Gippsland Kids Today Spring 2021

Gippsland

SPRING 2021

TODAY The impact of

BIRTH ORDER Gippsland mum’s

HOUSE OF WHITE The charity helping our

FAMILIES IN NEED

www.yarrarangeskids.com.au www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

AUTUMN SPRING 2021 1

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2 SPRING 2021

www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

About Us

We’re here for families IT’S finally here!

We hope you are just as excited as we are about our very first Gippsland Kids Today magazine.

This magazine is brought to you by Star News Group, Gippsland Times, Latrobe Valley Express, and The Warragul and Drouin Gazette.

The joint venture is headed up by a team of enthusiastic writers, passionate advertising representatives and creative geniuses who have worked hard to bring this magazine to life.

We know what’s important to Gippsland families and have help from experts in various fields to deliver important parenting advice.

You’ll also find some great features on local people and organisations plus stories on health, education, things to do and more.

Our first issue is filled to the brim with all the above.

There’s parenting advice from columnist, renowned psychologist and author Steve Biddulph plus a cooking column, Kids in the Kitchen, with paediatric nutritionist Lucy Stewart.

We caught up with Gippsland mum Olivia White, a highly successful motherhood and lifestyle blogger. Olivia has more than 150,000 followers on Instagram, with many drawn to the authentic, and sometimes hilarious, ways she shares the raw and sometimes unglamorous realities of parenting.

We also spoke to Traralgon photographer Belle Chapman, who is providing cancer affected families the opportunity to capture treasured memories forever. Belle has started a self-funded initiative known as Forevermore, which sees her meet up with families battling the cancer beast for a professional photo shoot free of charge.

that it takes a village to raise a child. In Gippsland Olivia’s Place is an integral part of the ‘village’. Since opening its doors seven years ago, the organisation has helped hundreds of parents facing all sorts of difficulties, from financial hardship to domestic violence. Cofounder Kirsten Finger explains how the organisation started and how it’s been helping Gippsland families.

So kick up your feet, grab a cup of tea and coffee and enjoy reading your new Gippsland Kids Today magazine.

Photography Rob Carew Stewart Chambers Michael Robinson

Kids in the dark on social media

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The ins and outs of childcare

A place for families in need

Mum is boss of bargains

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Calculating VCE scores

Inside Olivia’s House of White

Mum’s genius idea for no mess

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PAGES 6-7

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Online safety lessons

How to explain the pandemic to kids

Become a foster carer with Quantum

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A time for children to learn about farm safety

Freedom in planning with kids

ENTERTAINMENT

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It’s time to seize the clay!

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Fostering joy with Berry Street

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Civic Park gets a makeover

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Party food ideas

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Embracing a child’s curls

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Wearing beanies for Billy

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REALITY BITES

HEALTH

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From Italy with love

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Researchers probe role of genetics in SIDS

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Deciphering a child’s dreams

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Detecting hearing loss

When nothing is everything

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Gippsland benefit from specialist imaging for women

Cover Olivia White and her daughter Annabelle.

Olivia’s story is featured on pages 6-7.

Picture: Sarah Harris Photography

Gippsland

SPRING 2021

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TODAY The impact of

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Gippsland mum’s

RECIPES Kids in the Kitchen

HOUSE OF WHITE The charity helping our

FAMILIES IN NEED

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A wild way to read

EDUCATION

AGE 37

Dreaming of a perfect smile?

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The he benefits of learning outside

Screen time can be good for families

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Report reveals what students are reading

KIDS CALENDAR

Teaching inner-peace naturally

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What’s on this spring

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Steps to good communication

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Published by Star News Group.

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.

BIRTH ORDER

BOOKS

Kids get kick out of pitch

Gippsland Times Matthew Fitzgerald 5143 9333

Building better lives for youths

Genetic carrier screening

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Latrobe Valley Express Paula Hansen 5135 4444

Goodbye is the hardest word PAGE 34

Healthy teeth all year round

Advice on teens, tattoos and piercings

Advertising The Warragul and Drouin Gazette Donna Lynn 0448 706 095

Mates making fun videos for kids

Tips for parenting when sick

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Phone: 5945 0666 Fax: 5945 0777

Phone: 5945 0666

You’ve probably heard the old saying

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Family dinner time with Sam Wood

PO Box 9, Pakenham, Victoria 3810

melissa.grant@starnewsgroup.com. au

Learning that lasts a lifetime

Capturing memories forever

Gippsland Kids Today Cnr Princes Hwy and Army Road,

Editorial Melissa Grant

Helping kids thrive

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The magazine will be published quarterly prior to each of the school holidays.

Have a lovely spring and happy reading!

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Bowling with babies

This magazine is brought to you by Star News Group, Gippsland Times, Latrobe Valley Express, and The Warragul and Drouin Gazette.

Pakenham, 3810

Why birth order matters

PAGE 10

TODAY

Don’t forget to check out our new website gippslandkidstoday.com.au and be sure to like our Facebook and Instagram pages.

CONTENTS IT’S YOUR LIFE

Gippsland

gippslandkidstoday.com.au

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AUTUMN SPRING 2021 1

Children’s books PAGE 37

facebook.com/gippslandkidstoday

instagram.com/gippslandkidstoday

It’s Your Life

Why birth order matters

By Melissa Grant

just two children.

PARENTS often struggle to work out why their children are completely different.

Grose said the Prince Harry Effect is stronger when both children are the same gender.

He described Harry and older brother William as the ‘poster kids’ for the first-born and later-born positions.

They may have one child who is outgoing and playful, and another who is uptight and anxious. This is despite the children belonging to the same gene pool and being raised in the same environment.

The reason for these stark differences is birth order, according to leading parenting and education writer Michael Grose.

He believes that in this era of small, planned families that birth order is more relevant than ever.

To better understand the power of birth order, Grose has written a timely update to his bestselling book titled Why First-borns Rule the World and Laterborns Want to Change it.

The size of families has changed since the original book was published in 2003.

Twenty years ago, the mean number of children in a family was three. That number is now two.

“Nothing has changed about birth order but the context has changed,” Grose explained.

“Around 60 per cent of families with kids under 15 are two kid families.”

The biggest impact of shrinking families has been the disappearance of the middle child. Traditionally there have been three birth order positions.

When Grose wrote the first edition the second child was often the middle child, but now they are often the youngest.

“There’s a fair bit of cynicism.

However, my point is that birth order is not just a neat set of numbers, it’s more a pattern,” Grose told Kids Today.

“Once you start to understand the rules, it starts to make sense in a family.

4 SPRING 2021

“William is your typical first-born.

First-borns are the family conservatives... they are the rule makers and the rule followers.

Prince William is your typical first-born, according to birth order expert Michael Grose.

Prince Harry is a second child who is also the youngest at a time when families tend to consist of just two children.

I like to call it a family constellation.

studies on birth order on a range of families, and each member’s likely personality and disposition.

“It’s often something parents don’t take enough notice of.

“It explains why kids often fight, why they compete and why two children with the same parents, same gene pool, two years apart - why they can be chalk and cheese.

“It’s about finding their niche.”

First-borns tend to be goal-setters, high achievers, perfectionists, responsible, rule keepers, determined, conscientious and detail people.

Second and middle children tend to be flexible, diplomatic, peacemakers, free spirits, generous, open-minded, sociable and competitive.

Youngest children are often risk takers, persistent, outgoing, charmers, ideas people, creative and challengers of authority.

There are variables that can impact birth order position within a family, including age gaps between children, genders and cultural expectations.

In some families, children may ‘leapfrog’ an older sibling to climb up the birth order chain.

In his book, Grose analyses the latest

The updated edition features new information including the demise of the middle child, the Prince Harry effect and the problem with first-borns.

THE DEMISE OF THE MIDDLE CHILD With most families consisting of two children, the amount of middle children has declined.

This has impacted the birth order positions.

Traditionally there have been three birth order positions - the first-born, middle child and youngest child. The second-born child was often the middle child.

However, now the second-born child is often the youngest.

Grose writes that later-borns have a tendency to borrow personality traits from the second, middle and youngest positions.

THE PRINCE HARRY EFFECT Prince Harry is a prime example of a modern birth order position. He’s a second child who is also the youngest at a time when families tend to consist of

“Then you have the second one. The second kids will be what the first one isn’t. You can’t have two responsible kids in the family, you can’t have two academic stars.”

He adds that younger kids don’t follow the rules in the family.

“Harry has broken all the rules, gotten married outside the typical family sphere,” he said.

THE PROBLEM WITH FIRST BORNS Every family, regardless of size, has a first-born.

So given that family sizes are shrinking, there are many more first-borns than middle and youngest children.

Grose said this has implications.

For example, there are more perfectionist kids in classrooms than ever before. There are also more anxious children as first-borns live with greater anxiety-inducing parental pressure and have a propensity for perfectionism.

There are also more only children who, Grose says, tend to have first-born characteristics that are exaggerated because they’ve never been ‘dethroned’ by a younger sibling.

Why First-borns Rule the World and Later-borns Want to Change It, Michael Grose, Penguin Life, RRP $34.99

www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

It’s Your Life

A place for families in need Olivia’s Place co-founder Kirsten Finger with son Nate. Pictures: Ruby Collis of Little E & D Photography

By Melissa Grant IT takes a village to raise a child.

And in Gippsland, Olivia’s Place is an integral part of that village.

Over the past seven years, the organisation has given hundreds of parents in need a lifeline.

They have helped mums and dads facing all sorts of difficulties, including financial hardship, mental health issues and domestic violence. Some parents have sought help simply because they’ve felt out of their depth as a first-time parent.

Olivia’s Place donates prams to parents in need.

Olivia’s Place has been there to provide essential items such as prams and cots, write letters of support for housing applications, and give advice on Centrelink payments. The service also provided regular check-ins during pregnancy and the first year of a child’s life and, among other things, has linked clients to a range of other support services.

Olivia’s Place was born nine years ago after local women Kirsten Finger and Melissa Raymond realised a need for support during pregnancy and the early parenting period.

Both had completed courses in pregnancy support and experienced their own struggles.

“I had pretty bad postnatal anxiety and I wasn’t coping well. I was also new to the area,” Kirsten said.

“For Melissa, it was losing her first baby at 18 weeks.”

Olivia’s Place opened in 2014 after a working group spent two years raising $125,000 - enough to open the service and keep it running for 12 months.

The service is accessed by a wide variety of people, from Dandenong to Bairnsdale to South Gippsland and everywhere in between. They aren’t always first-time parents and are of various ages, from teens to mums and dads in their forties, and include guardians or carers of an infant under the age of one.

Olivia’s Place has a family support program that provides social and emotional assistance to parents facing a range of difficulties.

“Sometimes it may be their first baby and they may be feeling out of their www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

Olivia’s Place volunteer Pamela Wernert safety checks a baby carrier ready for a new baby.

Olivia’s Place volunteer Kayla Dawson.

depth,” Kirsten explained.

“I feel very blessed that Olivia’s Place is in operation. It is a great organisation assisting vulnerable families in our catchment area, and we are very lucky in Warragul to have such a fantastic place with such caring women helping them. I am a midwife in West Gippsland and regularly recommend Olivia’s place to vulnerable women/families”

“We have families experiencing domestic violence, financial strain, perinatal depression and anxiety.”

The organisation also has a material aid program, which equips parents, who may be under financial strain, with everything they need to welcome their baby. This includes items like maternity clothes, nursery items such as cots, clothing, nappies, wipes and prams.

Last year, Olivia’s Place had 1500 appointments with families and rehomed material aid valued at more than $110,000.

The service relies largely on donations, both materially and financially.

High quality, preloved donations of goods are received by arrangement at the organisation’s Warragul warehouse.

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected the organisation’s fundraising efforts. The service’s annual gala ball and charity auction is a major fundraiser. In 2019 alone, the ball raised nearly $60,000.

Sadly, last year’s event had to be

Sharon Hart, Midwife in West Gippsland

cancelled due to Covid-19 restrictions, placing financial strain on the charity.

JobKeeper and government funding to keep us going through that time.

While the charity receives the odd government grant, it has no access to recurring funding so relies on donations.

“This year we are feeling the financial strain and we need more support from community, corporates, grants and government to ensure our services are here for families in the long run.”

“We do have grants, but only every now and then, so we rely on that gala,” Kirsten said.

“Unfortunately we had to cancel it last year. But we were fortunate to access

To make a financial donation to Olivia’s Place, visit https://www. oliviasplace.org.au/donate SPRING 2021 5

It’s Your Life

Inside Olivia’s House of White Motherhood and lifestyle blogger OLIVIA WHITE is honest, daring and ambitious. Olivia, has experienced and achieved incredible things since starting her blog House of White. The mother-of-two has amassed more than 150,000 followers on Instagram where she shares the raw and sometimes unglamorous realities of parenting. Here, Kids Today editor MELISSA GRANT speaks to the digital creator about birth, her journey on social media and what she loves about living in the Baw Baw region.

Olivia White with her daughters Annabelle and Theodora.

First things first, how did House of White start?

I started it not long after I had Annabelle. My background was in PR (public relations). I had previously worked for Racing Victoria - I ran their fashion blog for fashions on the field and stuff like that. And I’ve always been a keen photographer. So I sort of decided I would start something while I was on maternity leave, with no real intention of it being anything. It was a blog before it was an Instagram. It naturally progressed and grew from there.

Was it a particular post that saw it take off?

There weren’t many people in that parenting space at the time. I guess Instagram was where it took off. I was really lucky to have a lot of my articles published by sites like Kidspot and Mamamia. I think the first that went viral, globally viral, was a sort of tongue-in-cheek post I did about mum confessions. It was almost like a list of all these confessions that people could really relate to. It was posted in Cosmo in the US and The Sun in the UK - it went massively viral. From there, I probably had a dozen times where the same thing happened. I guess when you are picked up once you are on the radar of people. That would have been back in 2015-16 - there was a really big growth in that period.

You have two beautiful girls, Annabelle (7) and Theodora (5). Tell us about their births.

They were two very different birth experiences. Annabelle was an emergency cesarean. I went in to be induced on her due date because I was starting to get what’s called PUPPPS - my skin started to get really hot and itchy. I was in the public system - the care that they had at the time was pro-natural birth. I went in on a Friday night to be induced. I had the gel. I started getting contractions but nothing too much. They applied the gel again on Saturday morning. And again on Saturday evening. So the whole time I was labouring. On Sunday morning it still hadn’t really progressed, so they decided to break my waters and put me on the drip. They usually say that when you have the drip it will be a maximum of a few hours. But at 10 o’clock that night I was still on the drip. I had an epidural, thankfully because they were 6 SPRING 2021

Olivia with her girls Annabelle and Theodora.

really intense contractions. In the space of about 12 hours of being on the drip, I had only progressed to like 4cm. So then they made the decision to do a cesarean. In the space of about 10 minutes from them deciding they were going to do that to actually getting wheeled down there, her heart rate dropped. They didn’t even have time to give me a spinal (block) - they just topped up the epidural. It was all a blur because I had been in labour for three days. It would have been maybe five minutes before midnight that I had her.

She was so high and so stuck that I remember the anesthetist coming over the top of me and having to actually push down to get her out. She had already started screaming before they got her out. After that it was all such a blur … I was so exhausted. They took her to the special care nursery because I couldn’t stay awake. I pretty much lost consciousness. Then the next day I was demanding to leave - I didn’t want to be in a hospital anymore. Overall that experience definitely wasn’t what I expected. I think because they allowed me to go for so long, it was a really long recovery as well which sucked because I felt I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t hold her. I couldn’t have those moments because I was so exhausted emotionally, physically.

But then when I had Ted (Theodora), I put my foot down - I wasn’t prepared to go through that again. I elected to have a planned cesarean. I pretty much went in at 8 o’clock and had a baby by 8.15. It was a much better experience, it was much better for my

Pictures: Sarah Harris Photography

recovery. It was much better for my mental health.

to my audience, and not just the highlight reel.

After you had Teddy, you posted a picture of your raw c-section scar. Why did you think it was important to post that picture?

It was probably about a year later that I posted it. It was a photo I took to send to a girlfriend. Most of my friends don’t have kids and the girlfriend who I sent it to didn’t. I sent it to show her that it (c-section) isn’t the easy way out. Even when it is a planned cesarean you still can’t get up and walk for at least 12 hours or until the next day. You’ve basically had layers and layers of flesh, muscle and organs moved out of the way. I think because I elected to have the caesar that second time, I did cop a bit of judgment. And subsequently having a profile on social media you always get those questions - do you regret not trying to have a vaginal birth? How do you feel that you’ve never birthed a baby properly, was something that was said to me. I was like, well there’s not really a proper way. It was a way to connect with those people who have experienced the same thing. It’s not necessarily easier.

You have done some pretty cool posts and you’ve had some good partnerships over time. You’ve done posts on Disney, 6ft6 Wine and Woolworths - it must be a lot of fun doing that?

I count my blessings everyday that I have been able to turn something that was essentially a hobby and a means to help me with my own mental health into a full-time job that allows me to be at home with my kids, provide income for my family and, on top of that - the cherry on the cake - is that we have these amazing opportunities that are real once in a lifetime sorts of things that a lot of people wouldn’t get the opportunity to do. I grew up with a single mum and even though we didn’t have much money, I never knew or felt like that because we had such a rich life growing up, rich full of experience. We travelled - it wasn’t always international, it could have been just a couple of kilometres down the road, but I feel my mum did whatever she could to create opportunity and experience.

