Isabelle Silbery knew she should have been excited when she learned she was pregnant with her daughter.

Instead, her stomach dropped.

Izzy, best known for her eight-year stint on Gogglebox alongside mum Kerry and grandmother Emmie, had welcomed a son with her first husband 10 years earlier.

“I was working full-time in a pretty demanding job,” she said.

“The pregnancy wasn’t great and the birth wasn’t either. It was quite quick and traumatic.

“My waters broke at home and I was rushed to the hospital.

“I didn’t know if I was going to make it to the hospital.

“I was dropped at emergency while my husband got a park.

“Because it was all so fast and he was huge, I did have a big tear.

“I didn’t know how to breastfeed.

“He also had a tongue tie which wasn’t diagnosed for a week. I was breastfeeding through agony.

“My son didn’t sleep for the first year.

“My marriage broke down.

“We didn’t cope with it.

“I didn’t cope with it.

“I equated having a baby with a really bad time.”

Falling pregnant with second husband Alex Richards took Izzy right back to that time.

“When I saw the pregnancy test come up positive with Ruby, I felt my stomach drop and I thought, ‘That’s weird, shouldn’t I be happy, shouldn’t I want this?” she said.

“I’m in a relationship, I’m happy, I’m a different person now, and I’m older.

“Everyone was so excited but I wasn’t.

“I was faking it a lot.

“I confided in Mum and she said, ‘You went through a lot with your first, your marriage and the divorce, and do you really think you’ve resolved all of that? I think you should go and speak to someone about it’.

So Izzy saw a prenatal psychologist at a women’s clinic, who said it was no wonder she wasn’t feeling overly joyous.

“I said things out loud about being left a single mum and the challenges it had on me physically and mentally,” she said.

“You think you close the door on something…

“I just worked through all of it.

“I was really able to share that with my current husband. He learned a lot about me and what I’d been through.

“His understanding and support really helped me.

“It was also really good to be honest with my outer circle.”

At school pick-up she spoke about her therapy journey with other parents.

“I got on some safe medication as well as doing therapy the whole way through,” she said.

“We had a whole plan in place in case the birth was traumatic again, or if I was sleep-deprived.

“I had a lot more things put in place beforehand instead of waiting for things to go bad.

“Ten years ago they just didn’t value it.

“Women’s health in general is only now just becoming ‘we need to invest in that and talk about that’.”

At 39 weeks, her obstetrician said: “Let’s take control of this. Your first birth was quick, the second will be quicker. I think for your mental health and making it to the hospital, let’s induce you and do it as beautifully and as controlled as we can.”

Izzy’s labour with Rub lasted only an hour.

“She was a bit smaller and I had my mum there and my partner’s mum there and my partner holding my hand,” she said.

“It was in a room full of women who were holding me physically and mentally.

“I literally just breathed her out.

“It was empowering – f*****g painful – but just really good.”

She had a supportive partner and hands-on dad by her side after returning home.

“He’s a stay-at-home dad and he did all the heavy lifting,” she said.

“I got the opportunity to rest as much as possible and focus on bonding with her and feeding her.

“Food was in the fridge and other mums would help me with pick-up and drop-off – maybe that’s because I was really honest and open about the situation.

“Things were done so I could be the best possible mum in recovery.”

A few months in, she needed more support and spent a week at Homb.

The Elsternwick postpartum recovery centre nurtures and empowers new mothers, striving to prevent postnatal depression and anxiety.

Izzy described her stay as “real respite”.

“Every mother should be offered this service,” she said.

“In lots of cultures and lots of other countries, that’s what they do – they stay at home and they’re fed and their babies are looked after.

“They literally stay in bed for the first six months.

“It takes a minimum of a year to get back to normal, physically and mentally, and that’s okay.

“It is really important to make a conscious effort to reconnect with yourself and also reconnect with your partner.

“Just because there’s little kids that need you, it’s really important to make adult time and have adult conversations and do what brought you together in the first place.

“Nothing is more important than our relationship, first and foremost, and then you can be the best parents after that.

“I get so nervous about leaving them, but you can, it will be fine.

“Just to take a moment for your own mental health as a mother.

“Get a massage, get your hair done, read a book in the sun, just to recharge those batteries.

“And don’t feel guilty about it.

“We’re programmed to think we’re at this thing’s beck and call.

“But they need the best version of us, not the completely f****d version of us.”

As well as working through her own concerns about welcoming a new baby, Izzy needed to prepare her son for stepping into the role of big brother.

“I was scared. I was nervous and scared,” she said.

“My son was not happy about another baby. He made that very clear.

“So I spent the whole pregnancy coaching him and just being there for him and reassuring him.

“I was really worried about him, to be honest.

