Westcoast FDC
===

[00:00:00] Victoria: Hello. Hello. Hello and welcome to the podcast. Today I have just interviewed the beautiful Catherine Oldfield and Brody Valance from west coast family daycare, and they are situated over in WA and where a wonderful support to family daycare, educators, and services alive. Through the whole free childcare package that we lived through last year.

[00:00:27] And it was such a great conversation to have with the girls. So they're business partners, they are passionate childcare providers. They're passionate about creating a safe and positive culture within west coast, family daycare or the children educators and their staff. They value respectful relationships, honesty, inclusive practices, and ethical decision making processes.

[00:00:50] So they build relationships based upon compassion, have a progressive attitude to continually improvement and staying up to date with industry knowledge [00:01:00] communication between their service educators and families respects and reflects the services diverse practices values and beliefs. So their collaborative environment supports educators and the service.

[00:01:13] Sorry supports the values in being a service that has a open communication between families, educators, and services. So children and their families are supported and comfortable through the entirety of their childcare journey at west coast family daycare, so we have such a great conversation this afternoon.

[00:01:33] We covered so much ground, so Brody has written a beautiful program or not program, but indigenous cultural perspectives that a family daycare educators can apply within their services, so we talk a lot about that today and we reviewed quite a bit of what happened last year through the free childcare package and the influence and[00:02:00] the great impact that they had through that process.

[00:02:03] So I hope you enjoy this conversation. If you want to get in touch with the girls, you can do so. All the information is in our show notes. So sit back, relax, enjoy, and I look forward to hearing your feedback on this podcast. We'll see you soon.

[00:02:21] Hello and welcome to the big hearted podcast today. We have Brody and Catherine from west coast family daycare. All the way you thought you might've guessed on the west coast of Australia. So I'm at these two beautiful girls last year through the whole free childcare debacle.

[00:02:40] And we're going to talk about what these girls did. Just in a minute, but right now I would love to introduce you to our friend Brody and to our friend Catherine. And maybe I can get you girls to just quickly tell us a little bit about how you met, why you started west coast family day [00:03:00] care and what your sort of way or where you're going with your business.

[00:03:06] Brody: We met at the gym. We were fabulous and fate with young daughters and we met at the gym and then we realized we live on the same street. And so we would hang out and take the kids to the school at the park and the friendship blossom.

[00:03:27] And yeah, we just became really fun friends, which was really nice. And then I was doing some odd paperwork for family daycare educator that I had my daughter and one day in Catherine's kitchen. And I was like,

[00:03:46] Doing this, could we? And she was like, could we. So he started a business and we were supporting family daycare services going in and I [00:04:00] wouldn't say overhauling, but working with them and taking them from here to here. And then we sort of thought.

[00:04:06] So we started west coast family daycare services. 

[00:04:08] Catherine: Yeah. So my background I've worked in early childhood since I was 15. I just, always something that I wanted to do, work with children. And I went out into it after I think you're 11 I finished and it just, it's what I've always done.

[00:04:23] I have floated in and out. I've, I've traveled across Australia, working in lots of different centers through the NT and did a little bit up in north Queensland in Cairns for a while. And then I come back to Perth and I did family day care for a couple of years as an educator. And then, yeah, like Brody said, one thing sort of led to another and it's developed into something that we didn't necessarily anticipate at the time, but it all made sense as we've been along.

[00:04:45] Yeah, it's been really fun. It's been a really fun journey. It's really, really challenging. Yeah, we've learned so much. We really, really have and where, , it's been like this roller coaster through everything, we've the industry experienced in the last two years, [00:05:00] but we're in a really good place and we're really excited.

[00:05:03] Victoria: So when did you actually start your west coast fdc? 

[00:05:07] Brody: Sorry, we received? 2019 the day my son was born. 

[00:05:12] Victoria: Oh, wow. Wow. That's huge. So is that at the beginning or towards the end of 2019? I'm just trying to gauge how. 