And I feel that’s exactly what I’m doing now for my own children.

You share some incredibly raw moments of your life. How important is it to be honest on Instagram, a medium where it’s easy to fake perfection?

I definitely think that in the space that I’m in and obviously having respect for the audience that I have, which is largely women and mums, is that we already have so many pressures that we put on ourselves, that society puts on us, expectations and all that stuff. For me, personally, I don’t have the energy or the time to fake that - and I don’t want anyone else to think they have to.

Even just me as one person, if that’s what I can do - to make mums or someone feel better that what’s happening to them is normal, or what’s happening to their child or baby is normal, I feel like I get so much from that. It is an effort to pretend. It is an effort to fake perfection, to act like everything is fine when it’s not. So it’s just as much for me as it is for anyone else because I don’t need to do that for me and I don’t need to do it for anyone.

What are some of the cool things you have done or that the kids have really enjoyed?

We have been so blessed. We have had multiple opportunities to go to Disney.

And have been several times on travel famils. I went a few years ago to Disneyworld in Florida for the Toy Story premiere. We went just before that with the girls as well which was just incredible - it’s been a dream of mine for so long. My mum took me to Disneyland when I was the same age. Annabelle was five when she first went. My mum saved up for like two to three years to be able to take her and I to Disneyland, so that was really a special moment.

We’ve done quite a lot of travel famils.

We’ve been to Thailand, we’ve been to Bali. We’ve done heaps of stuff domestically. We were part of the influencer panel with Qantas, obviously, that’s not currently running.

We went to Alice Springs with them and did some really cool stuff with them.

Then there are our long-term partnerships with Woolworths, I’ve worked with Amex as well. We’re mindful of keeping our partnerships really organic and aligned with us.

I’ve always shown the raw side of life, even sharing my recent surgery, including the actual procedure. And I wanted to give a real-time experience

www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

Annabelle and Theodora explore.

Pictures: Sarah Harris Photography

So no more wild nights?

No definitely not. I’m not one for beauty treatments either. I just enjoy my own company.

Your husband Jeremy is featured in quite a few of your posts. How did you meet?

We’ve been together for 16 years, nearly 17 years now. We actually met when I was underage and had a fake ID, getting into a nightclub at 3 o’clock in the morning on King Street. It’s definitely one to tell the grandkids! I definitely did not tell my mum that for like 10 years!

How long have you lived in the Baw Baw region for? What drew you here?

Jeremy is originally from here. He has always lived in the area, mostly Warragul. We had been together for four or five years and I was commuting from Melbourne - my parents lived in Essendon. So it was a long commute on the V/Line. It was so time-consuming - I was up and back all the time. I was studying, I was working. I remember one day I got so frustrated and cracked it and said I can’t keep living out of a suitcase, I can’t do this long-distance stuff. So he said why don’t you move here? It hadn’t crossed my mind because uni and work were in Melbourne. But the next week we got a rental and I transferred from RMIT to Monash Berwick. I still commuted for a lot of time to work - I worked in Chadstone. Eventually, I migrated everything here and we bought a house. And then about a month after we bought our house, we found out we were pregnant with Annabelle. I think we’ve been here 12 years.

What are your favourite things to do locally with your girls?

We’re so blessed in Baw Baw because it’s such a beautiful, beautiful region, particularly West Gippsland. We love getting out walking. Some of our favourite places to go and hike are

The White family.

Mount Worth or up near the trestle bridge up near Noojee. We haven’t been to the snow this year yet, for obvious reasons, but Baw Baw is a really great place for young kids in winter. We’ve got so many beautiful beaches - down to Inverloch, but anywhere along that coastline - 90 Mile Beach, Seaspray, Lakes Entrance - we are very blessed for the beaches that we have here. I think we are really lucky too - I think most places here are very friendly for eating out. Locally you’ve got Kings Cafe or Little Miss Hangry near Bunyip. Even if you go out towards Noojee and the pubs out there and

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You’re a busy mum. What do you like to do when you don’t have the kids?

Nothing (laughs). I must admit even though I travel a lot for work, I am quite a homebody. So when I’m home I just like to be in my own space. That’s one of the perks of living out here as opposed to Melbourne - you only have to walk outside to be at one with nature and getting some air. For me, it’s just getting outside and getting some sunshine. When you’re a mum it’s the simple things.

L NAWTIINONNERA

Motherhood is a fun and challenging journey. What have you learned so far?

As time goes on, when you are in the thick of it with babies and newborns and all of that haze that comes with it, people say to you ‘enjoy these moments, they go past before you know it in a blink of an eye, don’t wish it away’. I’m like ‘please shut up!’ But now I am that mum.

Now Annabelle and Teddy are in school I’m the one telling everyone ‘it goes past so quickly, in the blink of an eye they’re not babies anymore. The one thing I’ve learnt is that no one knows - nobody has all the answers. You can buy all the books, read all the blogs, and follow all the people on Instagram, but there will never be two alike journeys. So while I think it’s fantastic that more people are becoming more honest and sharing online, and showing the realities of real motherhood, you still have to take everything with a grain of salt and understand that no one else that no one else’s experiences or journeys are going to be collectively the same as yours. You just need to be a lot easier on yourself and have that understanding that what’s happening to you isn’t the same thing that’s happening to someone else, or how you feel or react to something isn’t going to be the same as someone else does. Just as all children are different, we learn differently, grow differently.

That’s the understanding that I finally came to one day - the switch kind of flicked for me.

Check out Olivia on Instagram @ houseofwhite_ and online at https:// houseofwhite.com.au/

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Olivia and her youngest daughter Theodora.

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SPRING 2021 7

It’s Your Life

How to explain the pandemic to kids

Kids are learning to live with remote learning at times.

WHILE we’ve been living in a pandemic for almost 18 months, children begin to notice changes at different ages.

Kids who were babies when the pandemic started are now starting to talk and take much more notice of what is happening around them.

Those who were toddlers when it begun are now at kinder or primary school and learning to live with remote learning at times.

It’s important to try to limit the confusion about what is happening and take into consideration your child’s feelings when talking about social distancing and lockdowns.

Raisingchildren.net.au says children will cope better if they have accurate, age-appropriate information about Covid-19, physical distancing and self-isolation.

The government funded website says

the following tips can help make sure your child feels supported.

1. Make time to talk about Covid-19, physical distancing and self-isolation Find the right time to talk with your child. This might be around the dinner table, at bath time, or at bedtime. When your child is ready to talk, try to give your child your full attention.

If you’re working from home, you might find that your child wants or needs to talk while you’re working. You won’t always be able to stop, and that’s OK. It’s fine to let your child know that you can’t listen right now.

2. Use a calm and reassuring tone If you use a calm, reassuring tone when you talk with your child about this situation, it can help your child feel safe and secure.

You might be feeling stressed or upset about the situation – that’s natural. If

you can, try to take a few deep breaths before you talk. This can help you feel calmer.

3. Find out what your child knows about physical distancing and selfisolation It’s a good idea to start by asking your child what they know about the situation and whether they have any questions. For example: “You might have noticed that mum is working at home now. Do you know why that is?”

“You won’t be going to school for a while, but some of your friends are still going. Do you understand why?”

“We can’t go to swimming lessons at the moment. Do you know why?”

4. Explain physical distancing and self-isolation in a way your child understands This is about sticking to the facts,

focusing on the positives, reassuring your child that this situation won’t last forever, and explaining what your family can do to help. For example: “Covid-19 is a virus that makes people sick, a bit like when you get a nasty cold. It gets in your spit and snot, so it spreads easily if you sneeze or cough.”

“Physical distancing means staying at home as much as we can. We can go out for a walk, if we stay a long way from other people – as far as the length of your bed.”

5. Tune into your child’s feelings about physical distancing and self-isolation Some children might be OK with staying at home all the time. But some might be frightened, worried or upset.

And remember – if you’re all well, plenty of cuddles can help you all feel better.

A time for children to learn about farm safety KIDS are being urged to get creative in the name of farm safety.

Kidsafe Victoria’s Farm Safety Creative Competition, which is run with the support of Agriculture Victoria’s Smarter, Safer Farms Program, is back for another year.

The competition provides an opportunity to engage children and their families in learning and discussions about farm safety.

Farms can be wonderful places for kids to play, but they can also be extremely hazardous. There’s the danger of heavy machinery, dams, animals, quad bikes, and poisons.

In 2019-20 there were 394 Victorian children aged 0-14 years treated in hospital for farm injuries, according to statistics from the Victorian Injury 8 SPRING 2021

Surveillance Unit.

Data shows that kids in the state’s outer regional areas are four times more likely to die due to injury than city kids.

The Farm Safety Creative Competition is open to all Victorian children from 3 years of age to students in Year 6.

They are invited to draw on their creativity to design educational materials. This includes videos, posters, illustrated stories, collages, radio ads or inventions based on this year’s theme ‘Think Farm Safe, Be Farm Safe’.

There are great prizes for winning children, including toys and vouchers.

Entries close Friday, 5 November.

For more information, visit the competition page on the Kidsafe Victoria website.

Farm safety tips from Kidsafe Victoria: ■ Active adult supervision is essential to help prevent childhood injuries on farms. It’s a good idea to have set supervisors so there is no confusion about who is watching the children.

■ Create safe play areas away from hazards like dams, animals and machinery.

■ Educate children from a young age about potential hazards and teach them clear rules and guidelines on a farm.

■ Have age-appropriate jobs for children and restrict involvement in dangerous tasks.

■ All families and farm workers should know correct first aid procedures to ensure no time is wasted in the event of an emergency.

Farms can be wonderful places for kids to play, but they can also be extremely hazardous. www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

It’s Your Life

Quinn Dow, 3, having fun on one of the many playground swings.

Pippa Bourke, Evie Bourke and Charli Busk from Drouin love to play at the new playground.

Civic Park gets a makeover

By Shelby Brooks DROUIN’S Civic Park has reopened following a $1.53 million upgrade.

The new and improved features of the park include play equipment, a water play area, wetland and board walks, a fitness area, footpaths, extensive tree planting, landscaping, new barbecue and shelter areas and park furniture.

The project was delivered by Baw Baw Shire Council with the help of $750,000 in Victorian Government funding through the Latrobe Valley Authority’s Community and Facility Fund and a $250,000 contribution from the Drouin and District Community Bank.

Baw Baw Council contributed $530,000 towards the project as part of the 2020/21 Capital Works Program.

Mayor of Baw Baw Shire Danny Goss officially opened the park on Saturday July 3.

The makeover has been extensive.

“The Civic Park upgrade has breathed new life into a much-loved space that will be appreciated by Baw Baw Shire residents and visitors for many years to come as Drouin continues to grow,” he said.

“The council is grateful for the

Taj, 6, and Eli, 8, Parkitny of Bunyip enjoying the water play area.

significant support of the Latrobe Valley Authority and the Drouin and District Community Bank to make this project a reality.”

Member for Eastern Victoria, Harriet Shing MP and Chair of the Drouin and District Community Bank Rod Dunlop

were also at the official opening.

Local contractors and suppliers played a big part in the project, with Warragul-based MadCat Constructions leading the works and engaging local suppliers throughout the build.

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SPRING 2021 9

It’s Your Life

Learning Assistant Ella Baker-Horan counts the donations for the Beanies for Billy day with St Anne’s Campus students Cleo Angelopoulos and Sam Millington.

Gippsland Gi l d Grammar G Boarding B di Captains C t i Ella Ell Cheney Ch and Josh Mekken wearing their Beanies for Billy.

Gi Gippsland l Grammar Bairnsdale Campus Foundation students Kloe Dick, Quinn Soulsby, Perri Smith and Elizabeth Knight wearing their beanies while on school excursion to The Abbey on Raymond Island.

Give your home a make over

Beanies for Billy day THE simple act of wearing a beanie has a very special significance at Gippsland Grammar. It’s a way to honour the memory of a former student and raise money for research into the disease that claimed his life.

On August 16, students and staff across all three campuses wore beanies in memory of Old Scholar Billy Adams, who died of brain cancer in June 2019, aged just 20.

The school raised more than $1350 for brain cancer research during a day it has called ‘Beanies for Billy’, hoping to beat the deadliest cancer for children.

Billy was part of Gippsland Grammar’s graduating class of 2017.

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10 SPRING 2021

He began at the school at the Bairnsdale campus in Year 3 in 2007 before moving to the Garnsey campus, Sale, for secondary school.

He was a dedicated student and talented swimmer who loved representing his school.

Billy was diagnosed with brain cancer in January 2016, just as he was to begin Year 12. Classmate Ella Baker-Horan said experts thought he would only have 12 months to live.

“Billy taught us the true meaning of resilience and courage. He fought hard, always with a smile on his face. And even though he was still undergoing chemotherapy treatment, he insisted on coming back to school to complete Year

12 (in 2017),” she said.

Billy went into remission, accepted a university place in arts and by the second semester was offered a place to study law — but by the mid-term break cancer had returned.

World renowned surgeon Dr Charlie Teo removed a large section, but could not remove it all.

Billy endured months of rehabilitation and was part of Australia’s first clinical trials for medical cannabis oil. In January 2019, he travelled to China for immunotherapy and photo sono dynamic treatment.

“Billy gave his best effort in every treatment option made available to him, but he could not beat this dreadful disease,” Ms Baker-Horan, now a learning assistant at the school, explained.

Many of Billy’s family and friends and members of the Gippsland Grammar community will participate in Connor’s Run this year to support children fighting brain cancer.

Billy’s parents Peter and Tanya Adams are in awe of the impact their son had on his community, and support Gippsland Grammar’s ‘Beanies for Billy’ day.

“Let’s hope simple days like these help others recognise the symptoms of this hideous disease and stops the suffering,” Ms Adams said. www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

as full on as summer, so to be able to utilise our indoor facility and put something like this on for the community is fantastic.”

It’s Your Life

He said the public response from the local community was very positive before June’s lockdown brought the program to a halt.

“Everyone was really energetic and positive about it, they loved the atmosphere, it’s nice and warm in there for them and we don’t put any pressure on them to bowl,” he said.

“If people just want to come and have a chat with other mums about general daily life or what is happening in their lives that is completely fine, and then if they want to have a bowl we offer coaching and things like that as well.”

Having a go: Hudson and Eliza Reid with mother Helen Reid show off their bowling skills.

Picture: Zac Standish

Bowling with babies

By Zac Standish AN exciting new program hit the Traralgon Bowls Club earlier in the year, with the local sporting establishment running the Bowling with Babies program for young mothers in the area.

Run in conjunction with Bowls Victoria and VicHealth, the Bowling with Babies program gave women a chance to return to sport following the birth of a child in a social and inclusive environment.

It also allowed them to converse about life new mothers and relate to others going through a similar situation.

so it is just something fun we thought we could offer our community through winter away from your regular sports.”

Traralgon Bowls Club bowls coordinator Matt Ogilvie explained what the program is all about.

After initially planning to start the program last year before Covid hit, Mr Ogilvie said it was fantastic to finally see it up and running in late May.

“We found the program through a few other clubs in Melbourne and after talking to Bowls Victoria and really saw it as great way to get parents involved with their kids,” Mr Ogilvie said.

“It is a bit of a different activity, it is nice and inclusive and safe taking place in the warmth of our indoor centre

Mr Ogilvie said the Bowling with Babies program offers new mothers a host of benefits.

“Social benefits are the main thing, due to Covid a lot of mums have been isolated so we just want to offer them that opportunity to get out and about and talk to other mums who have probably been facing the same issues,” he said.

“It is all about reaffirming people that they are not alone in their mothering journey, and we do so in a fun environment.”

Although the program has been on and off due to Covid, he said its popularity could see the club bring it back in the future.

“With Covid-19 derailing a lot of our programs last year, we were quick to again reach out to Bowls Victoria and get it going for 2021,” he said.

“We might even look at running it (the program) further, if the parents are interested in coming and bringing along their kids then we are more than happy to keep it going,” he said.

“We thought the best time to run it would probably be winter, as although we do have a winter program it is not

“It has been quite good with the response, and it will definitely be something we look to run in the future.”

More women giving birth later in life ONE quarter of women who give birth in Australia are aged 35 or older, new research reveals.

And around 29 per cent of these women in this age bracket are giving birth for the first time.

The statistics are included in the Older mothers in Australia 2019 report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW).

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The report shows that the number of babies born to older mothers is increasing. In 2019, there were more than 76,000 babies born to mothers aged 35 or over, compared to almost 69,000 in 2009 and 42,000 births in 1999.

Since 1999 the rate of women aged 40-44 giving birth has almost doubled, with 15.5 mothers per 1000 in 2019 compared with 8.4 mothers per 1000 women in 1999.

The rate almost quadrupled among women aged 45-49, with 1.1 mothers per 1000 women in 2019 compared with 0.3 mothers in 1999.

Ms Cropper says there can be advantages to giving birth later in the life and the majority of older mothers will have uncomplicated pregnancies www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

and healthy babies.

“However, women who give birth later in life are more at risk of complications, such as gestational diabetes during pregnancy and birth,” she said.

“Other complications include increased risk of gestational hypertension, pre-term birth and low birthweight babies. This is particularly seen for women giving birth for the first-time.”

Older mothers were less likely than younger mothers to smoke, and the majority received antenatal care in the first trimester of pregnancy. They were are also more likely to live in major cities and less likely to live in low socioeconomic areas.