“I was worried he’d feel on the outer because he was from a previous marriage.

“He said, ‘Will you still love me?’.

“I took him to a child psychologist. I encouraged him to chat to my mum and me.

“The door was open for him to sit with his feelings.”

Izzy’s support for her first-born paid off.

“He was so besotted by her,” she said.

“He’s just been amazing.

“All the fear and anxiety was gone from myself and him, I think, when he saw the new family dynamic and it was working and there love was for everybody.”

Ruby was 13 months old when we spoke.

“He’s just so amazing with me and her,” Izzy said.

“He can see when I need help, he can get me stuff.

“It’s quite empowering for him as a child.

“He’s growing up a bit more and having that responsibility and being caring.

“I’m so passionate about raising emotionally intelligent boys into men.

“Having that little sister in his family life is really a good opportunity for him to engage in that softer, nurturing side.”

He told Izzy she was a great mum, and that taking care of him on her own would have been hard.

“I think it made him really reflect,” she said.

Reflecting on her own experiences, Izzy had some simple advice for partners of new mums.

“Just encourage her to be gentle on herself,” she said.

“Just say, ‘We’ve got this, we’re a team. We’re doing this together’.”

A Kooyong mum’s new book started as a primary school writing project.

Penny O’Loughlin launched Bud and Buzz at Readings Hawthorn in February.

“Its origins are just around the corner,” she told the packed store.

“When I was in Year 2 at St Joseph’s I wrote a story called The Rose and it was published in the parish bulletin.

“That story has evolved into Bud and Buzz.

“So keep reading and writing those stories because you never know where they’ll end up.”

Bud and Buzz, illustrated by Laura Cortinovis, follows a bashful flower named Bud, who discovers the beauty of nature and the importance of resilience through an unexpected friendship with Buzz the bee.

Bud weathers the storm before it’s his time to shine.

Penny wanted to encourage children to appreciate the beauty around them and learn about pollination.

Her background is architecture and landscape architecture, and she’s worked as a landscape designer for years.

“I learn a lot from plants and nature,” she said.

She shared seeds with the dozens of people who attended the launch – “to bring Buds and bees to their own gardens” – as well as honey lollipops and honey-based Anzac biscuits baked by her mum.

Penny thanked husband Brad, eldest son Fletcher, and youngest son Harry.

“Our Bud. This book is for you,” she said.

She wrote her first book, the self-published Winding Down, for Fletcher.

“He is an extremely bright and passionate boy who sees the world with very different eyes,” she said.

“This energy and brightness were and still are very hard to wind down at the end of the day.”

Penny tried audiobooks, essential oils, meditations, music, relaxation sounds, teas, warm baths, candles, weighted blankets, massage, and more.

When she couldn’t find the right book to support both her and Fletcher through their bedtime battles, Penny wrote it.

“My favourite thing to do in my life is to go to a book store and read the children’s books,” she said at the Bud and Buzz lauch.

So she’d pursued her passion and taken a children’s book author course while pregnant with Harry.

“I love the simple tales and parables that can explain complex topics simply and with comedy,” she said.

Winding Down is “rhythmic, almost like a meditation”.

“As it’s read, it calms the reader too,” she said.

“We overschedule ourselves, with the rapid pace of the world.

“It’s about taking a moment to pause and just be.”

A publisher picked up Penny for Bud and Buzz, inspired by her experience parenting Harry.

“I felt like I needed to do this for him,” she said.

At what age would you stop holding your child’s hand when crossing the street or walking through a car park?

Bereaved mother and road safety advocate Michelle McLaughlin says many parents are unaware that studies recommend hand-holding up to age 10.

“Holding your child’s hand is as important as putting a seatbelt on them in the car,” she said.

“They lack peripheral vision, their hearing isn’t great – they can’t discern where a vehicle’s coming from if they can’t see it.

“Their height restricts them from being seen by a driver.

“They’ve got slower reflexes – their brain and their body processes at a slower speed – so they keep taking those extra steps, which could put them in peril.”

Michelle’s son Tom stepped away from his family, onto the road, into the path of an oncoming car while on a holiday in January 2014. He died before help arrived.

“It was just really busy on that day; lots of parked cars on the street,” she said.

“Those towns are very quaint and beautiful, but they often lack infrastructure like curbs and gutters. It all played a part.

“I never for one moment imagined that our family would have to go through something like that.

“Little Blue Dinosaur, that’s been a healing entity for our family, and knowing that we’re doing all we can.”

Through the Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation (LBDF), Michelle has spent the past 10 years pushing to make Aussie roads safer for child pedestrians.

“The strong message that we really push is ‘hold my hand’ because since Tom’s accident, obviously we’ve been involved in a lot of research,” she said.