[00:05:22] Okay. Yeah. Awesome. So you had a good couple of months before the crazy of last year started.

[00:05:30] So, and it's really crucial, like people, I don't think understand the level of all the responsibility that falls upon your shoulders when you actually run a service when you are responsible at the end of the day, financially for what's going on. And for people who you don't even have, like it's different in a center because you could be a director and have your [00:06:00] ear out or, you can be walking past and just see things that may be happening that you just go.

[00:06:06] Ooh, that's probably not the best practice. Let's have a chat about that and really investigate that. Like you have to have this massive level of trust in your team and they have to have any new to, and every other educator within their service. So. To start. It would have been horrific to just start and then have last year happen.

[00:06:30] I think that, yeah, I mean, that was services that closed down through that understandably last year, because it was so difficult. So for anybody that's listening that doesn't know Brody and Catherine actually. Created a national survey and collected a whole heap of information. Do you recall how many people responded to that survey? Like roughly.

[00:06:56] Catherine: We have about 40,000 signatures. 

[00:06:59] Brody: Yeah, we've got [00:07:00] over 40,000 signatures to their initial open the petition and we did a survey for educators to complete of how they were financially impacted due to the CRP package. Yeah. Sorry.proper terms. And that was then used. We sent that off to politicians, McCowan and Mark McCowan wrote back to us. The prime minister Dan Tehanand minister for women and a minister for mental health, every politician that we could think of received the information we developed a report based on all of that data as well. We shared that family, daycare, Australia, family daycare, WA anybody who wanted access to it could have access to it just so we could get the word out of what was actually happening [00:08:00] within our sector. Then. Free childcare. Hooray. Okay. Let's actually. Show you what free child care means. And so it was quite moving, going through the numbers and the data from the survey. I was in tears writing this report because people were saying to us, I've been in hospital. I'm so sick with the stress, or I've had to close my business.

[00:08:30] So. I haven't slept in three months that the physical impact and the mental health impact on it was just I don't think anybody could have predicted that. That's why we really took it to people like the minister for mental health and the minister for women's affairs and things like that, because we thought this is such an oversight we we're charged with still caring for all about Australia's [00:09:00] youngest. And most precious people, and yet we're really, really suffering here and nobody seeing that. 

[00:09:07] Victoria: Yeah. I know. I think it's really valuable to come from the people, because I know with the surveys that went out from the government around how they were handling it and all that stuff, and some educators wouldn't be aware of this because it was just, some of them would just have been going to services.

[00:09:28] Is it, there was no way to answer some of those surveys without making the government look good. And it's very clever. They use these words smiths that paint this picture so that it didn't matter how you answered it. It painted their response to everything in a really positive light. And some of it was good and some of it just really missed the mark.

[00:09:53] And I know through the page that I started that there were so many people struggling and [00:10:00] suffering the suffering that happened through that whole period. And it's continuing now has just been extraordinary. there was no other industry that was required to work and then had its wage didn't income just stripped away overnight.

[00:10:17] Brody: Overnight we as a service brand new service, we lost 68.4% of that income like that. And we had educators who in that fortnight, that the reference period for what we got paid for one just started, she had no enrollments and another educator didn't work because she had a 20 weeks sober.

[00:10:41] Really teary, but she felt like she was being punished.

[00:10:45] The impact that it had was just so. It's so different for so many people. And yes, some people benefited and likely say it's really important to note the questions in the way they were [00:11:00] worded with the government surveys was so weighted in their favor. Then they would come out and say, well, a 99% of services are have benefiting yet.

[00:11:10] We weren't able to say we weren't benefiting because in their eyes if we were receiving business continuity payment, we were benefiting. It was not a benefit to anybody within our service. It was really, really heavily weighted question. 