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“The average age of all women giving birth in Australia has been rising, including for first-time mothers.

The average maternal age has increased from 27.1 years in 1979 to 30.8 years in 2019 for all mothers,” said AIHW spokesperson Ms. Bernice Cropper.

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SPRING 2021 11

It’s Your Life

Capturing a moment: An example of Belle’s work with Traralgon local Meagan Clarke and her family.

Picture: Supplied

Capturing memories forever

By Zac Standish

captured them at a pivotal time in their life but they have come back to me in the good times is very rewarding,” she said.

TRARALGON photographer Belle Chapman is providing cancer affected families the opportunity to capture treasured memories forever.

“More than anything though it is just seeing the kids and parents taking that one hour or so out of life and just loving on each other is just amazing – the embraces and things I capture in these times are really special and make things so worthwhile.”

The owner of local business Belle Chapman Photography has started a self-funded initiative known as Forevermore, which sees her meet up with families battling the cancer beast for a professional photo shoot free of charge.

Another overwhelming part of the project is the touching public response she receives from cancer effected families.

Inspired by her own personal experience of losing her father to cancer at an early age, this project serves as a way to give back to the community and help provide some much needed joy and relief to families going through an incredibly tough time.

She said hearing just how grateful they are for her service is something she values dearly. “(Over the journey) there has been so much nice feedback and videos of people crying when they see the photos, which despite being very overwhelming, really fills my soul,” she said.

Belle explained how the unique Forevermore venture began.

“Back when we were locked up in Covid last year, I suddenly had a lot of time on my hands as I had to close my main photography business, and because this is something I have been wanting to do for a long time I decided to set up the Forevermore initiative and officially launched it in the middle of last year,” she said.

Now working in conjunction with her main business, she explained how the venture operates.

“So Belle Chapman Photography is my main business and Forevermore is an initiative of that, so every person in the public who books a session allows me to gift a session to a cancer family,” she said.

“We aren’t listed as an official non-forprofit yet with the application still pending, so at the moment we are self-funded so donations and the paid sessions cover the costs of editors and other photographers who I have in Melbourne and Queensland.”

Traralgon local Belle Chapman’s Forevermore initiative has grown rapidly over the past 12 months.

Picture: Zac Standish

remember the bad times, but also don’t remember the good so what I did was I built my own memories based off of the photos we had of him,” she said.

“As he started to lose his hair he shied away from the camera so we don’t have too many of them, so my personal mission is to not let that happen to other people and try to get families when the diagnosis first comes through so they aren’t as afraid of the camera.

“Growing up through my career I always felt I was meant do something in this space, so when I started my photography business six years ago and had kids of my own it really dawned on me just how much those memories of my Dad meant so that is really what drives me.”

Leaning on her own personal experiences, Belle outlined the overall motivation behind the project and her passion for this worthwhile cause.

Having now provided this service to 26 families over the past year, she said there have been a host of important lessons she has learnt through the process of photographing and getting to know these people.

“I lost my Dad when I was five and he was 36 and unlike Mum I don’t

“The fact that the images are as important to them as they were to me is

12 SPRING 2021

something that has certainly surprised me, when I launched it I wasn’t sure it would be taken so positively because they are going through such a chaotic time and I thought I might be a burden, but the fact they so thankful for me to be part of their journey has just been amazing,” she said.

“A lot of people who have been through a journey have said to me that they regretted not getting their photos taken at the point of diagnosis, so I really took that on board as well and was interesting to hear and think to myself that I wanted images of me and my Dad where he looked well – so it is nice to hear that it what others want as well.”

In terms of the highlights of the Forevermore journey thus far, Ms Chapman managed to pinpoint two extremely rewarding aspects.

“There are so many highlights, one family comes to mind from Drouin who I captured just after lockdown and they actually had me come back and photograph their 10-year vow renewal as well as an extended family session as well – so the fact that I have not only

“I’m not going to lie, this is not an easy job – a lot of the families are around my age, the kids are the same age as mine and I kind of think this could be me going through this sort of thing, but I just treat them like a normal session and fall in a heap afterwards.

“You kind of realise that this is their life for these people and some of them cannot be cured, so to be able to help them in any way I can and for them to be so grateful it is very special.”

Moving forward, Belle explained her hopes for the initiative as it continues to go from strength to strength.

“My plan is to have photographers in all states within the next couple of years, whether they are volunteers or paid it doesn’t really matter to me, I just want to help as many people as I can,” she said.

“I would also like to build a team to help with the back end in the office so I can go out and about more to meet the families and capture those moments – so that’s my goal for now and then following that I have this crazy idea of starting up a retreat here in the country where families can come and stay and have their photos taken over a whole weekend.” www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

It’s Your Life

Deciphering a child’s dreams

By Melissa Meehan

of a pet or parent, grandparent or even having a new sibling.

THE saying goes, if you have big dreams you will grow into them.

Monsters are a common theme that young children tend to dream about, according to Rose, who says the subconscious mind creates these images.

But what is a dream without understanding what it is all about?

Best-selling author of Dreams, Rose Inserra helps to unlock the mysteries of your dreams and the messages they hold for adults and children alike.

The mother and grandmother says for many children nightmares can start from the time they turn three.

“Because before three, they can’t really separate themselves from anything, but as they grow up they can, and they understand who they are and they start to have dreams or nightmares,” she said.

“At around seven, the nightmares tend to sort of phase away, they’re not as prevalent as they are.”

These bad dreams or nightmares can be triggered by stress of starting a new school, a new place to live, debt, death

“For them, it’s anxiety and so monsters, whatever monster they come up with is their anxiety, or their fear or something,” she said.

“So that’s, that’s your first major dream that they have.”

Another popular dream is flying.

Rose says fantasy dreams are really good for children to experience. It shows that they have a happy and healthy imagination, and that they are able to overcome new experiences.

Some older kids have dreams of chaos and disorder when there’s instability in their lives.

And that’s telling us they need support or grounding, which is why they feel like they’re going to fall into an Alice in Wonderland sort of thing.

Rose Inserra is the author of the recent book Dreams by Rockpool Publishing.

“So if your child keeps having those dreams, they need you to give them more support and make them feel more comfortable,” she said.

No matter the dream, Rose says it’s important to have discussions with your child about what they are dreaming about – so that you can gain an insight into how they are feeling.

“We need to say to them, okay, tell me a little bit more about your dream,” she said.

“Tell me what happened. How did you feel about that, and who was in your dream.

“And talk to them, say, how we get this right, let’s change the ending to that dream.”

Rose says you can use the same trick with nightmares, especially if they are recurring.

“The next time the kids or any of us go to bed, change the ending,” she said.

“So you change the ending up, so you know last time the tiger was chasing you, what if the tiger wants to go and have a drink at that light behind you, he wasn’t coming for you.

“It makes a difference.”

Rose Inserra is the author of the recent book Dreams by Rockpool Publishing.

Drawing on her experience as an author and researcher, she has written over 60 children’s books and her books are published and marketed internationally.

Rose is a member of the International Association for the Study of Dream.

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SPRING 2021 13

It’s Your Life

When nothing is everything EVERY year there are many stories of serious unintentional childhood injuries and deaths in the news. When we read these, we all hope that it won’t happen to us, to our friends or to our families.

one due to an unintentional injury that’s almost one child every 11 days.

In response to the significant increase in injury related deaths, Kidsafe Victoria have launched a new community awareness campaign - ‘Nothing is Everything’. The campaign highlights the world which Kidsafe is trying to create – a world where nothing bad happens to kids - by providing a reminder of the little things that we can all do to help reduce the risk of unintentional injuries.

Ash and Matt never thought it would be them. Never thought they would lose their son Hunter just after he reached his 2nd birthday. Never thought they would be picking out an outfit for their little boy to wear, one last time. But it has now been 12 months since Hunter drowned in a dam.

Twelve months since the day they had to say goodbye.

As part of the campaign, Kidsafe Victoria have developed an injury prevention kit for parents and carers, providing links to a range of free resources and practical advice. They are encouraging all families to download and utilise resources such as their home and farm safety checklists, to help ensure that ‘nothing happens’.

“It’s hard to come to terms that our son Hunter isn’t here with us. My heart breaks more every day waking up without him. It’s hard to even contemplate ever celebrating anything without him,” explained Ash. Sadly, Ash and Matt aren’t alone. In 2020, 32 Victorian families lost their little

Because when nothing happens,

Hunter’s parents Matt and Ash (centre) with Kidsafe Victoria CEO Melanie Courtney (left) and Kidsafe Victoria president Erica Edmands (right). Ash and Matt were among the 32 Victorian families who lost their little one due to an unintentional injury in 2020.

children aren’t admitted to hospital due to serious injury. When nothing happens, children don’t have to live with the lasting impacts from preventable injuries. When nothing happens, parents don’t have to deal with a lifetime of loss.

When it comes to our children, when nothing happens, there’s everything to celebrate. And that’s down to all of us.

Together, we can keep kids safe.

To find out more about the ‘Nothing is Everything’ campaign or access the campaign resources, please visit www. kidsafevic.com.au/about/nothing-iseverything/

Hunter’s parents Ash and Matt.

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It’s Your Life

Family dinner time with Sam Wood

Sam Wood loves whipping up nutritious family-friendly meals.

SAM WOOD is a dad and one of Australia’s top health and fitness experts. He’s founder of online training, nutrition and mindfulness platform 28 by Sam Wood and resides in Melbourne with his partner Snezana, whom he met on The Bachelor, and children Charlie, 2, Willow, 3 and Eve, 16. Here, Sam talks about the art of cooking nutritious dinners the whole family will enjoy.

The whole dinner routine can be a struggle in many households. In your household, who decides what’s for dinner and who cooks it?

Like in many households, the kids are asked first about what’s for dinner and parents second, but Snez and I will cook Mondays to Thursdays and usually treat the family to a takeaway on the Friday. We love cooking outdoors, so over the weekend we try to get the BBQ going or have little picnics in the garden.

With three children at different ages and taking into account your own meal

preferences, how do you decide what to cook for dinner?

We have a really good weekly dinner time routine down, which helps the kids know what to expect when it comes to dinner. Every single dinner will include protein, good fats and good carbs.

When the kids’ food is a bit too plain for our liking, we like to add different spices to mix the flavour up. For us, it’s all about eating real food, lots of vegetables and making sure it tastes great. We have lots of our favourite 28 meals on rotation.

What are your family’s favourite

weeknight dinners that are quick and nutritious?

Our favourite, fuss-free weeknight dinner has to be my Tofu or Chicken Satay Skewers, made with Mayver’s Peanut Butter (Sam is a Mayver’s ambassador). It’s delicious, nutritious and fun for the kids, to both cook and eat! Other crowd pleasers include my butter chicken from the 28 program, which is another big hit with the family.

at the supermarket and let them choose a new food, like fruit, vegetables and nuts, that they’ve never tried before. In the kitchen, let them take the reins on age-appropriate tasks such as cracking the eggs, stirring the ingredients or chopping the vegetables. Once you give them a sous chef title, they’re more likely to become invested in the process of cooking and so the colour, texture and taste of more nutritious foods becomes an easier sell.

What are your tips for getting your children to try new foods?

If your child is a fussy eater, get them involved in preparing their meals. Start

Sam often shares family-friendly recipe ideas on his Instagram account.

You can find him by searching Sam James Wood.

Advice for parents on teens, tattoos and piercings BEING a teenager is hard.

respect their opinion.

You’re not really a child, but you aren’t yet an adult.

But it’s also important to share your thoughts too, in a calm matter.

But you are trying to find your place in the world. Set yourself apart from others and make your mark.

The parenting website says, for example you could say, ‘I don’t like the idea of you getting a tattoo at 16 because you might decide you don’t like it in five years time. And then it’ll be difficult and cost you a lot of money to get rid of it’.

So what do you do when your teen wants piercings or a tattoo?

Raisingchildren.net.au suggests talking to your child first.

Find out the reasons why they want the piercing or tattoo. Do they want to make a fashion statement? Are they copying their friends?

Listen to their point of view, ask them why it’s important to them and try to www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

Teenagers may want a tattoo to make a fashion statement.

But you can get a piercing under the age of 16 if you have permission from a parent or guardian.

And if all else fails – look for a compromise.

Youth Law Australia says you need to be 18 to get a tattoo or body mark in Victoria.

If your child wants a very visible or very large tattoo or body-piercing that you don’t want them to get, you might compromise on its size or location.

It’s against the law for someone to tattoo you or make a body mark on you even if you have your parent’s permission.

Another option might be delaying the tattoo or body-piercing until your child is older. For example, you might offer to pay for it for your child’s 18th

birthday, if they still want one.

Government website Youth Central states when you do finally turn 18 and can be legally tattooed it’s important to do the following: 1. Do your research 2. Don’t follow the trends 3. Consider the long-term 4. Find a reputable tattoo shop 5. Respect your tattoo artist 6. Take care of your new tattoo SPRING 2021 15

It’s Your Life

Warragul United Soccer Club mini-roos at the grand opening of the Baxter Park soccer pitch. (From left) Ashton Spencer, Lily Wilson, Emma Leslie and Sam Wilson.

Alicia Christensen celebrates after scoring a goal.

Kids get kick out of new pitch

By Jack Morgan

the new facilities after the upgrades at the ground were completed.

MINI-ROOS have been all over a new soccer pitch at Warragul’s Baxter Park.

The club’s mini-roos were the first to try out the surface, and found it was much easier to play on compared with their old ground.

The new synthetic turf provides the ultimate play surface for any young soccer enthusiast who wants to try the sport.

The mini-roos usually meet every Saturday to play many friendly soccer matches and develop skills.

The pitch is home to Warragul United Soccer Club, who recently moved into

The synthetic turf is FIFA certified,

and the improved drainage means the ground will not hold water which makes it easier to maintain and much safer to play on.

The ground and facilities were designed to have all abilities access, a lengthy access ramp leads to the clubrooms and facilities. It’s a stroll away from the Warragul Skatepark and athletics track, all located on Burke Street.

The project was funded by Baw Baw Shire Council, which put $2 million into the upgrade after years of lobbying from the soccer club. The club and council are continuing to seek state government funding for female and child friendly changerooms, spectator shelters, car parking, and other assets.

The Warragul United Soccer Club was formed 58 years ago and play in Division 1 of the South-East State League.

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It’s Your Life

Dreaming of a perfect smile?

IN the past 18 months life as we know it has changed in virtually every way.

With many people staying indoors and working from home now becoming the new normal, Straight Smiles Orthodontics has sought to find how best to accommodate this ever changing lifestyle.

They’re thrilled to announce that they’re now offering virtual appointments which can be done from the comfort of your own home. While they still do, and always will, welcome in chair and face-to-face appointments, virtual appointments recognise and accommodate those with a busy lifestyle and people who feel more comfortable staying at home in our current climate.

If you do choose to take the virtual route you could expect your orthodontic treatment to be complete only requiring 3-4 in chair appointments, with every aspect of your treatment being overseen by specialist orthodontist Dr Ed Karim.

Through the recent development of smart phone apps such as ‘My Invisalign’ your orthodontic treatment will continually be closely monitored by the Straight Smiles team and Dr Ed

Screen time can be good for families WOULDN’T it be nice to harness your child’s enthusiasm for the television or iPad into something more productive and positive?

Well, experts say parents can use this to make their family stronger.

Still dreaming of that perfect smile? Contact the Straight Smiles team on 1300 937 6453 to ask about invisalign.

Karim to ensure you can achieve the perfect Straight Smile of your dreams.

Times where you would need to be available for a face-to-face appointment would of course include taking of any required x-rays and for beginning and finishing your treatment.

Call Straight Smiles Orthodontics on 1300 937 6453 to arrange a free consultation to plan the way to the best smile for you or your kids.

“Families often struggle with the balance between healthy screen time and family time together,” Associate Professor Julie Green said.

Prof Green, executive director of the Australian Government-funded parenting website raisingchildren.net. au, said screens don’t have to divide parents and children.

“They can be used as a force for good too. Sharing screen time with your child is a social thing to do,” she said.

“It shows you care about things that matter to them - and this sends them an extremely powerful message.” raisingchildren.net.au has developed a comprehensive suite of

resources for parents looking for screen time tips and tools.

The resources are based on evidence, approved by experts and cover topics ranging from getting the balance right on screens, to using screens to help children learn.

“Enjoying time together is one of the key ingredients for family cohesion,” Prof Green said.

“Watching videos and playing digital games with younger children and teenagers is just as valid for building relationships as doing other activities if that’s what everyone enjoys.

“As with any activity, though, it’s important to find a balance - and parents can help their children do this by encouraging them to get outside and enjoy physical activity and face-to-face time with friends and family. It’s also good to remember that screens aren’t recommended for children under two.”

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www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

SPRING 2021 17

It’s Your Life

Teaching inner-peace comes naturally THERE is a wild creature in you that knows how to parent, writes STEVE BIDDULPH A MUM is sitting, holding her baby. She is peaceful, and the baby is gazing up at her and making little noises of pleasure. Their eyes are gazing happily at each other.

Then the mum frowns. Instantly, the baby’s face crumples and they start to whimper.

If mum doesn’t smile again quickly it will turn into full on distressed crying.

This could be anywhere in the world, but it’s actually happening in a psychology laboratory and the baby has tiny wires attached to its head don’t worry, they are only sensors taped on, like one of those meditation apps.