“We’ve done a two-year research pilot study looking into the causation of pedestrian deaths in Australia.”

They used 20 years of coronial data.

“Nothing’s changed there with the numbers,” Michelle said.

“It’s still one child every week dying in road trauma.

“That adds up to a lot of children every year.

“It leaves a massive impact on families long-term.

“You can’t ever find any justification in your mind because these are young, healthy, beautiful, vibrant children.

“They’re taken in a microsecond moment. It’s happening all too often.

“It’s the most stressful event that can take place in a person’s life, if they lose a child – in any circumstances, but particularly suddenly or traumatically.”

Her daughter, husband David, and in-laws witnessed the tragedy. Michelle was inside with her one-year-old son.

“We’ve really changed our whole life around since this tragedy happened,” she said.

“It affects your relationships, your daily responsibilities.

“Parents who go through this are at a higher risk of suicidal ideation, risk of alcohol and substance abuse, a lot of sleep disturbance from the trauma of having gone through an event like that.

“The other impact is marriage breakdown.”

Losing a child also hits families financially, including long-term counselling and other medical bills.

“People can’t necessarily immediately go back to work,” Michelle said.

“My husband had a lot of trouble concentrating at work.

“His business declined significantly for two years.

“I had been a nurse but I couldn’t go back and work in a high-stress environment anymore.

“I went into a hole and just managed looking after my baby boy and picking my daughter up from school.

“People keep away because they don’t want to disturb you. Yet you need all those little helping hands.”

Michelle said LBDF and Macquarie University studied the support services available for families who’d lost a child to road trauma.

“We’re really lacking practical assistance,” she said.

“Specialised support programs should be investigated.

“For 10 years I’ve tried in earnest talking to various MPs.

“I walked 10 kilometres in a day around Parliament House.

“There needs to be more action than just words from politicians and government.

“We try to advocate strongly on the research front and on the community awareness side.

“I wrote a book called Tom’s Holiday for the preschoolers.

“In the back of the book I made sure that it had educational information for parents.”

LBDF has also worked with 76 of Australia’s 537 local government areas to install colourful safety signage around playgrounds and busy roads and deliver education in preschools.

“If it could run in every LGA I think it would help and be impactful in preventing child road deaths,” Michelle said.

“Our studies show educational interventions like LBDF safety signage increase awareness of child pedestrian safety in the community.”

The talks in kinders include education on different types of roadways.

“I don’t even think in some of these places that children recognise them as roads,” she said.

“Discuss one aspect of road safety with your child every single day.

“Eventually it will sink in and stick.”

For more information on The Little Blue Dinosaur Foundation or to make a tax-deductible donation, visit www.littlebluedinosaur.org.

Rachel Boyle knows the value of genetic testing all too well.

The Woori Yallock mum’s heartbreaking loss of two babies could have been avoided had she and husband Blake discovered the perfect storm lurking in their DNA sooner.

“I just want people to not have to go through what I’ve gone through,” she said.

“If you spend $800 or $1000 on extensive genetic testing, it’s worth not losing a child’s life.

“If nothing comes up you’ve got peace of mind.

“Everyone thinks it won’t happen to them.”

Rachel and Blake decided to try for a baby shortly after their wedding.

“We got pregnant after a few months and had our son Kai,” she said.

They wanted two children close in age, so tried for another baby when Kai was nine months old.

“We very luckily fell pregnant first go,” she said.

“But there were complications at 20 weeks.

“Our second son, Caden, was born at 24 weeks.

“It was a complicated birth that nearly ended my life, to the point where they had to choose to save me or the baby.

“He was born alive, magically, at only 424 grams.

“He was taken to the NICU where we thought we were just going to have a long road letting him grow.

“After six days he was too sick, he had a brain bleed and we had to make the decision to take him off life support.”

Rachel and Blake asked questions about what had happened and tests they could take.

Their medical team told them they were ‘just unlucky’ and ‘these things happen’.

“They said we were safe to try again for another baby,” Rachel said.

She waited for her body to recover then again fell pregnant.

“Everything was fine up to 20 weeks when I was hit with the same complications,” she said.

“The baby wasn’t growing properly.”

Rachel developed preeclampsia, which affected the baby’s growth even further.

“I was admitted to hospital for two months because my body was shutting down,” she said.

Covid had Melbourne locked down so toddler Kai couldn’t visit his mum.

“That’s not normal for a child to be kept away for months on end,” Rachel said.

She had scans, medications, and tests every day.

“It got to a point where she wasn’t growing properly so we had to do a c-section to give her the best chance to survive,” she said.

Ava was delivered at 27 weeks but weighed only 500g.

“She cried when she came out. That gave us a lot more hope,” Rachel said.

Doctors started to believe something genetic was at play.

