensure you are the first to know when exciting announcements drop.

BOOK IN YOUR SHOWS NOW

Geelong Arts Centre is passionate about providing every single child the opportunity that the wonderful world of creative arts gives.

For details regarding AUSLAN Interpreted shows and relaxed performances, please seek the details of each individual show via the Geelong Arts Centre website.

To sign up and secure your tickets, head to the Geelong Arts Centre website.

Tickets to all Family Magic events are on sale now at geelongartscentre.org. au/family-magic-2023 or contact the Geelong Arts Centre Box Office on 1300 251 200 between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

HICCUP is a hilarious rocking musical extravaganza.

Let’s do what works

By Casey Neill

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.”

Lauri Goodhardt.

Lauri with husband Eli and their children Gabe, 2, Levi, 4, and Abi, 5.

Gabe, Levi and Abi.

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 swimmer