But what the neuroscientists are noticing from behind their one-way mirrors will knock their socks off, and echo around the world of child development research.

What they could see on their computer screens was that the baby’s brain reacted to the mother’s change of expression in a less than a hundredth of a second. It’s as if the two human beings, parent and child, were really one creature, utterly attuned.

This is the way that we now understand how the brains of small children are shaped for good mental health - not that mum never frowns, but that by that loving interaction, children getting distressed by the natural events of life many times a day, and mum or dad being close at hand and soothing them. They learn that comfort is possible

and they can ‘down regulate’ their emotions by sharing them.

is what helps children grow their mental health.

Mum is cool with it! It’s also been discovered in the adult world too that post traumatic stress after terrible events is much worse if there is nobody nearby who is caring and understanding. Being able to cry, shudder and shake, and tell our story until our brain knows it is just a story now, something that happened, in the past and not still hanging around. It was terrible, but it is over.

So we have to learn that skill and the way to do it is surprising. We have to tune in to our own body first, before we can tune in to our child. It’s as if we have a wild creature, a panther, a brown bear (or in my case probably a twitchy nervous hamster) down inside our body. If we tune into the sensations down in our body, especially the middle of our torso, literally our gut feelings, we will instantly know if we are calm or in turmoil, and begin automatically to settle down.

Babies and children do not care if they live in a mansion or a tin shed. But they are acutely aware of the emotions of the people around them.

And if those are seriously and long-term stressed, then it’s very hard for children to relax, learn and grow.

Mum or dad being absolutely present

Then and only then, can we really be with our child fully. Let me just say that again - to be with our children, we first have to be with ourselves. It takes just a few seconds, a couple of breaths, a dropping of the shoulders, and

perhaps some letting go of the headlong rush that our life so easily becomes.

And a step into the quiet fountain of sweetness that is the ‘now’. That’s where your child is, waiting for you to show up!

Your mind settles, and then it can settle theirs. And this really matters.

Long after you are gone, when they are living their lives far in the future, they will think of you and smile. You taught them what peace feels like.

Steve Biddulph’s new book is Fully Human – a new way of using your mind, published by Pan Macmillan. www.stevebiddulph.com Steve Biddulph AM Author – 10 Things Girls Need Most, Raising Girls, Raising Boys.

Complete Secrets of Happy Children, The New Manhood and Fully Human

Pandemic having huge impact on our youth YOUNG Australians have been more affected by the Covid-19 pandemic than any other age group, early evidence suggests.

A new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) found, that compared to older age groups, young people experienced higher rates of psychological distress, job loss, and educational disruption during the pandemic.

18 SPRING 2021

The report, Australia’s youth, brings together data about young people (aged 12–24) and their experiences of school and higher education, mental health and wellbeing, employment, living circumstances, and personal relationships.

“Adolescence and young adulthood is a critical period in a person’s life.

Young people often experience rapid physical, social and emotional changes

in a time where they are transitioning from dependence to independence,” institute spokesperson Sally Mills says.

“This is a time when young people are finishing school, pursuing further training and education, entering the workforce, moving out of the family home, and forming relationships.”

And while data suggests that some outcomes for young people have

returned to pre-Covid-19 levels, Ms Mills said this is not always the case.

“For example, in April 2021 the average level of psychological distress among young people was below what it was in April 2020, but still higher than in February 2017,” she said.

“Ongoing monitoring is needed to fully understand the longer term impact of the pandemic.” www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

It’s Your Life

Kids in the dark on social media

By Melissa Grant DOES your child know what they’ve signed up for on social media, gaming and messaging services?

Chances are they are probably clueless, with a new report finding popular sites like Tik Tok and Snapchat have such confusing terms of use that you need a university degree to understand them.

This means the majority of teens don’t know how their data will be collected and stored.

The Reset Australia report found the terms and conditions of nine of 10 surveyed apps would take, on average, one hour and 46 minutes to read. That’s despite children as young as 13 being allowed to use them.

“Tik Tok’s terms and conditions run the length of two novels, or about six hours of reading at a university level. If all two billion people who use TikTok

read the full terms and conditions, it would take 1.24 million years of effort,” Reset Australia’s Children’s Data Policy Director Farthing said.

Working with YouGov, the data protection lobby group polled 400 teens aged 16 and 17. They found only seven per cent of the teens surveyed were confident they understood the terms and conditions they had accepted, and only four per cent read them all the time.

Reasons for not reading the terms and conditions included that they were too long, there were too many documents, they were presented in ways difficult to read and that you’ve got no choice anyway so why bother.

“These apps are designed to be easy for young people to use, but when it comes to disclosing how data will be collected and stored, suddenly they become very difficult to understand,” Dr Farthing said.

Facebook and Instagram recently moved to restrict advertising targeted at

underage users, after Reset Australia revealed underage users were being profiled on age-inappropriate interests such as smoking and alcohol, and then selling access to the profiles to advertisers for direct, targeted advertising.

“We’ll only allow advertisers to target ads to people under 18 (or older in certain countries) based on their age, gender and location. This means that previously available targeting options, like those based on interests or on their activity on other apps and websites, will no longer be available to advertisers. These changes will be global and apply to Instagram, Facebook and Messenger,” a Facebook statement said.

However, Reset Australia is concerned the social media giant could keep the profiling for its own purposes and says this underscores the need for oversight about how platforms collect and use young people’s data.

They want to see a federal regulatory code governing how children and young people’s data is collected and used.

A spokesperson from the Office of the

Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) said a review of the Privacy Act by the Attorney-General’s Department offered an opportunity to address concerns about children’s personal data.

“We believe some high-risk activities should be considered for prohibition, such as profiling, tracking or behaviour monitoring of children, or direct advertising targeted at children,” the spokesperson said.

The federal government is also drafting legislation to enable the ‘Online Privacy Code’, which will apply to social media and other online platforms.

The code is expected to have specific rules to protect the personal information of children and vulnerable groups.

The OAIC encourages parents to help educate children about making good decisions online and limiting privacy risks. The commissioner suggests parents talk to their children about their digital footprint, developing good password practices, safe and smart device use, tailoring and regularly review privacy settings and being aware of online advertising.

BECOME A FOSTER CA R E R

Helping kids thrive DEBRA and Frank first discussed the idea of foster care after seeing a TV advertisement.

Four-year-old James* arrived a couple of months later, and the couple suddenly found themselves on a steep learning curve.

“James was the sort of person who wanted to be involved in everything.

“Once he settled into his new environment we got him into basketball and bike riding – he has completed three Great Victorian Bike Rides to date!

AKE YOU CAN M CE N A DIFFERE

the muscles in her legs.

“With persistence and encouragement Rachel got the hang of it – and in terms of her speech, you can’t stop her talking now,” said Frank.

Now 28, Rachel lives in an independent unit on Debra and Frank’s property.

Debra and Frank both agree that being a foster carer is a real joy.

“James is 32 now and is living and working in Western Australia.

“For people who are considering foster care, we encourage you to find out more about it, we have just loved the experience.

When James was eight, they took on Rachel, a four-and-a-half year old who was not able to talk or walk properly.

If you’re interested in becoming a foster care with Anglicare Victoria, visit anglicarevic.org.au/fostering for information.

“Rachel only walked on her tippy toes when she came to us, we would take her down to the beach and get her walking on the soft sand to build

Otherwise you can contact the team in Gippsland on (03) 5135 9555 or fostercare.gippsland@ anglicarevic.org.au

Now more than ever, foster carers are needed for some of the most vulnerable children & young people.

We need people across the Gippsland region that have the desire to give a young person a safe and welcoming place to stay.

Start your foster care journey today.

Contact us on 5135 9555 or gippsland.carers@anglicarevic.org.au

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www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

SPRING 2021 19

It’s Your Life

Amanda’s Instagram page, Bargain Boss, has over 14,000 followers.

Pictures: Stewart Chambers

Levi and Alyssa with their pooch Eva.

Mum is the boss of bargains

By Melissa Grant

Amanda would often go into work on a Monday and show off the bargains she had purchased over the weekend.

MOST mums love a bargain.

“They (colleagues) would always be amazed at how far I had gone for a bargain,” the former Consumer Affairs Victoria employee said.

Perhaps none more so than Melbourne mother-of-two Amanda, the creator of popular Instagram page Bargain Boss.

Over the years, Amanda’s friends told her she should share her money saving tips with the world.

The page has amassed more than 14,000 followers in a little over two years.

At the time, she had the idea starting a social media page but didn’t think it would get off the ground.

With money saving tips, side hustle ideas and bargain finds, there is plenty of useful and inspiring information for anyone looking to save some cash.

It was actually a trip to Fountain Gate with her son that prompted Amanda to get cracking on her own page.

Amanda’s love of Disney is peppered through the content, and there are also appearances from her two children Alyssa, 8, and Levi, 5 as well as their dog Eva, and their two recently adopted kittens.

“Krispy Kreme were celebrating National Doughnut Day by giving away free doughnuts… I took a picture of Levi eating his doughnut and I thought this is starting today.”

Bargain hunting has long been a passion for Amanda. Saving money has always been a priority and, at times, a necessity for her family.

Amanda and her husband, Steve, bought their first home in their early 20s after scrimping together a deposit, which involved a challenge to spend just $10 on work lunches for the week.

Shortly after buying their first home, Steve tore his ACL at soccer and was unable to work.

BARGAIN BOSS TIPS SIDE HUSTLES Amanda says it’s not that hard to bring in a few hundred dollars extra each month from side hustles. “Even something simple like selling your kids’ old clothes can make a lot of money if done correctly,” she said. Amanda has already reached her goal of making $10,000 through side hustles this year.

LOYALTY PROGRAMS Amanda says a lot of money can be saved using loyalty programs and is amazed by how many people don’t have a Woolworths Rewards and Flybuys cards.

Recently, she cashed in $270 worth of Flybuys points which she used at Kmart to buy items for her kittens. The keys, she said, are to boost all the offers sent to you and not remain loyal to a specific grocery store. “Shop at whoever has the best sales and loyalty offers for that week.”

20 SPRING 2021

Amanda with some of her bargain buys.

Amanda said they were unable to access any Centrelink payments.

“We needed to come up with ways to save,” she explained.

“That’s where my love of bargains kind of kicked in.”

PANTRY CHALLENGE Once every few months, Amanda tries to use everything possible in her pantry and just shop for essentials that week. The money she would usually spend on groceries is put aside.

SUPERMARKET MARKDOWNS Amanda says shopping around 6.30pm-7pm at Woolworths and Coles will get you the “best markdowns”. She often buys meat marked down to 50 per cent or less, and puts it in the spare freezer as soon as she gets home.

It also pays to know what stores do what markdowns.

“I know one store where I can get marked down bread. One store does cheese - that’s where I go if I feel like a cheese platter.”

Recently she bought a $35 bunch of flowers marked down to $2.50 and packs of bagels for 10 cents from Coles.

Afterwards, she went to Coles and took photos of their marked down bulk buys products.

When she got home, she put Levi down for a nap, made a logo and created an Instagram account.

“I shared it on Facebook - some family and friends followed. I hit 100 followers, and I celebrated that milestone with a glass of bubbly. I never thought it would take off the way it has.”

GROCERY GUARANTEES Amanda says Woolworths, Coles and Aldi will refund the purchase price on their own branded items that customers aren’t happy with (the guarantee doesn’t apply to other brands). “Stores ask for the item, or what’s left of it, to be returned or in some cases the packaging will do, for example if it’s been cooked.” She says Woolworths has a Fresh or Free guarantee where they will replace ‘fresh food’ you’re not happy with.

SCANNING POLICIES Familiarise yourself with scanning policies at your supermarket and check your receipts.

“Basically, if an item scans higher than the advertised or shelf price you can get that item free, but there are some exclusions and terms and conditions,” Amanda said. Scanning policies are for specific supermarkets, not all stores, she added.

The Bargain Boss Instagram account has been going for just over two years.

Amanda spends endless hours creating content and responding to comments and messages.

“I enjoy chatting to people. When people send me a message I always reply. I’m often up until midnight just making sure I’ve responded. The content takes time as I want it to be perfect.”

She has also enjoyed some collaborations with businesses - but has turned some down.

“My biggest thing about my page is keeping it as authentic as possible. It takes a lot of work to build a following and trust and it can be taken away very easily.”

She said the best thing has been the connections made through her page.

“I’ve made some really amazing friendships through it,” she said.

She also enjoys hearing about the way her followers have saved money, although some admit to spending on things they shouldn’t have.

“It is a bargain page but it’s only a bargain if it’s something you are going to use!”

You can follow Amanda on Instagram at @bargain.boss

USE GOOGLE When you are out shopping, grab your phone and Google what you intend to purchase.

Many stores are happy to price match. “It’s saved me hundreds of dollars,” Amanda said.

PHONE AROUND If you have your eye on a certain item, it pays to phone around places that stock it. Amanda says she will often call electronics stores multiple times to make sure she gets the best price.

UTILISE COMMUNITY INITIATIVES Join your neighbourhood page on Facebook and look out for community gardens.

Amanda uses the community garden in her estate for herbs. People are often willing to swap items on neighbourhood Facebook pages, she added. www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

It’s Your Life

Mum’s genius idea for no mess

By Melissa Grant MANY parents are familiar with the struggle of cleaning up after a baby who has made a mess of their high chair and flung food onto the floor.

For Victorian mum Stephanie Miller, that nightly hassle sparked a genius idea that led to a successful small business.

One night, Stephanie was scrubbing spaghetti bolognese off her eightmonth-old daughter’s high chair. With bits of bright-coloured spag bol spread across the highchair tray, the seat and underneath the chair, she thought there had to be a less messy way to feed an infant.

So armed with some scrap paper and staples to make adjustments, she came up with a mock design for a product that would become a game-changer for parents of messy eaters.

With limited funds, she purchased 2m of fabric, put her sewing machine on the dining room table and got to work.

The Mess Me Not Smock was born.

The smock is designed to fit over the tray and is clipped around the back of the chair to secure it in place.

It catches food and prevents it spilling over the side and onto the floor as little ones move around during their meal.

Afterwards, the washable smock comes off the baby and then off the tray,

Stephanie Miller with six-year-old daughter Charlotte and three-year-old daughter Amelie, who is modelling the Mess Me Not smock.

with the mess collected in the smock so the bits of food can be thrown out.

Since launching the product two years ago, Stephanie has taken more than 2000 orders including some from New Zealand, Singapore and the UK. Stephanie’s small business has

quickly outgrown the dining room table and spare bedroom, with the mum of two recently hiring a storage shed and looking into renting factory or office space.

“I hoped that it was going to take off but I didn’t expect it to take off the way it has,” she said.

The Mess Me Not Smock is made in Victoria and comes in different colours and prints.

Stephanie said parents who had purchased her product were impressed with how much time they saved cleaning up after messy eaters.

“I often get that it’s a game-changer. I also get - can I make them for husbands?

Do they come in larger sizes is a very common one,” she said with a laugh.

“I always feel so chuffed when I get the emails… and the reviews and the photos. I love seeing pictures of the little ones in the smocks.”

For Stephanie, the Mess Me Not smock has been a game-changer for her when it comes to work-life balance.

She has been able to work around her daughters Charlotte, 6 and Amelie, 3, rather than return to full-time work.

“While I was on mat leave with my second, I thought I would love to work around my kids. It was hard enough to get the first off to family daycare,” she said.

Stephanie has recently been recognised for her game-changing product. She has been named as a finalist for the 2021 AusMumpreneur Awards in the category of Product Innovation.

The winners of the awards, which are all about supporting mothers in business, are due to be announced in mid-September.

Become a foster carer with Quantum CHILDREN and people across Gippsland deserve safe, stable and loving homes.

homes across the entire Gippsland region, including the Casey Cardinia areas.

Quantum works with foster carers to help provide homes for children and young people who are not able to live with their parents.

Foster carers are an integral part of the Quantum team.

Quantum desperately needs additional foster carers to open their hearts and their homes.

Children and young people need relationships that promote healing from trauma through positive attachments.

Opening your home can make a real difference to a child and young person in need.

A former young person in care with Quantum’s foster care service said:

They also stated: “I was never considered an outsider. I was supported holistically by my foster parent and case workers with any decision making and they gave me honest advice that only made me stronger.”

If you are interested or have any questions call 1800 243 455 or mail@ quantum.org.au or go to www. quantum.org.au

Children and young people need relationships that promote healing from trauma through positive attachments.

12508924-JW38-21

Quantum currently supports carer

They provide safe loving and supportive care whether it’s for a few days, one night, a few weeks, a few months or even years.

“Foster care for me was a very positive experience. I was placed with a great foster parent who I got along with and made me feel very comfortable and welcomed.”

www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

SPRING 2021 21

It’s Your Life

Getting your kids involved in planning is all it takes for them to take ownership, Nicole says.

Freedom in planning with kids

By Melissa Meehan WITH five kids, Nicole Avery has to be organised.

Her kids range from 12 to 22-yearsold – her youngest started high school this year and her eldest began his first post-graduate job.

Planning was not always something she’d been good at or focused on, she still doesn’t claim to be an expert.

She’s just had a lot of practice.

She’s been working online, working with Planning with Kids since 2008.

“I had four kids at the time and kind of wanted to go back into the workforce in some way and it was about my own life. So it was a really easy choice for me to blog about it,” she told Kids Today.