“After nine days we had to take her off life support,” Rachel said.

“There was nothing more the doctors could do.

“Our amazing fetal medicine specialist…she wanted to push for genetic testing but it was expensive and not guaranteed to find anything.

“They’d never seen what had happened to Caden and Ava.”

So a rare genetic study examined DNA from Rachel, Blake, Caden, and Ava “to look for whatever they could find”.

“It was an excruciating wait,” Rachel said.

“I didn’t know if I’d ever be able to have another baby.

“About 10 months later they got the first round of genetic results.”

Rachel and Blake both carried a rare gene, LARS1, which causes infantile liver failure syndrome. Only 25 cases had been recorded worldwide.

It affects every organ in the body and is not normally compatible with life.

“It was amazing to have an answer as to why they were sick and why Kai was OK,” Rachel said.

“He had skipped the gene.

“It was also a relief to know that choosing to take them off life support was the right decision.

“Once we were given an answer as to why it happened, we were provided with some possible ways to have another baby in the future if we wanted to.

“We could try naturally and at 16 weeks have to do some intensive testing. If the baby carried the disorder we would have to terminate.

“The other option was doing IVF and picking an embyro that was not affected.”

They took the IVF route.

“We didn’t want to have to make the decision to terminate,” she said.

“We didn’t want to give up on our dream of having two living children so we decided to try even though we were terrified.”

They created four healthy embryos and transferred one successfully.

“Then we began the very difficult pregnancy, waiting to see if we would lose another baby to another problem,” Rachel said.

“Even though it was a tested embryo, there was still a small chance she’d be affected – it’s not 100 percent.

“We had to wait for 16 weeks to do an amniocentesis – which is risky, it can cause miscarriage – and hope that the embryo testing was good enough.”

Throughout her pregnancy, Rachel had weekly scans and wellbeing checks plus monthly psychological checks.

“It was probably more hard mentally than physically,” she said.

“With Caden and Ava, it was taking every ounce of my energy to keep them alive.”

She couldn’t speak highly enough of the support she received from her medical team.

“They always talked about Caden and Ava,” she said.

“We would laugh about this baby trying to prove to us that it would all be OK because she was so big.”

Rachel was due to have a planned c-section at 36 weeks – the way her c-section to deliver Ava was performed meant a chance of uterine rupture if the pregnancy progressed any further.

“I was trying to count down to the c-section date, getting more and more hope but also terrified that hope would be crushed again,” she said.

Blake dissociated.

“He didn’t have to feel the pregnancy so he was just pretending like I wasn’t pregnant, because it was too hard to think about,” she said.

“He was still supportive, he came to every appointment, but he was detached from any hope that she would make it.

“His biggest worry about trying again was losing me because he’d nearly lost me twice.”

Kai, then 3, was very excited about the prospect of a living sibling.

“At such a young age he had already been through the loss of his brother and his sister,” Rachel said.

“He met them, he knew that they died.

“He would ask, ‘Is this baby going to live, is this baby going to come home?’.

“We had to tell him the truth: ‘We don’t know, we’ll just wait and see’.

“He’s extremely empathetic now because of what he’s been through.

“He’s had to mature a lot quicker than he should have.

“We feel a lot of guilt about that.”

Two days before her c-section date, Rachel started going into labour.

“Our whole medical team was notified and they tried to slow it down, but it wouldn’t slow down,” she said.

So they decided to deliver Grace early.

Right before the surgery, two rainbows appeared in Rachel’s hospital room, on the wall and the bed.

“The doctors just cried,” she said.

“It was like a sign that it was nearly time and she was going to be OK.”

The doctors who’d cared for Rachel, Caden, and Ava were present, and photos of Caden and Ava were in the room.

“When she was born it was like a relief and a release, just that she was alive,” Rachel said.

“They put her on my chest and let me just cuddle her.

“I just couldn’t believe it. It was like a dream.

“She didn’t need any special care time.

“Kai got to come meet her; it was beautiful.”

Then came the time to take Grace home.

“That was hard because we didn’t believe it was going to happen,” Rachel said.

“We’d prepared and bought stuff but we hadn’t let ourselves imagine bringing her home, after trying for nearly four years.

“Then we felt this huge responsibility. She’s here, she’s alive, now we’ve got so much health anxiety and fear of something happening.

“I was tracking every mill of milk and every minute of sleep.

“I was trying to breastfeed and pump and formula feed.

“I thought she was going to die.

“We had to go back to hospital a couple of times.

“What we dreamed of we had had in front of us, but it was so clouded still with trauma and grief and now anxiety.

“She had really bad reflux, she was crying a lot, I was scared of something happening.”

Rachel finally had her happy ending but instead felt a complex mix of emotions.