[00:11:27] Victoria: So when you girl set that out, I remember just going, oh yes. And pushing it and saying, please respond response, share this, share this with your families, you services of the educators that may not be in this page like, respond to the survey because the questions were intelligent. Like they were like just asking real things, like what you would ask someone on the street, because that's what needed to be. That information was what needed to be out there and, departments needed to see [00:12:00] that. Not that they would ever pay any attention to it because I just feel like sometimes once that train starts rolling, it's really hard to stop it.

[00:12:09] And I understand they had to make decisions and they had to make them really quickly. And they're not going to make decisions. Looking necessarily at family daycare, because we are such a small sector. However, in saying that we're such a small part of our profession bidding, saying that I really feel that family daycare kept the nation of float, like the contribution that family daycare educators made to families and business was phenomenal. And it still hasn't been recognized in its full magnitude. 

[00:12:47] Brody: We have the ability to care for those as they were being referred to frontline workers, nurses, doctors, paramedics, shift work, daycare centers [00:13:00] can't do that.

[00:13:00] Family daycare is the option that does that. The educator that I mentioned who had opened her family daycare during that reference fortnight. So she didn't learn very much, it was a pittance. She was full and had a wait list because she got all the nurses and doctors, children in her area. So she was working an extraordinary amount and earning this tiny little bit. It just didn't add up. 

[00:13:31] Victoria: It's pretty disgusting. I know. And the way the cookie crumbled was, we had an educator who was full and came from another service to us in that reference, we had several educators on holidays, so it was the applications for grants and things like that was so far behind.

[00:13:50] And then they were, there was so many, I can't remember the percentages now, but there were so many that were denied. For no reason, like

[00:13:58] There are number of times, and we [00:14:00] just kept re sending, re sending, re sending right up until the very last day, when it all ended in the July, we were submitting re applications because.

[00:14:12] Brody: We just, we were like jumping up and down my mom used to call it an ant dance. I was doing an ant dance just to make everybody say and here, this isn't going to be approved again. But listen to me. Listen to me. Listen to me. 

[00:14:28] Victoria: He is all the time. I'm putting this in through the proper channels and the workload that services had to do through that whole period.

[00:14:38] I mean, I felt for my team, I really did, like, it was just phenomenal. They were asked to continue working. For weeks and weeks, despite knowing if they were going to be eligible for job keeper, like all these unknown things and they just muscled up and soldiered on and it was phenomenal to see. And [00:15:00] they just provide things they were providing prior. They weren't allowed to say, well, I'm not getting paid for six weeks. I can't afford to buy Nike's. We weren't allowed to do that. The government told us that we had to, provide the same service that we were providing.

[00:15:18] Prior to all of this, but we.

[00:15:20] Brody: We don't allowed to refuse care. We had our new enrollment. So we were paid based of a reference fortnight, which in the instance of those educators who called work. They've or didn't work in that time. They had no enrollments. So they're getting paid for no enrollments yet.

[00:15:40] They're not allowed to say no, I'm not earning enough money to provide that care. They had to take it on. 

[00:15:48] Victoria: Yeah, it was fun times 

[00:15:50] Brody: every now and then where we get an email from Dessie wager

[00:15:55] Victoria: Fully. Every time I see that email. You do, you [00:16:00] type a bunch of it and you just like, oh gosh, what now? , and I know new south Wales and Victoria, Victoria was the longest lock down city in the world. I cannot imagine what these educators and the children have experienced. I just went and visited an educator of mine.

[00:16:19] Just visiting team that I haven't visited for a while. We've heard a change within our management. And I visited this educator and she just said for the last three months, her entire group has just had this and we're in Queensland. So they've just had this massive. Offloading of tension and stress from the children and she just said, I just had to pretty much just sit down and realize that this was soul work that I was having to do with the children in terms of just being so present with whatever was coming up for these children, because. Yeah, that level [00:17:00] of tension, even though they may not be experiencing it, they are taking that into their souls and they have to process that.