“I probably was a more traditional mummy blogger at first – but sharing photos of the kids wasn’t my thing. I’m pretty private, so what I wanted to do was answer the questions that people asked of me in real life.

“How are you so organised?”

She always had menu plans and that kind of thing so thought she would share what she knew.

Because, she figured, it could help other parents.

“One of the things when you’ve had a few kids that you get better at, is self practice,” she said.

“I’m pretty process orientated, but wasn’t always natural that way, but I did get to the point with my second child, where I worked out okay, I am going to step out of the workforce and I’m going to be at home full-time now,” she said.

“I can’t just be in this chaos thinking about what we’re having for dinner every night, you know like a baby crying on the hip and a toddler hanging off my legs.

22 SPRING 2021

Nicole Avery is a mum of five.

Nicole Avery says it’s important to have structure.

“I was floundering a bit and it felt harder than it should be.”

But just because you have a plan doesn’t mean your life revolves around it, according to Nicole.

And that’s where it started.

Nicole worked out if she could plan out five or six meals a week that would make meal time easier.

And it did.

“That was sort of like that clicking moment where I had all the skills I used in the workforce – but I wasn’t bringing that home,” she said.

“And I worked out that work things ran so much smoother and my work life would have been so much less stressful when I was really organised with it, home life is the same.”

“People automatically associate plan with being quite restrictive and very prescribed and that you’re quite confined,” she said.

“I actually found it gave me more freedom.”

If she had already prepared the meals for the week and was out late one night - she knew she could change up the meal plan.

And if it was too late, she could swap in takeaway night and cook that meal on Friday.

“I was able to say to my husband, here is the shopping list, could you please go and shop for it – the fact it was in an actual list form and not in my brain meant I could get some extra help,” she said.

“I found my life became easier and easier, and I became happier.”

It was the same for after school activities and sports.

When Nicole took it out of her brain and put it into a shared online calendar that her husband could see it made life much simpler.

And that mindset is applicable to doing the washing, vacuuming.

For Nicole, planning actually ended up giving her more freedom.

These are just some of the tips you can read about in Nicole’s book Planning with Kids, or learn in her online course.

Stepping out of the chaos and having a plan made life with kids much easier.

She also found that the more she had organised, the more she could delegate.

Find out more at www.planningwithkids.com www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

It’s Your Life

Fostering joy with Berry Street

Being a foster carer is one of the most meaningful and vital contributions you can make to the community.

IN Victoria, the number of children who cannot live safely at home has risen every year over the last 10 years.

There are many reasons why children and young people come into care, but most have suffered abuse, neglect or trauma.

As a foster carer you change lives by making a child who has experienced trauma and abuse to feel safe.

It won’t always be easy, but being a foster carer is one of the most meaningful and vital contributions you can make to our community.

Angela became a foster carer in 2018 and has cared for around 14 children and young people.

“Now that I am a carer, I can say that it’s been incredibly rewarding and a privilege to be involved in these children’s lives”, Angela said.

“I hope that they leave my care knowing that they were absolutely safe and that they enjoyed themselves.”

Support is always there when you need it.

Angela says her Berry Street case managers have always been responsive and helpful.

If you’re over 21 and can offer a child their own room in a safe and nurturing

home environment, you can apply to be a foster carer.

Enquiries are welcome from people from all backgrounds, cultures and experiences - married, single, or samesex couples, with or without children, divorced or de facto, renting, working, studying or retired.

To find out more or to attend an information session visit berrystreet.org. au/foster-care or call (03) 5134 5971.

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www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

SPRING 2021 23

It’s Your Life

Embracing a child’s curls

By Melissa Grant CURLY hair on kids is adorable but can be a nightmare to manage.

Brushing is generally a no-no and parents need to be mindful of how they use products on their child’s hair.

Most importantly though, parents need to “embrace the curls”, according to mum of two and Aussie Curls founder Claire Fermo.

Claire straightened her for years before she embraced her curls, a move which ultimately led to her business venture.

It was only after becoming a mum that Claire realised her hair was beautiful and she was wasting time straightening it.

Claire Fermo Fermo, creator of Aussie Curls.

Curls

“I straightened my hair for 15 years,” Claire said.

because it was too hard. I thought there has to be a way that’s in between.”

Here are Claire’s top tips for managing curls:

“It’s because I listened to what a guy said to me in a bar once - that I would be better looking if I had straight hair!”

Claire had her light-bulb moment and Aussie Curls was born.

■ Don’t brush when dry: If you brush dry hair it causes the curl to lose its memory and it will create more knots. Instead, finger comb the hair when wet. The only brush I use in the shower is called the Denman brush.

Claire’s husband Andy only saw her curls for the first time while on holiday four years into their marriage. They were on a cruise with their son, Phoenix, and Claire couldn’t straighten her hair every day.

Andy fell in love with the curls and so did Clare. Afterwards, she decided to learn everything she could about curls.

“I found the curly girl method,” she explained.

“Then I realised there were some great things I could take from that, but there were too many rules. Some women stopped embracing their curls

Claire is so passionate about her products, which are made from organic and natural Australian ingredients, that her children, Phoenix and Havana use them - even though they don’t have curls.

“My husband is Filipino so they’ve got his dead-straight hair, but they still have to use Aussie Curls - it’s the only hair product allowed in the house,” the mum of Indigenous and Moroccan heritage said.

Although her kids have straight hair, Claire knows all about the battles parents of curly-haired children face and even does home visits to give advice.

■ Washing: Don’t wash curls every day as it’s good to get natural oil through them. Washing frequency depends on thickness. A lot of kids have fine curls, which are best washed every 3-4 days. My hair is thicker - I wash my hair every 6-7 days and do a refresh between that with a water spray bottle and moisture product. Washing curls

too often can also dry out your child’s scalp.

■ Use a moisturising spray: In between washes, use a moisturising spray. Even just put a bit of conditioner in a spray bottle.

Then finger comb the hair.

Moisture spray works fine with both thick and thin curls, you just need to adjust the moisture level.

It’s not an exact science - just fill with water, put the conditioner in and shake it up.

■ Apply products when wet: Curls love moisture. I apply all my hair products while I’m in the shower.

You can find Claire online at https:// www.aussiecurls.com.au/ or follow her on Instagram at aussie_curls

New characters join children’s book series

By Carole Levy

The books are launching in September.

DID you know that a Mr Men and Little Miss book still sells every 2.5 seconds worldwide? Now two more books are joining the 90-strong line-up.

IN THE BEGINNING “What does a tickle look like?” asked Adam, the young son of Roger Hargreaves. So Mr Hargreaves drew Adam a picture, creating Mr Tickle, which became the first book published in 1971. It went on to sell a million copies in just three years.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Roger Hargreaves book series, a global public vote to name new members - attracting more than 77,000 entries – has determined that Mr Calm and Little Miss Brave will join the family.

Mr Calm has a very peaceful and easy-going outlook on life. He lives in the moment, loves rock climbing, and his relaxed and tolerant perspective means that he is a calming influence and a wise head.

Little Miss Brave stands up for what she believes in. She is not afraid to speak out and is fearless when championing things close to her heart, including her friends. Her bravery is an inner strength and confidence which enables her to try new things, challenge expectations, and inspire others to be 24 SPRING 2021

Adam is now creative director, following the death of his father.

Mr Calm.

Little Miss Brave.

the best they can be.

“It’s great to see these two new characters join the diverse set of personalities of the Mr Men/Little Miss family – calmness and bravery are two very welcome additions,” he says. “It’s been a fantastic way to celebrate our 50th birthday year.”

Alastair McHarrie, Sanrio licensing director, says that having Mr Calm and Little Miss Brave join the much-loved family of characters reflects the current consumer mood and the world we’re living in.

“Mr Calm was one of my favourites,” he says, “so I’m delighted to be able to share this story. It’s amazing to see people are still connecting to the books after 50 years – and here’s to Mr Calm and Little Miss Brave leading the way in shaping the brand’s personality for the next 50!”

The new books will be available on pre-order via the official MrMen.com website, and in all good bookstores from September, 2021. www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

Health

Trying to parent while you’re sick can be an absolute nightmare.

Tips for parenting when sick

By Melissa Grant

Here are Edwina’s top tips to help you survive parenting while sick:

THERE’S nothing fun about being sick.

But feeling under the weather when you are a parent is the stuff nightmares are made of, especially if the kids are at home all day.

■ Do Less: Practice the same compassion for yourself as you would for others. There is no shame in slowing down and resting.

All you want to do is crawl back into bed. Meanwhile, all your kids want to do is run around, make a lot of mess and eat snacks.

■ Ask for help: Although it isn’t always possible, asking for help from a loved one or a childminder is a great way to ensure you have enough time to rest.

Sadly you can’t take a sick day (wouldn’t that be amazing). So how are you going to survive until you are feeling better?

■ Self-care: Whether it’s finding time for a bath or getting outside for some Vitamin D, making time for yourself and listening to what your body needs is really important.

There are things you can do to help ease the load even if you can’t get a babysitter, according to midwife and Philips Avent ambassador Edwina Sharrock.

■ Easy meals: Whether it’s ordering groceries to be delivered, getting takeaway or having eggs on toast for dinner, as long as the kids are fed and happy, that’s all that matters.

“Unfortunately, calling in sick isn’t an option when you are a parent,” she said.

■ Cancel plans: From after school swimming lessons to gymnastics, we’re always running around after our kids however prioritising your health is far more important.

Cancelling plans every once in a while so that you can properly rest won’t harm your child’s development.

“We often pressure ourselves to constantly be on the go and to be the best version of ourselves for our kids.

“But, it’s important to take care of ourselves.”

■ Movie day: Everyone has different rules on screen time, however popping on a movie so you can relax on the couch when you’re sick is nothing to feel guilty about.

■ Telehealth: Getting out of the house to go to the doctor can be tough when you have kids to care for.

Fortunately, there is a variety of medical services now easily available online through Telehealth.

The last thing you want to do while you are feeling like death warmed up is to pass on your illness to your children or partner.

Edwina says the best way to prevent your illness spreading is to practice good hygiene by regularly washing your hands and coughing/sneezing into tissues or on your elbow. It’s also a good idea to educate your kids.

“Teaching your children good hygiene practices and explaining why they are important is an essential part of keeping your whole family healthy and well,” Edwina said.

“If you are really unwell, quarantine yourself in a separate room of the house

and organise for someone to look after your children.”

If you’re breastfeeding, Edwina said it is generally safe to keep doing so when you’re sick.

“Your baby won’t catch most common illnesses like colds, flu, stomach bugs, fever and mastitis through breastmilk. In fact, it contains protective antibodies,” she said.

However, she said that breastfeeding while sick can be tiring so it is a good idea to get extra help to allow time to rest after feeding. It’s also important to stay hydrated.

“Even if you can’t stomach much food, your body will continue to supply milk if you are keeping up your fluids.”

Edwina also recommended using a breast pump so you can express in advance and let someone else take the night feeding shift.

“Even if you’re really unwell and cannot manage to breastfeed your baby, your body will still be producing milk so breast pumping is a great way to manage your milk supply in the meantime,” she added.

Researchers probe role of genetics in SIDS GENETICS could hold the key to preventing Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

Researchers are investigating the role of genetics in the devastating condition, which claims the lives of around 100 babies in Australia each year.

A state-of-the-art ‘genetic biobank’ has been developed by researchers at the University of South Australia.

The biobank comprises DNA from 25 babies who have died from SIDS in South Australia.

SIDS is the sudden, unexpected, and unexplained death of an apparently well baby, despite clinical www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

investigations, including autopsy.

The genetic biobank is the only of its kind in the southern hemisphere and one of only a few that exist in the world.

It was supported by funding from River’s Gift, an organisation established

by Geelong couple Karl Waddell and Alex Hamilton following the death of their 4-month-old baby, River, to SIDS in 2011.

River’s Gift evolved from a pledge to Stamp Out SIDS and ensure that no other parent would endure the pain and suffering of the unexpected and unexplained loss of their child.

Molecular biologist and Head of

genetics at the Australian Centre for Precision Health, UniSA’s Professor Leanne Dibbens, says the biobank will provide unprecedented opportunities to examine genetic factors that have contributed to SIDS. “Within Australia and internationally, research into SIDS is not as active as it once was,” Prof Dibbens says.

“This is mainly due to successful education campaigns such as ‘safe sleeping’ of infants, which has significantly reduced the incidence of SIDS. Yet, every year in Australia, about 100 babies still die from SIDS and we don’t know why.”

Prof Dibbens said the genetic biobank

would allow researchers to analyse DNA from SIDS babies to look for genetic causes of the condition.

“By finding these, we will be able to test babies at birth to identify those who are at risk, with these babies being closely monitored in their first year of life,” she explained.

The groundbreaking research will also help identify mechanisms involved in causing death from SIDS so that future work can stop SIDS from occurring.

“Every baby’s life is precious. This research will help protect all babies and families from suffering the heartache of SIDS,” Prof Dibbens said.

SPRING 2021 25

possible hearing issues won’t turn to a sound source. At 12 months, they won’t be saying “mumma” or “dadda” - a speech delay can be another sign in babies and toddlers.”

Health

Most parents will be questioning their child’s hearing ability well before the three-year-old mark. At this age, children can be examined via Play Audiometry at an audiology clinic.

Headphones will be placed on the child, with various noises played through the speakers that correspond to the game being played and elicit a response.”

Marina notes that hearing loss, which may be temporary or permanent, can develop after an initial neo-natal screening.

“In children older than three, warning signs can include having iPad and TV volume too high, asking often for words to be repeated, and not responding to being called.

“By school age, it may be a teacher who first detects problems, with students unable to hear from the back of the classroom, or certain behavioural issues arise or schoolwork is in decline.”

Picture: iStock

Detecting hearing loss

By Carole Levy BACK in the day, mums and their newborns remained in hospital for at least a week but nowadays it’s more like two days and they’re sent home.

While lots of new mums are dying to take their bubs home, it can mean that the baby’s hearing screening doesn’t happen.

The neo-natal hearing screen is

generally done in the first days, when electrodes are placed on the baby’s forehead, shoulders and neck and sounds are played through speakers.

The technique measures auditory nerve activity and is known as Auditory Brainstem Response (AABR).

If the baby ‘fails’ the AABR test, another screening will be carried out within the next two weeks to confirm results.

Experienced audiologist from Active Audiology, Marina Opacak, explains what parents should look for in detecting potential deafness in babies and children up to school age.

“The main thing to notice in a baby up to six months old is that loud or unexpected noises don’t cause a startled response, or they may appear generally less alert,” Marina says.

“After six months, a baby with

Temporary deafness can be caused by a build-up of wax in the ear or an infection, which can be attended to by a GP. Sometimes, grommets are recommended to drain fluid from the ears; this is a job for an ear, nose and throat specialist.

Babies and children with permanent deafness will be referred to Hearing Australia, with a hearing aid or other amplification system potentially fitted, and supports put in place.

Marina concludes with: “It’s important to diagnose hearing loss as early as possible since it can have a big impact on a child’s development, especially in the areas of language, communication and thinking.”

Gippsland benefits from specialist imaging for women WHEN an expectant mother presents for her pregnancy scans, a skilled sonographer performs the ultrasound.

‘It’s making sure all is well.’

It takes extensive training to become a Radiographer then further training to qualify as a Sonographer. But it’s worth every second just for that moment when you see the smile on the face of a mum-to-be.

Clinic locations: • Maryvale Private Hospital 286 Maryvale Road, Morwell

With precision and care they observe the anatomy of the foetus, looking at the heart and other organs to ensure there are no abnormalities.

They will check that the foetus’ size is consistent with its age, and assess the placement of the placenta, which has a vital function in the baby’s development.

While mums and dads are eagerly looking for familiar features like their cute little hands, the sonographer is actually counting all the digits to confirm normal development is occurring.

The sonographer will always arrange for the radiologist, a doctor that specialises in medical imaging, to review the scan.

• 39 Breed Street, Traralgon • Latrobe Regional Hospital Princes Highway, Traralgon

This will ensure that your ultrasound is read by an expert medical professional, and to confirm any findings.

• Newmason, 29 Mason Street, Warragul • West Gippsland Hospital, Warragul

A report compiled by the radiologist will then go back to the referring practitioner.

Appointments:

1800 888 669

The Gippsland community is fortunate to have access to specialist imaging services at their local I-MED

i-med.com.au

The Gippsland community is fortunate to have access to specialist imaging services at their local I-MED clinic.

clinic, saving the long trip to a Melbourne clinic for many types of scans.

This includes foetal MRI and paediatric ultrasound for post-natal investigation of a baby’s hips.

Paediatric Radiologist, Gill Whiteley supports these specialist services for the community with her neonatal/perinatal imaging expertise offered at I-MEDs clinic at the Latrobe Regional Hospital, Traralgon.

I-MED’s Gippsland clinics also provide the highest quality medical imaging across other services such as general x-ray, low dose CT, MRI, mammography, Bone Mineral Densitometry, and interventional procedures.

Find out more at I-med.com.au

12509983-BL38-21

26 SPRING 2021

www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

Health

The Australian Dental Association’s (ADA) 2020 National Consumer Survey of around 25,000 people also found one in five adults only brushes once a day and 60 per cent haven’t seen a dentist for at least two years.

every day, as well as consuming a diet low in added sugar and seeing your dentist at least once a year, all go a long way to maintaining good oral health and benefits whole of body health.”