Grace was nearly one when we spoke.

“I’m loving it now. I feel really at ease with her,” she said.

“I’m still just processing that she’s actually here safely.

“But seeing her and Kai play is the thing I dreamed of the most, just having someone for him to play with.

“He’s obsessed with her. She’s obsessed with him.

“That’s all I wanted.”

Writing a new Nanny Piggins story was like returning to a second home for author RA Spratt.

“Their universe is in my brain,” the mother of two teenage daughters said of the characters.

“They were just waiting for me to come back to them.

“It’s a strange magic in my head. They’re like real people.”

Penguin Random House Australia published Nanny Piggins and the Origin Story late last year – about 10 years after the last book in the series was released.

“I’ve done so much since – I’ve written 18 other books since,” RA said.

“She was my first series of books and she was such a great character.”

So much so that Nanny Piggins narrates RA’s popular podcast Bedtime Stories with RA Spratt.

“She has such blisteringly confident views,” RA said.

“No matter what goes wrong, she’s never worried.

“She‘s so proactive and positive.

“She was such a great character to bring back for the Covid times.

“She solved everyone’s problems.”

After the world’s most glamorous flying pig came to life on the podcast, fans asked RA to write a prequel to the series following Nanny Piggins’ life after she left the circus. She delivered.

“She always eludes to things that happened before she landed at the Greens’ house,” she said.

“I got to unpack and revisit so many characters.

“You go back emotionally to when she’s a piglet and he’s unsure of herself.”

Nanny has 13 identical sisters – all of them evil.

“That was fun to revisit,” RA laughed.

“It was so hard to keep track of who was who and how they were evil.

“The ringmaster, when he appears, he’s such a fun character, short and fat-bottomed with an amazing moustache.

“Somehow the book ended up in Bolivia. I’ve never been to Bolivia!

“I listen to podcasts about history because I love history.

“I wanted to set it somewhere landlocked.”

So she travelled to South America – almost. She dived into a research rabbit hole and used Google Maps to ‘walk’ the streets.

“It makes it easier to explain the minutia of what a street would look like,” she said.

“That was fun, now I want to go to Bolivia.”

Nanny Piggins exposes readers to geography and science, expanding their ideas about the wonder of the world.

She also offers comfort to readers with anxiety, RA said. Parents often message her to say the stories have helped their children through tough times, from chemotherapy to Covid lockdowns.

“Nanny Piggins has this amazing talent for making people feel better,” she said.

“I’m proud of that and that’s wonderful feedback to get.

“I’m proud of how much I’ve been able to help kids with anxiety, especially through Covid.

“People talk about literacy all the time, but stories are very important to children’s emotional development.”

Her favourite feedback came in the form of a tweet from a parent about her Friday Barnes series.

It said they were cross with her because their daughter missed the bus that morning, engrossed in Friday’s world.

“That’s the highest compliment for a book,” RA laughed.

“My goal has always been to entertain children.

“I want them to enjoy sitting down and reading a book.

“It sounds like a small thing, but it’s actually a really big thing.

“When you tell a story to a child you can tell when you catch their imagination.

“There’s a moment where their eyes go a little bug and you can see you’ve captured their attention.

“You know it’s going to be a good book.”

RA finds it easy to tap into – and write for – her inner child.

“I think emotionally I’m pretty much frozen as an 11-year-old,” she said.

“I’m very good at remembering the way things felt when I was a kid.

“I was a difficult kid, probably.

“I didn’t smile a lot and that used to disturb people.

“When you’re young there’s so much emotion.

“I remember the horror of having Target jeans when everyone else had Levis.

“I used to go to the library a lot.

“All there was to do was ride your BMX around and go to the library or Coles.

“I read everything for my age group, and probably some things I shouldn’t have read.

“I listened to heaps of audiobooks on cassette.”

RA was a TV writer for 10 years before she became an author.

“My spelling and grammar is so bad it never occurred to me that I could have been an author,” she laughed.

Her TV journey began with work experience on Good News Week when she was 22. She was handed three news clippings from the week and wrote jokes about them.

“These jokes are frighteningly good!” was the response.

She explained that writing them was like haiku.

“Every word, every syllable matters,” she said.

“You need to twist it to surprise the audience and make them laugh out loud.

“I’m a comedy writer at heart.

“I could just come up with stories all day long.”

When I was 11, I was allowed to go home at lunchtime on Fridays and make mini pizzas for my school friends and me.

I was in Year 6, we lived across the road from my primary school, and I thought this was awesome – the pizza part, that is. Living so close to school also meant I never had the excuse of leaving homework at home!

Mum would preheat the oven for me and I’d get all my toppings ready in the morning.

I’d cut a circle out of puff pastry, smear it with tomato paste, and add sliced ham, a sprinkle of dried herbs, and a good handful of cheese.