[00:17:08] Now I struggled processing all of the things that happened and I have 42 years worth of life skills. These children have two or three years worth of skills up their sleeve and like, are they really even ready to process any of the last two years? I don't think so. So, now the next thing that we're going to have to work with.

[00:17:35] And another one of my team actually has new babies that have just started they're all at 18 months old. And she just said, they're the most unsettled children entering care that she's ever experienced as an educator. And she has been doing this for decades and she was like, these parents they're COVID babies because the parents are saying to me that they've not seen family members.

[00:17:55] They've just been at home and any time we went out, [00:18:00] everybody was masked. So they're not seeing facial expressions. They're not experiencing family time and having these connections with people other than their two primary caregivers, if they're lucky enough to have two. And so when they're going into care, These children like freaked out, like completely and utterly just wo had no, no ability to build another connection with somebody else because it's just been that internal family unit.

[00:18:32] So as educators, we now have to look that as we move forward, We are going to be wearing the brunt of this next wave of immediate things to come after COVID. So it's something to really be mindful and aware of.

[00:18:50] Brody: With COVID has always been the impact it has had and does happend we'll have on everybody is so varied.[00:19:00] 

[00:19:01] Unpredictable. One could predict that. The movies would ever be shut down. Nobody would have ever thought that. So I thought most people would never saw that they could lose their jobs, but then kids that work at Kohl's would never have thought that I'm a frontline worker, a I'm copying all of this pressure and panic buying kid working in the shops, it was just unfathomable and unpredictable.

[00:19:30] And it's coming out in all these varied ways. Recently we, we went away. Obviously not interested. We went downstairs and my son who's two and a half. He was home sick and he was so full lawn a whole time. And then we realized he's never been away from home. For an extended period of time.

[00:19:53] He's so happy in his little environment, which is his house. That's where [00:20:00] he's existed and that's all he knows. And that's his comfort zone yet? Our daughter, she grew up going away for the weekend and they sent me other and she just loves it. So. It's very minor. But it's just another, another example.

[00:20:13] He is so attached to this very small environment and it was obviously causing him anxiety to be away from that.

[00:20:21] Isn't that interesting. And it's something for us as services and educators to be aware of that, the scope of experience these children have had has been so.

[00:20:34] Victoria: Like lessoned, that's terrible English Victoria, but it has impacted yeah. Reduced immensely and it's going to have an impact. And we as educators have to have that compassion in our hearts for the children. And sometimes, especially next year, when we're going to get a whole, some educators are going to get cohorts of new children in their services.

[00:20:56] You might end up for brand new children on one [00:21:00] day, and it's just going to be for some children, a traumatic experience. So that's really great to be aware that sort of thing is going to be happening within our profession and to be able to work with these children, but also what does an educator.

[00:21:17] Putting your self care, and self care is like having a bath, like, yeah, that's lovely, but really being aware and tuning into what's happening for you and how you need support and knowing that that's going to come and putting these things in place now, so that you're ready and prepared. So yeah, it's so interesting, isn't it?

[00:21:39] And I think there's going to be lots of probably studies that come out of this and all that kind of thing that. I just really want to tip my hat to you girls because what you did for our profession and for having our voice heard in such a meaningful way was just awesome. And I was so stoked that you guys did it because it [00:22:00] really.

[00:22:00] Catherine: Over and above what anybody would have ever expected and grateful to have met you and made those connections with so many other service providers. It was, we really needed to be together and to stick together on that. And there was a lot of service providers over here in WA who were linked into local governments who were gagged and they couldn't stay safe.

[00:22:21] Couldn't do anything. So. A real sense of responsibility to share the voices of, and I'm sure you Victoria had so many phone calls of women across the country. What are we doing? 

[00:22:33] Victoria: I can remember waking up one morning to, I think it was over 160 or 119 messages. Like just in one night I got up the next morning and I was like, Well, I feel now, how do you process?

[00:22:50] And it was just women pouring their hearts out, just going, what do I do? And I understood both sides of the coin [00:23:00] because I know services there would have been services that were just so overwhelmed and they didn't know what to do. And they'd rather not say anything. Then put their foot in it, but that didn't help the educators.