Specifically, the survey found: ■ 4 in 10 parents report their children under 17 years drink 2-5 soft drinks a week, despite 83 per cent knowing such drinks can lead to tooth decay.

A sizeable number of parents appear to be unaware that fruit juice can lead to tooth decay.

The survey also revealed that many people were unaware of the importance of consulting a dentist about teeth whitening.

■ 2 in 3 adults usually visit the dentist for a specific problem rather than for a check-up, a figure that has not improved since first being recorded in 2014.

With proper care and attention, your teeth will last a lifetime.

Picture: iStock

Healthy teeth all year round AN alarming number of parents are letting their kids drink soft drink regularly despite most knowing the contents can lead to tooth decay.

And many parents are are unaware

that fruit juice can also cause tooth decay.

These are among the revelations from new research from a deep dive into the nation’s mouths.

■ 1 in 3 adults rate their oral health as ‘poor’ or ‘very poor’. This increased with age to 1 in 2 adults for those over 56. The most common reason was ‘don’t visit the dentist enough’.

ADA Vice President Dr Steven Liew said the survey’s findings, released for Dental Health Week in August, showed Australians have the capacity to improve the daily habits that contribute to good oral health.

“Not brushing twice a day and flossing once a day is a fast track to developing tooth decay, gum disease and a range whole of body health issues that can arise from sub-par oral health,” he said.

“Previous studies suggest that untreated advanced gum disease can increase the chances of serious cardiac events, adverse pregnancy outcomes including prematurity, Type 2 diabetes and other significant health conditions.

“Brushing your teeth for two minutes, twice a day, and flossing thoroughly

A concerning 64 per cent said they weren’t aware of the risks of teeth whitening services operated by nondentists. These risks can include painful chemical burns to the gums and lips, and sensitivity or pain affecting the teeth.

Here are the ADA’s top dental hygiene tips: ■ Brush for at least two minutes, twice per day (30 seconds per quarter of your mouth) ■ Pick a favourite song (over two minutes) and brush from its beginning to end ■ Brush your teeth at a 45 degree angle to the gums ■ Don’t brush too softly or it could be ineffective, but don’t brush with too much force as it could damage the surface of your teeth ■ Replace your toothbrush every three months or at the first sign of wear-and-tear (whichever comes first) ■ Floss for at least two minutes every day ■ Limit your consumption of processed sugars and foods

Genetic carrier screening EVERY year in Australia, up to 50 babies are born with an incurable inherited neurological condition called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).

Anywhere up to 20 of these infants will unfortunately lose their fight to live.

As a community and a nation, there is still a lot to do to raise awareness about this and other inherited genetic conditions.

In the majority of cases, parents of babies born with SMA have no family history of genetic conditions and follow advice during pregnancy to have a healthy child.

148 48_GD D_v1_A Aug ug21

12509427-HC38-21

This shatters families.

Genetic Carrier Screening

They are unlikely to have heard of SMA and are not aware that they are genetic carriers for the condition.

As ‘carriers’, the couple do not have the condition themselves, but have an increased chance of having a child with SMA. SMA is one of the three most common genetic conditions in the Australian population that peak Australian medical bodies recommend parents should be screened for prior to or early in pregnancy.

single carrier screening test.

It is advisable that a couple considering having a baby discuss the benefits of this screening with their doctor.

The other two are fragile X syndrome (FXS) and cystic fibrosis (CF).

The government has recently announced that genetic carrier screening for these three conditions, currently available as a privately paid test, will in the near future be listed on the Medicare Benefits Schedule, allowing them to be bulk billed.

Screening for these three conditions is often combined into a

Speak to your doctor to find out more.

www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

Thinking about having a baby?

Reproductive genetic carrier screening can detect genetic changes that may affect your chance of having a baby with a genetic condition.

Speak to your doctor to find out more.

SPRING 2021 27

Education

The benefits of learning outside

By Melissa Meehan WE all remember heading outside for story time in a blistering hot summer in the halcyon days of yesteryear.

But did the teachers back then know taking the classroom outdoors could improve learning, engagement in class and social skills?

A study by the University of South Australia found growing evidence that nature based learning may just do that.

In a paper published in Environmental Education Research, UniSA PhD candidate Nicole Miller and her colleagues found that taking the classroom outdoors may improve physical activity, learning, mental health and wellbeing, engagement in

class and social skills.

They looked at 20 studies of nature across the globe over the past 18 years.

“The evidence suggests that taking the classroom outdoors could be a great way to include more incidental physical activities into a child’s day,” Ms Miller says.

The link between learning in nature and lower obesity rates is not new, but more significant than ever, given that only 19 per cent of Australian children are meeting the World Health Organization’s recommended levels of 60 minutes of moderate exercise a day.

“Globally, the figures are even worse, with a recent study of 12 countries showing that just 4.8 per cent of children aged between 5-19 years are doing moderate to vigorous exercise for an hour each day.”

WHO estimates that at least 340 million children and teenagers are overweight or obese, including 24 per cent of Australian children (ABS statistics), increasing their risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease later in life.

Nature-based learning can range from holding normal classes outdoors, to more strenuous activities such as constructing shelters, and group games.

Apart from the physical benefits, the evidence suggests that nature-based learning is more enjoyable and handson than in a traditional classroom, so children may be more likely to retain more knowledge and stay focused throughout the lesson.

Learning about the environment while in nature is an obvious benefit, but the researchers also referenced studies showing the mental health

benefits in adults who had spent significant time in nature in their childhood.

“Previous research has found links that suggest adults with a low exposure to nature in childhood had significantly poorer mental health and a greater risk of psychiatric disorders,” Miller says.

A 2017 study of 48 children in Germany found that children’s stress levels significantly improved after nature-based learning in the forest.

Also, a 2018 US study reported that learning outcomes improved students’ focus and behaviour.

“While the evidence is growing, more research is needed because it is still unclear which elements of nature-based learning, such as type, duration, frequency, and location, provide the most benefits,” Miller says.

Report reveals what students are reading CHILDREN love reading about pugs, wizards and wimpy kids.

A new report has revealed the book titles and authors most read by students in Australia and New Zealand.

Overall, the most popular books were Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone and Diary of a Wimpy Kid. The ‘What Kids Are Reading Report’ from assessment and practice provider Renaissance Learning also reveals the most popular books for students in different year levels.

For boys and girls in Kindergarten to Year 2, Australian author Aaron Blabey’s Pig the Pug was the favourite overall, trumping the previous winner The Very Hungry Caterpillar which dropped down to number five.

For boys and girls in Year 3, Anh Do’s WeirdDo 2: Even Weirder! was the most read title, while Roald Dahl classic The Twits was again the most popular book for Year 4 students.

Jeff Kinney’s The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series dominated the list for Year 5 students, taking the top 13 spots overall and for boys.

28 SPRING 2021

For Year 5 girls, Raina Telgemeier’s Guts, Smile and Sisters were popular, coming in first, second and fourth respectively.

It was a similar story for Year 6 students, with Guts also the most popular book for girls and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Wrecking Ball most popular with boys.

to Year 12 students across the region.

Interestingly, the research showed average book difficulty plateaued in secondary school, with high school students still reading the same difficulty of books as upper primary students. For female students, however, the level of difficulty increased dramatically when they reached Year 10.

For high school students, The Hunger Games dominated the list of most read titles. The title claimed the third position for Year 7 girls, second overall for Year 8 students, first overall and for boys and girls in Year 9, and first overall for Year 10, 11 and 12 students.

Violeta Apostolovski, Oceania Country Manager, Renaissance Learning, said the ‘What Kids Are Reading’ report was a unique snapshot of what children read and how well they read last year.

Wonder by R.J Palacio was the most popular book for Year 7 students and girls, while the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series continued to be popular for boys up until Year 10.

“Given the disruption of the pandemic, it is reassuring that so much reading took place, and especially great to see many local authors appearing alongside many international bestsellers,” she said.

The study included 57,000 students from 365 schools across Australia and New Zealand, including those from primary, secondary, government and non-government schools. Researchers mined data from Accelerated Reader and myON to determine the reading habits and preferences of kindergarten

“It goes without saying that the past year has provided many challenges, and it was amazing to see how students stayed engaged while in lockdown. or remote learning, with over 100 million words read during our open access period.”

A new report has revealed the reading habits of students in kindergarten to Year 12. www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

Education

Steps to good communication THE first contact with your child’s teacher can be the most important, according to the Child Development Institute.

2. Plan: Write down questions, clarify them and prioritise importance.

Succinct information will assist the teacher to give clear responses.

And during the first week can be the optimum time to build a rapport.

3. Always restate your purpose for the conference right at the start – stay on topic.

In the first week, it’s likely the teacher knows little about your child and you’re in a position to provide helpful information. Don’t feel you’re intruding or asking for special treatment – you’re just showing a concern your child gets a good education.

After six weeks or so, even if you feel your child is doing well, you might like to set up a conference, which should always be at a time to suit the teacher.

Questions can include: ■ Is my child able to get along with others?

■ Can my child participate well in group activities?

■ What can I do to encourage or help my child learn to read?

Effective communication with a teacher will reap many benefits. If you want to discuss a problem or concern, here are some guidelines to get good outcomes: 1. Identify the reason for the conference in initial contact to alleviate any imagined fears on the teacher’s part and so they can have relevant information to hand.

4. Show a positive attitude. Be aware of tone of voice, facial expressions and body language.

5. Remain open, even if the teacher tells you something negative about your child’s behaviour or attitude.

Antagonism can kill a conference stone dead.

6. Be sure discussions are led with the sole aim of increasing your child’s growth.

7. If your child has difficulties, make sure the teacher doesn’t just point out the problem without providing ideas for eliminating or reducing it.

8. Clarify and summarise as you go, so you both know what’s been meant and can agree about any conclusions.

9. Make sure you alert the teacher to any educational jargon you don’t understand and seek clarification.

10. Try to keep the time to 30 minutes or less.

Effective communication with a teacher will reap many benefits for your child.

Picture: iStock

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Learning for life CHAIRO Christian School began at Drouin East in 1983.

However, today there are Chairo campuses accessible to families whether they live in Berwick or Boolarra, Gembrook or Glengarry, Maryknoll or Meeniyan, Nar Nar Goon or Nyora, Ripplebrook or Rosedale, or pretty-much anywhere else across West Gippsland, South Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley.

With more than 1700 students from kindergarten through to Year 12 attending campuses at Drouin, Drouin East, Leongatha, Pakenham and Traralgon, more families each year are discovering the educational excellence, parent partnership and caring community that Chairo offers.

From completing up to two years of funded kindergarten and transitioning into Prep, to completing VCAL or VCE and transitioning into careers or further study, there are many wonderful stories to be told about the multifaceted Christian education provided at Chairo. www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

Having graduated from the Drouin campus in 2020, Melody Pedersen from Newborough is currently studying for a Bachelor of Arts at Melbourne University. Reflecting on her years at Chairo, she said: “I really appreciated the welcoming community and culture that Chairo provides and how the teachers encouraged us to pursue learning and our faith in God”.

Executive Principal, Simon Matthews, explained: “Chairo provides an educational experience that is intentionally designed to foster individual gifts and enhance learning while revealing God and his creation.

We are committed to valuing each student and discovering their personal qualities, while encouraging them to develop their God-given abilities”.

To discover more about Chairo, visit the school website, where you can enjoy a virtual tour or book a personal tour (subject to restrictions), or contact one of the helpful campus enrolment coordinators.

12508711-SN38-21

Chairo operates kindergartens at four campuses across Gippsland.

Learning That Lasts a Lifetime • • • • •

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enrolments@chairo.vic.edu.au SPRING 2021 29

Education

The ins and outs of child care

By Melissa Grant

socialise with lots of other kids.

If you are after long-day care, or think you may use it, it pays to put your child’s name down on waiting lists to ensure you can get the days you are after, and to apply for the Child Care Subsidy as soon as possible.

MANY Australian families use child care.

Child care provides opportunities for children’s development and social engagement, while allowing parents to engage in paid work.

While the number of children in child care dropped last year as Covid hit, attendance rates are pretty much back to normal.

It encourages play, can help children socialise with others their own age, foster independence and ease the transition into full-time school.

In fact, the number of parents using child care services has mostly returned to pre Covid-19 rates despite parents having better access to working from home arrangements, according to a Family Studies (AIFS) report.

Child care options in Australia include centre-based care, home-based care and family day care.

In 2017 there were around three in five children aged 0-4 (59 per cent or 925,000 children) attending some form of child care, according to Australia’s Children Report 2020.

It was estimated that 72 per cent of kids aged two were in child care.

Child care provides opportunities for children to engage with other children the same age.

Home-based care is when a relative, usually a grandparent, a friend, babysitter or nanny cares for your child at your family home.

care, kindergartens/preschools and occasional care. In Victoria, kindergarten programs are offered at child care centres and standalone kindergarten centres.

Family day care is care provided by an approved carer in their home.

Centre-based care includes long day

What type of child care you choose will depend on how many hours of care

you require each week, your family values, the cost and what you want your child to experience.

Long day care at child care centres, for example, typically suit parents who work weekdays, want structure and are happy for their child to play and

“Many parents initially withdrew their children from childcare in response to a range of factors, including parental job losses, increased rates of working at home, and financial and health concerns,” lead researcher Dr Jennifer Baxter said.

“Parents deciding to return to using formal child care reflects the important role that child care services have in contributing to children’s wellbeing and development and supporting parents’ employment.”

Calculating VCE scores

By Melissa Grant LEARNING disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic will be considered when calculating students’ VCE scores this year.

The state government has announced it will again use the ‘Consideration of Educational Disadvantage’ (CED) process in light of continued disruptions to schooling throughout the year.

Coronavirus restrictions forced Victorian students to remote learning at various times, impacting important school milestones.

Education Minister James Merlino said the CED process will ensure every student is fairly assessed.

“Victorian students have done an amazing job adapting to another year of disruptions to their learning – and we’re making sure every student is assessed individually and fairly in their final years of school,” he said.

“We want to make sure every student knows that no matter how much they’re

impacted by the pandemic, we’re supporting them to succeed in VCE and VCAL.” The CED process will be used to finalise VCE results for each and every student completing one or more VCE or scored VCE VET Unit 3-4 sequence in 2021.

Consistent with the approach in 2020, the process considers a range of data alongside exam results to calculate final VCE results. This includes the General Achievement Test (GAT), comparisons of performance across all assessments and schools and other learning data.

The process will also include assessments of the individual impact of coronavirus on each student including school closures, direct impacts on students’ health, ongoing issues with remote learning and mental health challenges.

All Year 12 VCAL students will also have access to individual consideration – with schools required to apply special consideration for all students who have been subject to significant disruptions.

Young people are dealing with growing and ever-changing risks associated with being online.

Online safety lessons

By Melissa Grant STUDENTS will be taught about grooming by sexual predators, sexting and fake news as part of e-Safety lessons.

The e-Safety Commissioner has launched national online safety education framework for Australian schools and teachers to help make kids cyber-smart.

The framework gives primary and secondary teachers guidance on students’ rights and responsibilities in the digital age, resilience building, current and emerging risks and help-seeking.

According to the framework, online safety education should address the range online harms kids may be vulnerable to.

This includes exposure to pornography, exposure to inappropriate content such as violence and animal cruelty, receiving or sharing unwanted

contact or content, sexting, contact with strangers, online child sex abuse including grooming by predators, cyberbullying, hate speech, exposure to fake news and political radicalisation. eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant said the framework has been designed to guide and assist educators to help young people deal with growing and ever-changing risks associated with being online and lead to meaningful behavioural change.

“Now, more than ever, we need to ensure that young Australians are consistently being armed with the resilience and critical reasoning skills they need to discern online fact from fiction, to effectively respond to abuse and unwanted contact and to ultimately, manage online conflict,” she said.

For more information, visit https://www.esafety.gov.au/ educators/best-practice-framework

Disruptions to learning caused by Covid-19 will be considered when scores are calculated for VCE students.

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www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

Entertainment

It’s time to seize the clay!

ARE you or your child interested in learning the art of pottery?

Robert Gordon Pottery can help you seize the clay!

Anyone can get creative at Robert Gordon, with workshops for all ages.

If you’ve never worked with ceramics before you needn’t worry. Friendly staff are on-hand to show you how.

Robert Gordon offers workshops in wheel throwing, hand building and paint your own pottery.

The paint your own pottery workshop is popular with families. All you have to do is choose your pot, decorate with paint and collect your masterpiece 14 days later.

If you’re after something more extensive, you should check out Robert Gordon’s six-week pottery course. The course covers hand building, wheel throwing, moulding, sculpture and painting in a friendly atmosphere.

The workshops take place in a new studio space at Robert Gordon Pottery factory outlet.

Located in the heart of Pakenham, the outlet is a great place to visit with the family.

Robert Gordon workshops are great for kids.

They have a large selection of homewares, baskets and textiles. There’s also the Nancy Eatery, which serves up

Kids can learn how to paint their own pottery at Robert Gordon Pottery.

relaxed, homestyle meals with beautiful coffee.