They’d bake until golden and bubbling, then I’d whisk them back across the road – wrapped in aluminium foil to keep them warm – to my awaiting friends.

My gluten-free pizza scrolls are an updated version of these.

They’re perfect for little lunchboxes and eating with one hand for the kids more interested in playing than fiddling around with something to eat.

Millet and buckwheat flours, and yoghurt all add protein to keep tummies fuller for longer, and making the dough is a great sensory experience for kids to enjoy.

Makes: 16 – Prep time: 20-minutes – Cook time: 30-minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 cups gluten-free flour (I use equal parts millet, buckwheat, and arrowroot flours)

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 2 Tbsp psyllium husk

• 1 cup whole milk yoghurt

• 1 tsp sea salt

• Tomato passata

• 1 cup shredded mozzarella

• 1 cup shredded tasty cheese

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 200’C. Lightly grease a muffin tray with olive oil and place in the oven.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, yoghurt, psyllium husk, baking powder, and salt and mix with a wooden spoon until everything is well combined. If the dough is too wet, wait a few minutes and allow the psyllium husk to absorb some of the moisture. You may need to add another tablespoon of flour until it’s no longer sticky.

3. Divide the dough into two.

4. Sprinkle a little flour over a sheet of baking paper and use your hands and fingers to shape one piece of dough into a rectangle about 20x25cm and 5mm thick.

5. Smear the dough with a small amount of tomato passata then sprinkle with grated cheese.

6. Working from the short edge, gently – this is a gluten-free dough so it will be much less forgiving – begin to roll your dough until you have a long sausage, pinching closed the edges and any areas that may split. Then slice into eight pieces. Repeat with the second piece of dough.

7. Place pizza scrolls, cut side up, in your pre-heated muffin tray, and cook for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden.

8. Remove from the tray and allow to cool before serving.

9. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to three days.

Visit www.lucystewartnutrition.com or follow @lucystewartkidsnutrition on Instagram for more.

Under-18s have lost more than $2 million to scammers since 2020, Scamwatch data shows.

Bendigo Bank has expanded its Banking Safely Online program to secondary schools to help empower young digital citizens.

Specifically tailored to high school students, the face-to-face sessions cover how to identify and avoid scams, spot financial fraud risks, and adopt secure practises for online banking transactions.

“Secondary school students face a flood of would-be scammers, fraud attempts, and other potentially serious challenges online,” customer protection senior manager Aaron Westberry said.

“The Banking Safely Online in Schools sessions are empowering, interactive, and highly relevant for younger people.”

Online shopping and classifieds scams caused the highest financial losses for those aged under 18 last year, with social media, text message, and emails the top contact methods used by scammers, Scamwatch found.

Mr Westberry said it was vital to beware of scammers using increasingly sophisticated tactics.

“It’s important to never let the guard down against scammers, who will be trying their best to catch out unsuspecting students and their families,” Mr Westberry said.

“Don’t click on links that you aren’t 100 percent sure about, and beware calls and texts from people you don’t know who are requesting information – it could be a remote access scam.”

Stopping scammers in their tracks

Is the website real, or is the caller or texter really who they say they are?

Don’t skip the ‘enable multi-factor authentication’ step – your best defence against increasingly sophisticated scammers.

Beware remote access scams, which often target young people. Never provide personal or log-in information via phone or text to unsolicited contacts.

Be very suspicious. Don’t click on any links in emails or texts that you are unsure about.

If it seems too good to be true, it probably is!

Time is of the essence. Report any suspicious activity to your bank immediately.

Teachers, administrators, parents, and students are encouraged to enquire with their local Bendigo Bank branch to book a Banking Safely Online session for their secondary students.

This may come as a surprise to some, but mindfulness doesn’t always have to be serious; in fact, it can actually be fun!

When I first started practising, I used to think that mindfulness solely involved setting aside a period of quiet and uninterrupted time, sitting in the traditional meditation pose, and approaching the whole practice with a heavy sense of seriousness.

However, after attending mindfulness and meditation retreats, taking part in regular yoga practices, and learning from the experts, my thinking has since shifted.

I have now realised that there are many occasions where mindfulness can be approached in a fun and light-hearted way.

And when teaching mindfulness to kids, this approach is particularly important.

Mindfulness doesn’t necessarily have to be done during an allocated period of time.

Instead, it can be practiced in small moments throughout the day.

For example, when you’re walking outside, pay attention to what is happening – notice the concrete path beneath you, listen to the sound of leaves crunching under your shoes, and be aware of the scents you can smell.

Other activities that can be done mindfully are washing the dishes, having a shower, eating a meal, or brushing teeth. (When brushing your teeth, you could even try using your non-preferred hand and notice how that feels).

The key is simply to be present and stay connected in the present moment, even if only for a brief period.

Moving your body with intention is another fun mindfulness practice.

For example, swinging your arms from side to side, raising your arms up to the ceiling and bringing them down again, or walking in slow motion while paying attention to the bones and muscles you’re using, are simple yet effective ways to connect to the present moment.

Listening to music can be another enjoyable and light mindfulness practice.

Choose a favourite song and really listen to it; for example, notice the instruments that are being played, carefully listen to the words, and be aware of how you feel as you listen to it.

In this way, music can have new meaning for you, rather than just being some noise in the background.

Of course, it is still highly beneficial to take part in more formal practice when you can, where you set aside some time to be still with an empty mind and focus solely on the breath, the parts of the body, or sounds around you.

For kids integrating mindful moments throughout the day will be much more appealing and attainable. This is more likely to lead them to form regular mindful habits that will continue for years to come.

Fiona is an experienced primary school teacher with a passion for student wellbeing.

She runs mindfulness programs to equip primary school-aged children with mindfulness strategies to help them lead healthier and happier lives.

Find more from Fiona at mindfulness4kids.com.au or search Mindfulness 4 Kids on Instagram or Facebook.

A children’s picture book about a fun uncle is the latest offering from author Chris Thomas.

Designed for children aged two to six, My Uncle is a Funcle is his second children’s book after the success of Leonard The Lonely Duck in 2023.

A ‘funcle’ is ‘a source of unlimited fun, help, advice, and encouragement’ and ‘like a dad but way cooler’.

“The book is very loosely based on myself as an uncle,” Chris said.

“You get to be a kid again by joining your nieces and nephews to play with their toys, build Lego, muck about with games, and be silly.

“Funcles can be a bit mischievous while also introducing kids to your favourite books, movies, and other things, teaching them in a fun way.

“Essentially, you get to enjoy all the great parts of being around kids without the full-time responsibilities that come with being a parent.”

Chris decided to write My Uncle is a Funcle after Leonard The Lonely Duck proved popular enough to gain a second print run.

“I chose to write My Uncle is a Funcle in rhyme, based on a few other popular children’s picture books,” he said.

Aside from children’s books, Chris has previously written the official Doctor Who spin-off novel Lethbridge-Stewart: Blue Blood, and short story Vampires of the Night, as well as One Step Forward, Two Steps Back in the collection Doctor Who: Short Trips – Defining Patterns.

He is also the author of comedy novel Journo’s Diary and SMS Mess, and plays.

Illustrations for My Uncle is a Funcle are by Terry Cooper, who brought Leonard The Lonely Duck to life.

“I was extremely happy that my publisher paired me with Terry the first time around because the pictures were even better than I imagined.

“I asked if he could do the illustrations again but using a pencil-shading style I had seen him use in other children’s books.

“He struck magic again and is fantastic at putting in little details and cues that are in the story.”

Signed copies of My Uncle is a Funcle are available for $20 (plus $4.50 postage) via myuncleisafuncle@gmail.com.

Have you noticed how the most confident and socially adept children often had early exposure to structured group activities?

Structured music and movement classes are a powerful catalyst for social growth and school readiness.

Children who develop strong social skills early experience remarkable benefits, including enhanced academic performance, deeper friendships, and greater emotional adaptability.

Mini Maestros music and movement classes for children aged up to five years offer a special environment where social skills can flourish.

Playing instruments to a steady beat, dancing together, and singing with others create important moments of connection and a sense of belonging, achievement, and fun.

In a supportive and encouraging atmosphere, each musical interaction and game helps develop connections.

Call-and-response singing becomes a metaphor for effective communication.

Children learn to listen, respond with sensitivity, and recognise that every voice matters.

Freeze dance games teach children to move in harmony, celebrate individual expression, and support one another’s unique journeys.

Patience isn’t just waiting—it’s an active skill of respect and controlled anticipation.

At Mini Maestros, turn-taking is learned and practised in fun ways.

Passing games teach children that excitement lies not just in personal participation, but in supporting others’ moments of joy.

Children discover that true connection involves creating space for others as well as participating together; listening carefully, anticipating, and responding with empathy.

Each moment of waiting becomes a small act of kindness, each shared activity a celebration of togetherness.

Mini Maestros classes offer:

Small group settings with experienced, engaging educators;

Interactive, play-based learning;

Age-specific programs that build school readiness;

A supportive environment that transforms individual contributions into shared outcomes and community connection; and

Flexible programs that respect family dynamics.

Enrol now or find out more by visiting minimaestros.com.au or calling 9850 5566.

Mini Maestros – believing in every child’s potential.