Robert Gordon is located at 114 Mulcahy Road Pakenham and is open 7 days 9am-5pm. Online bookings for the Paint Your Own Pottery and workshops are essential. Phone 03 5941 3302. www.robertgordonaustralia.com

12508745-DL38-21

www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

SPRING 2021 31

Entertainment

Funtastic food for celebrations To make the orange coloured jelly and orange rind cups:

WITH OLIVIA C ENEA-BRAIN

Jelly orange wedges THESE gorgeous and bright jelly wedges are fabulous for any occasion and for all ages. One of the best things about these is that they are completely preservative, additive, chemical and also gluten free and loaded with wholesome goodness (may also be suitable for vegetarians and vegans by using an alternative gelatine).

Ingredients: ■ 500ml freshly squeezed orange juice from 6-8 oranges. The orange rind cups will be used to hold the jelly mixture.

■ 1 x 12 gram satchel of Queen gelatine powder Method: ■ Cut oranges in half and juice each one, then strain the juice (no pulp) and juice more oranges if needed to reach 500ml cups.

■ Place the rind cups in muffin tin holes, this will keep them steady and upright when filled with the gelatine mixture.

■ In a medium saucepan, bring 250ml of the orange juice to boil. Whisk in gelatine until dissolved then add remaining juice and stir well.

■ Pour the liquid to the edge of the rind cups, filling 3 cups.

To make the pink, yellow and purple jelly:

Ice cream cone cakes are fun to make with the kids.

Ingredients: ■ 500ml Cranberry Juice

Ice cream cone cakes

■ 500ml Blackcurrant juice ■ 500ml Pineapple Juice ■ 3 x 12 gram satchel of Queen gelatine powder Method: ■ In a small saucepan, bring 250ml of each juice to boil. Whisk in 1 tablespoon of gelatine into each juice, until dissolved then add remaining 250ml of each juice and stir well (as per the above steps).

■ Pour liquids into rind cups, to fill the rest of the cups.

■ Carefully place the muffin tray in the fridge to set, ideally overnight for perfect firmness.

■ You may have leftover gelatine mixtures from each colour, just pop them into glass cups or disposable cups, set overnight and enjoy them too.

Jelly orange wedges will add some colour and fun to the party.

Notes: ■ Alternatively use packet jelly crystals, preparing them as per box instructions.

■ Replace standard gelatine with a collagen rich variety, for a fantastic hit of inner health.

THIS is such a fun and exciting treat to make and eat! It’s also a wonderful activity to do with children of all ages, especially when it comes to decorating the ice cream cones at the very end - there’s no end to how creative and inventive you can be with decorations.

Makes 12 Ingredients: ■ 12 pieces of flat bottom ice cream cone shells ■ Sprinkles of choice ■ Chocolates/lollies/fruit for decorations

■ Create frog in an orange pond by popping a Freddo frog in the centre of the half orange shell and allowing it to set.

Cake batter: ■ 1½ cup self raising flour

■ Experiment with a variety of delicious and wholesome juices; fresh or bottled.

■ ½ cup melted butter

■ 1 cup raw sugar ■ ½ cup olive oil ■ 1 whole egg ■ ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

12507649-SN38-21

■ ¾ cup full cream milk ■ ¾ cup boiling water Cream cheese frosting: ■ 1/2 cup Bulla thickened cream ■ 225 grams full cream Philadelphia Cream Cheese ■ 2 tablespoons vanilla sugar ■ ¼ teaspoon salt ■ 2 cups powdered sugar Method: ■ Set oven to 180C, fan forced.

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32 SPRING 2021

■ Line a 12 portioned cupcake tin with cupcake cups and place an ice cream cone in each cupcake cup.

They’re now ready to be filled.

■ In a large bowl, place the flour, sugar, cocoa and whisk well to combine. Then add the egg, melted butter, olive oil, milk and mix well with a spatula or wooden spoon, until well combined. Finally gently

fold in the boiling water and mix until a velvety and glossy mixture is formed.

■ Using a teaspoon or piping bag, fill each cone to ¾ full of batter.

■ Bake cones standing in the muffin tin, for 20-30 minutes, until a skewer poked in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

■ Remove from the oven and gently place each cone standing, on a drying rack straight away so that the cones don’t moisten in the tin portions.

■ While the cakes cool, the cream cheese frosting can be prepared.

■ In a medium bowl; place cream cheese, salt and vanilla sugar.

Using an electric beater, mix the ingredients on medium to high for approximately 2 minutes and add the thickened cream and mix well for another 2 minutes. With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar, mixing well in-between. Repeat this process until all powdered sugar has been added. This will take about 8-10 minutes.

■ Prepare a piping bag with an attached tip of your choice, fill the bag with the frosting.

■ Once the ice cream cones are cooled completely, pipe soft serve style swirls on the cake, making it look like ice cream. Decorate as you wish. Pictured is glazed cherries, sprinkles, Cadbury marble chocolate and a strawberry.

Enjoy.

Notes: Experiment with different flavour combinations of cake batter and frosting. Boxed cake mix is also suitable for this; no change in cooking time.

Olivia C Enea-Brain is a mum of two from Melbourne’s southeast who likes to make cooking fun. www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

Reality Bites

Mates making fun videos for kids

By Melissa Grant

Rob said it all started when he bought one of Anthony’s video cameras.

FINDING Australian-made videos for kids on YouTube can be pretty difficult.

“He (Anthony) would come to work with these amazing travel videos - they had waterfalls, tropical islands and that sort of stuff,” he said.

Father-of-two Rob Hobson was growing tired of his son watching clips of one particular American children’s entertainer when he and mate Anthony Carroll started making their own YouTube educational series for kids.

The series, Captain Bobbo Educational Adventures for Kids, is distinctly Australian with backgrounds of beaches and appearances from native animals.

Rob is Captain Bobbo, a fun-loving captain who goes on educational adventures throughout Bobbo Land (Western Australia) with his pirate friend Captain Crabclaw, played by Anthony.

The pair have created entertaining videos covering fire safety, colours, counting, phonetics, excavators and bicycles.

Filming is a fun outlet for the pair, who actually work as fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) miners in the Pilbara.

They originally created Captain Bobbo as a way to connect FIFO workers to their families during last year’s Covid lockdowns.

“I would think his videos are amazing but I could do so much better because my life is way cooler - I go to these awesome places, I go skateboarding, surfboarding.

“I was really proud of the videos I was making. I showed Anthony and said ‘look what I’ve done’.

At this point, Anthony interjects.

“I said ‘they are terrible… wrong camera angle, shaky footage, you’re filming your feet again, the lighting is wrong’.

“So I came in and was like, ‘right we can dress these, make them a little better’. And I was thinking maybe I can hijack the videos and we can make them for my niece and nephew as well.

“It was roughly around the same time that lockdown was starting to happen… and then it evolved into putting on funny hats and Rob put on a jacket and we started making characters from it.”

However, their videos weren’t exactly

Rob Hobson and Anthony Carroll are the brains behind Captain Bobbo, a YouTube series for kids.

an instant hit.

Anthony said his nephew and niece weren’t huge fans to begin with.

“I remember the first time I showed my niece and the first intro of the episode - she started profusely crying and told me to turn it off,” he said.

“It was constructive criticism in the form of tears so we went back to the drawing board and started to put some more animations in and make it a bit more fun.”

The pair initially put Captain Bobbo on YouTube as it was the easiest way for their families to view the videos.

At the time Rob was working away from his kids for extended periods, while Anthony was locked out of Melbourne and unable to visit his niece and nephew.

When the Captain Bobbo videos were made available publicly at the start of this year, parents started

sending in videos of their kids requesting challenges.

In a little over six months, the pair had clocked up more than 23,000 views on YouTube.

The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.

“So many parents and grandparents have said they don’t have to watch a certain American kids YouTube show!”

Rob said.

Anthony added: “There is a lack of Australian YouTube videos for kids.

Some families say their kids are speaking with an American tone or using Americanised language.”

Rob said his sons had been “semiencouraging”, particularly his five-yearold.

“He pretends not to enjoy them, but he does ask to watch them!

“He thinks it’s normal - he asked me if all dads make videos for their kids!”

From Italy with love

By Melissa Meehan A summer fling turned into life and babies on the other side of the globe for Adriana Saraga.

Adriana from Andezeno in north west Italy, met her now partner Peter when he visited her small village to attend a friend’s wedding.

The groom was Adriana’s cousin.

She was one of few people who spoke English, albeit self-taught from watching Disney movies.

They fell in love, she moved to Australia and now the Victorian couple have two young children together.

“It was supposed to be a summer adventure kind of thing,” she laughs.

“Before we knew we were in a little bit of trouble because we fell in love straight away.”

But after a long chat with her mum, Adriana knew it was meant to be.

family and he’s been so understanding.”

Her mum was lucky enough to visit and offer support after the birth of their first child, Ava – who is now two.

But she couldn’t bear to be there for the actual birth.

“She thought she couldn’t handle seeing me in pain, but it was great to have her here,” Adriana said.

Sadly, due to Covid-19 and border restrictions Adriana hasn’t been able to see her family but keeps in touch regularly.

Adriana, who has recently been granted her permanent visa, says Australia is where she plans to raise the kids.

“For us, we plan to stay here – there are more opportunities for the whole family here,” she said.

“As much as I love my family and my country, this is the place for us.”

So she made the almost 15,000km journey knowing no one but Peter.

There are some very big and some other subtle differences about growing up in Italy compared to Australia.

In the month before she left, she spent weeks on YouTube to try and learn more about Australia.

For instance, Adriana grew up surrounded by a huge family by Australian standards.

“It was scary at first, but it’s great,” she said.

She was the eldest of more than 20 cousins, so had a lot of practice babysitting.

“He’s an amazing person. It’s been really hard with Covid-19 not seeing my www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

In her village, made up of only 2000

Adriana Saraga and Peter O’Brien with children Ava (2 years) and Joey (9 Months).

people, everyone knew each other.

Ava and Joey, who is nine-monthsold, will learn to speak Italian too.

Adriana already speaks to Ava in Italian when they are alone, but in English when Peter is around because he doesn’t understand Italian.

“There are a few words she can swap easily between Italian and English. She knows she needs to speak Italian when on phone with Nonna and when she talks to my brother,” she said.

Picture: Rob Carew

“And the way she says words in Italian - there’s a little bit of an accent, which is the cutest thing.”

For now, while the borders are closed, she’ll have to rely on video calls and her small Australian village, made up of friends from her mother’s group, organised by her local council.

“They have been fantastic, we still catch up now and it’s been such a great support for me. Some really great girls and friendships.”

SPRING 2021 33

Reality Bites

Katrina with her kids Eva and Billie.

Picture: Rob Carew

Goodbye is the hardest word

By Melissa Meehan NO parent should have to say goodbye to their child.

But Katrina Jenkinson has had to say goodbye four times.

She’s lucky enough to have two healthy daughters, Ava and Billie.

baby,” Katrina said.

“It wasn’t worth living for us if we didn’t have one.”

Katrina said she just needed to be pregnant. It was the only thing that helped her survive.

She became pregnant 12 weeks later.

But that doesn’t take away the sadness of her losses.

“I think I just existed for nine months - I just sat there and waited, and waited,” she said.

The 35-year-old Melbourne mum her husband, Brad, started trying for a baby as soon as they got married.

“We had genetic testing done, so we knew we were all clear – but it was a long pregnancy.”

They were excited to find out they were expecting their first in 2014.

And so, by miracle, Eva was born on the night before what would have been Hamish’s first birthday.

“The 12 week scan was perfect, but the 20 week scan showed an obstruction in the bowel of the baby,” Katrina told Kids Today.

“They did a heap of testing and said he’d be transferred to the Royal Children’s Hospital when he was born and have surgery to remove it and he’d be home with us four weeks later.”

Hamish was delivered at 37 weeks.

He was transferred straight to hospital as planned when he was six days old, they did his surgery as planned, but after six weeks nothing had changed.

“He wasn’t getting any better,” Katrina said.

“So they did another surgery to find out what was going on.

“But the surgeon came out half way during his operation and said there was absolutely nothing he could do because his obstructions were there again and assumed it was genetic.”

Hamish passed away the next day.

He was just six weeks old.

His death destroyed both Katrina and Brad.

Their eldest son had suffered from a really rare genetic condition called TTC7.

It causes bowel obstructions.

“After we had his funeral, all we could think about was having another 34 SPRING 2021

She’s now five years old, healthy and not a carrier of the genetic condition that claimed the life of her brother.

That condition is so rare that there are only two other families in Australia with it. Years went by and while so grateful for having Ava in their lives, Katrina and Brad decided to try for their third baby in 2018.

They were over the moon to find out they were pregnant with twins.

But genetic testing found that one of the twins was found to have the condition.

The decision was made to end Sadie’s life at 16 weeks to save the life of their daughter Billie, who is now two.

“I’ve always tried to prepare myself and think of ways to get through especially waiting for these results, but at the time when you’re told, you just get destroyed, absolutely distraught and it’s just so hard to get through,” Katrina said.

“But at that time I was lucky enough to have one healthy twin to focus on, but there was a big risk of losing her as well so it was a very stressful time and there’s just nothing you can do to get through it really you just have to actually just push on.”

Katrina carried Sadie and Billie before giving birth to both of them at 35 weeks.

“I think the processing came later on, which I thought would happen at the time but so much is happening,” Katrina said.

“When you deliver a baby and there’s so much excitement, so much joy from yourself and your family.

“And I think it came, you know, a few days later. That’s when it really hit me that I lost her because there was so much to do with that, you know, signing paperwork for her and all these things realising you’ve just got the one.”

Obviously so grateful to have Billie, Katrina said it was a really hard time.

“I cried. I felt so much pain throughout my body all of the times that I received bad news or a loss, it was just really hard to pick myself up out of that dark place,” she said.

“But you’ve got this baby that is relying on you. They are the ones to keep you going.”

The plan was always to have three living children.

So Katrina and Brad tried for another.

They became pregnant during the 2020 lockdown but kept the news to themselves.

The scans were perfect, so perfect in fact that the head of obstetrics made a special visit to tell Katrina how perfect her baby was looking.

“We did the testing, and I think that was probably the rudest shock I’ve ever received in my life and she was actually affected by the gene,” she said.

“So, last year in lockdown, you know, all by myself, no partner allowed in the hospital, basically, I had to go and have Stella at 16 weeks.”

The pandemic made the situation so much worse. She couldn’t have Brad’s support in hospital and couldn’t even go and have coffee with a friend to debrief afterwards.

“That was probably the worst I was last year I think in June, it was the lowest I’ve ever felt,” she said.

“And probably because of the lockdown to I guess it was just a big shock.”

Katrina then started to work on herself.

She knew she needed to get into a positive mindset if they were to try again. They tried again and she became pregnant in December 2020.

And in February this year they got the news that the baby was affected with the condition again.

And she had to have Quinn at 16 weeks.

“It was still overwhelming, but I think that I had worked on myself so much, I had come a long way because I used to think this was happening for a reason,” she said.

“That I had done something wrong, so I was being punished. But now I know that it is not true. And these things just happen.

“So I think I was able to handle it a little better.”

Katrina and her family remember Hamish, Sadie, Stella and Quinn on a daily basis.

“We celebrate their birthdays, especially Hamish, because he was here and he lived and we have all of his stuff still,’ she said.

“And we love to take part in Run for the Kids and the Good Friday Appeal.

“We love raising money, because we feel something good is coming out of our heartache.”

They also have a garden at home that’s dedicated to the children who aren’t here.

There’s a plaque with their names and it’s a spot they can go to think about them.

“It has been such a rollercoaster, I feel like I have literally cried for six years,” she said.

“I’m hoping for some light at the end of this tunnel.” www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

Reality Bites

Brandon is loving life inside his family’s new two bedroom studio.

Picture: Zac Standish

Building better lives for youths

By Zac Standish TRARALGON grandmother Sue Patton found herself in a situation no carer would ever like to go through.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, she, along with partner Ian, had to take on the task of raising her five grandchildren in their small home – with the lack of space resulting in overcrowding and her living room being transformed into a make-shift bedroom for these growing children.

With the situation becoming increasingly dire, the family would receive a god-send in the form of youth homelessness agency Kids Under Cover, who heard about their story and came to their aid through the Studio Program.

Supporting young people aged between 12-25 at risk of homelessness or family breakdown, the organisation constructs one or two bedroom studios to put on the back of houses to ease the burden on families such as these, and give those at risk a comfortable place to live.

With grandchildren, Brandon, 17, and Anthony, 13, now living happily inside a two bedroom studio in the backyard, Sue said the impact of this program has been profound on her family.

“The project has had a huge impact on us, having five kids in the lounge room was hectic, and since having two outside in the studio it has just been great – the kids can now sleep in rooms, they have heaps of privacy, they can now study, it has just been huge for us.” www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

Coming out here and seeing the impact of this program it just makes my job so worthwhile” She detailed the situation her family faced prior to the instalment of the unit.

“I had five of them in the lounge room and it was for about two years I had them on the floor there on blow up mattresses,” she said.

“Trying to get to sleep was a struggle, I couldn’t watch TV, and I really could not do anything in the lounge room so yeah it really was just horrible – so to have this studio here now, we are loving life.”

After being approached by Kids Under Cover about participating in the project, Sue said she still did not have her hopes too high, while the kids were jumping for joy.

“To start with I sort of thought oh yeah here is another one of these things I have been promised and not going to get, but then when they came around and started mapping it out it turned to this feeling of it is really happening,” she said.