Andale School Q and A with principal Anna Urban

Question: What is the science of learning and how do you apply its principles in Andale School classrooms?

Answer: In all schools, and across all subjects and year levels, students learn facts, skills, and concepts.

Factual knowledge includes, for example, learning the times tables or key dates in history.

Skills, or procedural knowledge, might include learning to play netball or paint using watercolour.

Students then apply what they know and can do within conceptual learning; that is, understanding principles and ideas.

In this learning zone, students create, analyse, synthesise, or engage in other kinds of higher-order thinking.

As teachers, we want to nurture students’ curiosity. We want to ensure they develop deep understanding and can connect and apply ideas in the real world.

When teachers talk about the science of learning, we refer to the process by which

information is laid down in memory.

Understanding how students learn enables teachers to adopt effective teaching approaches. Fundamentally, the learning process happens in the same way for all humans; the difference is that we might at times need individualised ‘inputs’ to maximise learning.

Differentiation is the word we use in schools to describe the way we modify or adjust inputs (such as the curriculum, time, adult support) to reduce the impact of barriers to learning on student engagement and achievement.

The information processing model is a science of learning model that asserts that learning occurs through the following process.

First, we gather information through sensory input; that is, information enters our brain through what we see, hear, touch, taste, and feel. What we ‘attend’ to will differ according to what is happening around us.

Sensory input is then transferred into our short-term (working) memory.

There is debate about how much information our short-term memory can process and for how long; the term ‘cognitive load’ is used to describe these factors.

On average, short-term memory can process small chunks of information for about 20 seconds.

We can use mnemonic strategies to enhance the capacity of our working memory.

The process of remembering (long-term memory) involves multiple exposures to information, actively using new information, and repeatedly recalling information through practice.

The more frequently we use information and retrieve it, the more concretely it is laid down in our long-term memory.

This is a highly compressed summary of how learning works. There is a very useful resource called ‘The Science of Learning’ where you can find more detailed information.

At Andale School, teachers design programs that foster student engagement because we know that gaining and maintaining student attention is the critical first step in learning.

Our teachers use assessment data to ensure that we understand what the next steps of learning should be for each student.

As our students have complex learning needs, we ensure that our programs are appropriately paced.

Teachers engage in spaced repetition to strengthen memory and build a solid knowledge base. Our teachers provide a safe environment and reduce, as much as possible, the stressors that affect students’ ability to concentrate and attend to learning.

This includes reducing the extraneous cognitive load by providing orderly classrooms in which distractions and interruptions to learning are minimised.

When children feel safe at school, they are able to fully engage in the learning programs; when they engage in learning, achievement follows.

I am delighted to introduce Australia’s largest multi-sport program for children aged 1.5 to 6 years.

At Ready Steady Go Kids, we believe in the power of early childhood development.

Our program, meticulously designed by paediatric physiotherapists and occupational therapists,

aims to foster children’s gross and fine motor skills and instil a love for sports in a non-competitive environment.

One of the hallmarks of our program is its comprehensive approach to skill development.

We expose children to 10 different sports, enabling them to acquire a broad range of skills.

This diverse curriculum not only builds a solid foundation of sporting knowledge but also ensures continued interest and enthusiasm throughout the program.

By offering this variety, we strive to nurture a lifelong love for physical activity.

Our program goes beyond sports training. We integrate basic counting and colour concepts into

our classes, fostering cognitive development alongside physical skills.

Through teamwork and sportsmanship, children learn the value of collaboration and fair play, while also building social skills that will benefit them in their future interactions.

Our carefully designed activities also enhance listening skills and concentration, laying a strong groundwork for success in the early school years.

At Ready Steady Go Kids, we understand the importance of individual attention.

To ensure optimal learning outcomes, we maintain a low student-to-instructor ratio of 1:7, with class capacities limited to 14 children.

This allows our dedicated instructors to provide personalised guidance and support to each child, tailoring the activities to their unique needs and abilities.

We believe that this individualized attention fosters greater self-confidence, enhanced self-esteem, and a genuine sense of achievement, all of which contribute to the overall well-being of our young participants.

We pride ourselves on our unwavering commitment to delivering our program, come rain, hail,

or shine.

With our indoor facilities, we guarantee that every class will proceed as scheduled, regardless of inclement weather.

We also offer multiple make-up classes at any one of our locations at any time should you ever be unable to attend a class.

This reliability ensures that your child’s progress and development are never hindered, offering peace of mind to parents and a consistent learning environment for our eager participants.

Come and join us for a FREE TRIAL class at one of our Balwyn North, Templestowe Lower,

Hawthorn or Doncaster East locations.

Visit readysteadygokids.com.au for more information.

Lachlan Price,

Franchise owner – Balwyn and Hawthorn Regions