“The kids were going crazy while it was being built constantly asking when can we move in, when can we move in, so they were chewing at the bit to

get in there and now they are in there I don’t think I would ever have them back in the house.”

Now fully settled in the two bedroom unit, she said the move has particularly beneficial for 17-year Brandon who is thriving as a result of the new arrangement.

“He was getting a bit within himself being stuck in the lounge room and he didn’t know where to go, sometimes I would have to give him my bedroom and I would sleep out on the couch – you see him now and he is a smiley, happy boy and being in Year 11 I want him to do the best he can and having that unit has been a god-send.”

To help harness this program, the state government recently announced a $2.3 million grant to establish 72 portable studios across the state, with Minister for Consumer Affairs Melissa Horne travelling to Traralgon to recently meet Sue and her family.

“It was great to be able to come and see some of the state government’s investment in providing housing for families in need, looking through the units and seeing what they offer it

shows it is a fantastic program that is really well thought through,” she said.

“Coming out here and seeing the impact of this program it just makes my job so worthwhile, it truly warms my heart to see something so simple, that was put up in just three weeks be able to transform a family.”

Despite this investment, Kids Undercover chief executive Jo Swift said more support is needed after Covid ravaged the organisation over the past 18-months.

“We felt the immediate impact of Covid on families that were essentially locked down in overcrowded situations, like Sue and Ian, families were coming to us at a rate where we simply could not cope with the demand – so we had to close accepting any studio applications,” she said.

“As a result we have since received over 850 enquiries and none of those will go answered, we simply cannot fund it.”

She said it is important that assistance for youth homelessness is something that continues to be addressed.

“I think it is time we stop the rhetoric around early intervention and prevention, it is time to put money where it counts and the sooner we can intervene with young people at real risk who the family here were, the sooner we can support Ian and Sues around Victoria, the sooner kids can remain with loving families,” she said.

“To think that there is more than 850 tonight who aren’t going to be offered our service as a result of a funding shortfall isn’t good enough.”

SPRING 2021 35

Recipes

Creating a love of cooking

By Melissa Grant

snacks for kids, Well Fed Kitchen.

TEACHING your children to cook can serve up many benefits.

In her practice, she gives parents advice on a range of food-related issues, including fussy eating, reflux, constipation, eczema, allergies, and mood and behavioural issues.

It gets them tasting different foods, teaches them how to follow directions and even helps with their maths.

Most importantly, it helps set them up for a healthy future and positive life-long relationship with food.

That’s why we’re excited to welcome paediatric nutritionist Lucy Stewart as our new expert contributor.

Each edition, Lucy’s Kids in the Kitchen column will bring you a simple and nutritious recipe that you can cook in the kitchen with your children.

“It will be nourishing for them, they can help make it in the kitchen and we will always try to squeeze in extra veggies where we can,” Lucy said.

Lucy lives with her husband Matt and son Otis, 5. She also shares her time with step-daughters Faith, 15, and Daisy, 12.

This edition, Lucy shares a kidfriendly recipe for pumpkin maple bread. We hope you enjoy cooking it!

“It made me realise how critical it was to set up our children for life by eating the right food.

Pumpkin contains vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that help keep the immune system strong, and the eyes, heart and skin healthy. Pumpkin seeds are also a rich source of zinc that’s essential for growth, wound healing, immune function and perception of

taste (low zinc can contribute to fussy eating).

It’s an easy recipe to make with the kids - just a bit of whisking, sifting and stirring, pop it in the oven and, in about an hour, you’ll have a house smelling of fragrant spices and a delicious bread to enjoy for afternoon tea. There are options in the recipe to make it gluten and dairy free too, if you wish.

Directions ■ Preheat oven at 165C and line and grease a loaf tin

i th in the kitchen with Lucy Stewart

Makes: 1 loaf Prep time: 15-minutes Cook time: 1 hour Ingredients ■ 1 cup mashed pumpkin ■ 2 free range eggs, at room temperature ■ 1 ¾ cups gluten free or wholemeal flour ■ 1/3 cup pure maple syrup ■ 1/3 cup coconut oil or butter, melted ■ ¼ plant-based mylk or milk of choice ■ 1 tsp ground cinnamon ■ ½ tsp ground ginger ■ ¼ tsp ground nutmeg ■ ¼ tsp ground cloves ■ 1 tsp baking soda ■ 1 tsp pure vanilla extract ■ ½ tsp sea salt

Lucy Stewart and her son Otis cooking the spiced pumpkin and maple bread together.

Picture: Studio 74 Photography 36 SPRING 2021

She advises parents to get their children involved in cooking family meals by writing shopping lists, going to the supermarket, washing and chopping vegetables and helping in the kitchen.

Lucy currently works as a clinical nutritionist, as a recipe developer and has just launched a range of nourishing

“When I was pregnant with my son I was learning about the importance of the first 1000 days of life.

IF your kids love banana bread, they’ll love this spiced pumpkin and maple bread.

One of the greatest things you can teach your children, Lucy says, is the ability to cook so they don’t rely on convenience and takeaway foods when they are older.

“I knew that was the direction I wanted to take my practice in - babies and kids nutrition.”

“I came from a 15-year career in TV PR (public relations). I’ve always loved food, I’ve always cooked,” she explained.

Spiced pumpkin and maple bread

“It affects our kids’ sleep, their learning and their behaviour, it affects everything,” she said.

“Kids who have invested their time in something are much more likely to try and eat it. It will be messy, yes, but you will be surprised that a child who is happy to chop up the capsicum will eat it at the table.

“You also need to set a good example - you can’t expect your child to eat well if you don’t.”

Another important thing is to cook easy recipes.

“I love cooking really simple food,” she said.

“When you have kids, dinner at the end of the day has to be quick, it has to be easy. It has to be really simple, nourishing food that the whole family is going to eat.”

Her career in nutrition began in 2015 when she was pregnant with Otis.

Our new expert contributor Lucy Stewart.

Diet, she says, has a huge impact on our children’s health and wellbeing, both now and in the future.

■ 6 pitted Medjool dates, chopped ■ ¼ cup pumpkin seeds, to decorate

■ In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut oil and pure maple syrup ■ Add the eggs and whisk until combined ■ Add mashed pumpkin, mylk, spices, baking soda, vanilla and salt, and whisk to combine ■ Sift in the flour, and using a wooden spoon, mix until just combined ■ Gently fold in chopped dates ■ Pour the batter into your greased loaf tin and sprinkle pumpkin seeds over the top ■ Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean ■ Allow the bread cool in the loaf tin for 10 minutes, then gently transfer to rack to cool for 20 minutes before slicing ■ Enjoy warm, with butter and a drizzle of honey. Individual slices can be stored in the freezer and reheated in the toaster Lucy Stewart is a mum who is nutritionist specialising in babies and kids health, and a recipe developer.

You can find more of her recipes at https://lucystewartnutrition.com www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

Books

A wild way to read

By Melissa Grant IF your child is obsessed with animals, then the new interactive book by Australian zoologist and TV presenter Chris Humfrey is a must-have.

Dubbed as Australia’s own Doctor Dolittle, Chris is a leading expert on native creatures big and small.

His book, Awesome Australian Animals, offers amazing insights into a number of species through quirky facts (such as koalas poop 200 times a day) and QR codes linking to fun educational videos.

Small children will love the wealth of exciting and funny photos, primary school kids can read at their own pace, and older children can dive into deeper levels of intriguing detail.

Profiled animals include the koala, lace monitor, giant burrowing cockroach, saltwater crocodile, shingleback and jungle carpet python.

Awesome Australian Animals is the latest venture from the lifelong conservationist and animal welfare crusader.

Chris has an animal sanctuary, Wild Action Zoo, in the Macedon Ranges, which houses many rare native species including penguins, tiger quolls, snakes and even blue-ringed octopus.

He lives in a house designed for people and animals, which he describes as “unusual”.

blue-tongued lizard to give birth. I watched the whole process, it was awesome!”

“Currently, I have two joey kangaroos sleeping on my couch, two parrots walking over my laptop, 55 critically endangered mountain pygmy possums in my laundry/wine cellar, two black-headed pythons on the lounge room floor, two sheep sitting on the back veranda, two possums in the garage, an Eastern quoll and a koala and an owl in the garage. It’s bedlam!” he said.

Amazingly, Chris still has some animal friends from his childhood, including Freddo the green tree frog which he found sticking to a urinal at a public toilet block.

Chris’s passion for animals big and small stems from his childhood. He grew up in the foothills of Mount Dandenong, with his family’s backyard bordering onto the bush.

“I spent most of my youth jumping the backyard fence and exploring and interacting with local wildlife,” he said.

“I would spend the day chasing lizards, snakes, and frogs and only came home for dinner. I had hundreds of pets with which I lovingly shared my life.

“My mum helped me rescue and rehabilitate possums and injured birds and my dad built me a purpose-built insulated reptile house.

“I vividly remember sleeping outside in the reptile shed, waiting for my

Chris is “super pumped” about his new book, which took him almost a year to put together. He had to write the text, film the clips and take the photos.

Chris Humfrey loves all creatures big and small.

Chris believes kids are the key to saving Australia’s precious wildlife and, through his book, aims to empower a young army of animal allies.

“We must teach children the importance of protecting all creatures, not just their favourites,” he said.

“I hope that my enthusiasm and passion for all things wild is contagious, and rubs off on the reader.”

Chris Humfrey’s Awesome Australian Animals, Reed New Holland, an imprint of New Holland Publishers, RRP $19.99, available from all good book retailers or online, www.newhollandpublishers.com

Children’s books...

Chatterpuss

Backyard Birdies

Josh Pyke, illustrated by Daron Parton

Andy Geppert

THIS fun picture book from singer songwriter Josh Pyke is about a cat who just loves to chat. The problem is her friend Glen the Hen just wants some peace and quiet. Chatterpuss’s incessant chatter is a problem in class and during games of hide and seek. One day Glen cracks it - but just as he begins to enjoy some quiet time a bully emerges and he discovers that having a loud friend can be helpful!

With rhyming text and colourful illustrations, this book is great for kids aged 3+ Scholastic Australia, RRP $17.99

THIS new title is somewhat of a factual introduction to Australia’s most common backyard birds for kids who are ‘birdie’ obsessed.

The book even features the giant inflatable swan commonly found in backyard pools!

Also kookaburras don’t actually laugh at everyone’s jokes. And why are common pigeons common?

The book was born after the author found himself attaching personalities to each bird he and his young daughter saw in their backyard.

An entertaining read full of personality and humour plus a host of bright and bold illustrations.

Hachette Australia,

Meet Ella Spotty Puppy Rebecca McRitchie and Danielle McDonald ELLA from the best-selling Ella and Olivia franchise has her own series! Meet Ella is a series of books based on Ella during her first years at school. The first instalment, Spotty Puppy, is a cute read about six-year-old Ella trying to reunite a lost pup with its owner even though she really wants to keep him. The second instalment, New Teacher, has also been released.

With simple vocabulary and a large to read font, the series is perfect for kids aged 5+.

Scholastic Australia, RRP $7.99

Skin Deep

Bella the Brave

Hayley Lawrence A compelling novel that follows the journey of a young girl named Scarlett who is badly burnt in an accident, and must come to terms with her new appearance and physical limitations.

Scarlett is desperate to escape the modern world for the desolate and isolated Matilda Mountain. However, in the wilderness she ends up finding unexpected friends who challenge her ideas about perfection and her place in the world.

This insightful book gently explores relevant themes for tweens and teens including trauma, beauty, self-worth, family and friendship.

Rebel Wilson

For kids aged 11+.

Scholastic Australia, RRP $15.99

Illustrated by Annabel Tempest Aussie movie star Rebel Wilson is releasing a picture book series to inspire young kids.

Bella the Brave stems from Rebel’s journey from shy girl in Sydney’s western suburbs to international movie star.

Bella is a girl who has much to say but is too shy. But when Bella’s mum brings her to the local choir it may just be her time to shine.

Rebel says the stories in her series are picked from personal experiences where she learned valuable life lessons.

Bella the Brave is due for release on October 27.

Hachette Australia, RRP $19.99

RRP $19.99 www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

SPRING 2021 37

TELEVISION

Political drama series for kids A political comedy-drama for kids is coming to free-to-air TV. Production has begun on The PM’s Daughter, a 10-episode series that will be filmed in Canberra and Sydney and broadcast on ABC ME next year.

The series follows young activist Cat Parkes Perez whose relatively ordinary teen life is turned upside down when her mum unexpectedly becomes prime minister.

As major disruptions begin to occur at Canberra landmarks – all seemingly designed to directly sabotage the PM Cat and her new friends, Sadie and Ollie, set out to track down and unmask a rogue faction within a youth action group called ACTION UPRISING. The clues will take them across the capital and lead them to investigate even their own schoolmates.

Libbie Doherty, Head of ABC Children’s Production said the show has it all.

“This series has the lot! Political intrigue, full on teens, great fashion and oh yes, life in ‘The Lodge’ as imagined by a stellar team of Australian creatives,” she said.

“We’ve had a lot of fun developing the series and are delighted to be launching the careers of this super cool cast.”

The cast of The PM’s Daughter: Natalie English (who plays Sadie), Nya Cofie, Cassandra Helmot (Cat), Jaga Yap (Ollie), Amelia James Power (Georgina).

The PM’s Daughter boasts an exciting new cast of young talent, including Cassandra Helmot as Cat, Natalie English as Sadie, Jaga Yap (Babyteeth) as Ollie, and Claire Fearon as Prime Minister Isabel Perez.

Sally Caplan, Head of Content at Screen Australia said the show was original and inspiring.

“This is an intriguing and thoroughly original concept from creators Tristram Baumber (The Unlisted, Born to Spy)

and Matthew Allred, and in the capable hands of the standout creative team behind the series we expect The PM’s Daughter will engage and inspire children around Australia when it heads to ABC ME.”

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Kids Calendar

What's on this spring

UNTIL 17 OCTOBER

5 OCTOBER & 2 NOVEMBER

DISNEY - THE ART OF ANIMATION

FREE STORYTIME

Discover the creativity and innovation of almost 100 years of Disney Animation in ACMI’s latest Melbourne Winter Masterpieces exhibition

If you are looking for a fun way to entertain your little ones, then be sure to check out Traralgon Centre Plaza’s free storytime sessions with Fairy Julianne!

Fairy Julianne brings stories to life using voice, movement and song. Sessions are held on the first Tuesday of each month at 11am.

This exhibition contains original sketches and rare artworks from 1928 to the present day. See over 500 artworks from your favourite animations, and step inside a scene from the Disney classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

Traralgon Centre Plaza, 166 – 188 Franklin Street, Traralgon

Tickets $17-$26.

ACMI, Swanston Street and Flinders Street, Melbourne

11-26 SEPTEMBER

For more info or tickets, visit https://www.acmi.net.au/

VICTORIA NATURE FESTIVAL The Nature Festival returns for its second year.

Featuring more than 80 events and experiences, the festival is full of creative ways to connect with nature.

You can get out and explore the wonders of Victoria’s nature or you can connect from your own home with live-streamed events and immersive videos.

Go on a bush walk, learn from Traditional Owners about Caring for Country and join exciting panel events.

Return trips are $18 per child and $20 per adult. Return family tickets are also available for $50.

There will be a free live children’s entertainment show before the walk around the lake, plus a variety of food vans on site.

POTTERY WORKSHOPS

Celebrate all things outdoors at the family-friendly Erica Country Expo.

20 NOVEMBER

From 11.30am - late, Erica Recreation Reserve, Station Street, Erica

The rail journey is a great way to see the spectacular Stringers Creek George.

For bookings and more information, visit https://www.walhallarail.com.au/ or call (03) 5165 6280.

ERICA COUNTRY EXPO

More info: https://www.together.vic. gov.au/victoria-nature-festival

Take a ride with the family on the Walhalla Goldfields Railway.

Enjoy a great family day out at Melbourne’s flagship Walk for Prems event at Albert Park Lake.

For tickets and more info, visit https://www.walkforprems.org.au/ events/5/walk-together-melbourne-

The event features live music, chainsaw woodcarving, a bike stunt show, kids shows, a petting zoo, massive blow up slide and more!

WALHALLA GOLDFIELDS RAILWAY

All trains depart from Walhalla Station, located at 2 Main Road Walhalla.

8.30am-1.30pm, Albert Park Lake

2 OCTOBER

ALL SPRING

WALK FOR PREMS

If Covid-19 restrictions are enforced, then the walk will become a virtual walk.

Each event and experience will comply with Covid Safe settings. All events will be hosted on the Victoria Together platform.

www.GippslandKidsToday.com.au

24 OCTOBER

Entry cost and details: https://www.summitsurvivor.com.au/

THE SUMMIT SURVIVOR A fun mud run featuring 40 obstacles over 5km. For adults and kids.

The Summit Adventure Park, 21 Cemetery Rd, Trafalgar East

Robert Gordon has pottery workshops for all ages.

There are workshops in wheel throwing, hand building and paint your own pottery.

There is also a six-week pottery course, which covers hand building, wheel throwing, moulding, sculpture and painting in a friendly atmosphere.

The workshops take place in a new studio space at Robert Gordon Pottery factory outlet located at 114 Mulcahy Road Pakenham.

Online bookings for the popular Paint Your Own Pottery and workshops are essential. Phone 03 5941 3302 or visit www.robertgordonaustralia.com SPRING 2021 39

Bu Bu

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