[00:23:12] And then there were also services that would message me and educators. That would message me from the same place, what would say by services telling me this. And the service would say, I'm telling the girls this, and there was just this, like people hearing what they wanted to hear. And no in this state of overwhelm.

[00:23:32] And so the communication became really, really important. And for us to have grace for each other was really important too. So I think it's had a positive impact on family daycare as a whole, because now we've met a whole heap of people, like all the girls we're inspired and Dawn from Coburn and, like, oh, there's just so many people, Katrina, Katrina [00:24:00] like, and the amazing work that people were doing and we just banded together.

[00:24:05] And we came together in solidarity for all being in this cause we were in the same storm and we were kind of in a similar set of boats, like everyone's circumstances were different, but were experiencing the same thing and it was so beneficial to come together because yeah, like now I could travel around Australia now I reckon.

[00:24:26] And just like party on, in everything

[00:24:29] with so many educators and service providers and, it just, it would be, so I was really looking forward to doing that this year. Yeah. What was I thinking? Yeah. So hopefully next year. Yes. So but one of the things that, like, we had many conversations. Over that time. And we actually talked about our services and the things that we're doing.

[00:24:52] And I was so impressed with the indigenous representation that you have within your service. And that's why I actually wanted to have [00:25:00] you on the podcast, because I really loved the things that you were talking about. What you're instilling within your educators and the children and how you do this with such authenticity.

[00:25:10] Can you share a little bit with us around or a lot with us around what you're doing specifically in your service, because it's such valuable work. 

[00:25:20] Brody: Thank you. That's so nice. Yeah. And it's nice that as a service provider, this is something that's really, really important to what we do and what our educators do.

[00:25:32] It has to be woven through absolutely everything we do because it's what we stand for. And I actually got stuck in, in the midst of that. Free childcare storm needed a distraction and I needed something real and I needed something beautiful and beneficial to sink my teeth into while dealing with all of that.

[00:25:56] And this is something that was always going to happen west coast. But it also [00:26:00] came out of that storm. Hence us chatting about it way back when it feels like a lifetime ago. I embedding indigenous perspectives is a really big player at west coast. I'm very passionate about it and have always been, and I'm really grateful to find myself in a position where when I get to learn.

[00:26:24] As an Australian woman and essence as Australian citizen, about the tree history of my country, the good, the bad, and the ugly I get to learn also about contemporary Australia. And I'm way I'm in a position where that educate educators, where we get to ensure that our young children indigenous and non-indigenous are learning about culture through culture and it's woven into [00:27:00] everything they do. It's not put up on a shelf and separated it's it's part of the way we are, because the value on indigenous knowledge is completely overlooked in our country. We have so much to learn and it is so, so valuable and so important. And I can go on forever and it probably will.

[00:27:25] We are starting with our littlest people so that they can grow up. They will know the value. They will ensure that that that value is woven through their adult life. It's recognized where it needs to be recognized and it's celebrated where it needs to be celebrated. And I think it needs to be celebrated in everyday life.

[00:27:48] That's why we embed indigenous perspectives are all about practices programming. Daily activities, everything.

[00:27:57] Catherine: Brody has taught me so [00:28:00] much about this, her knowledge around this is honestly phenomenal. She's and I'm sure she's only shared with me this tiny little bit. I'm learning. All of the time.

[00:28:09] it's really, really opened my eyes as to what, why it's so important to do. And Brody has been working on this for a long time and she sort of, at one point shared this, , her challenge around how do I deliver this information? How do we do this? So sort of with my background, The really practical side of childcare.

[00:28:28] What do we, how do we share this with the children? , I said, well, we've got to take it back to basics. We've got to bring it right back down to basics. How do we teach a two-year-old about this? So we had a lot of conversations around her knowledge of early childhood and how that can be put together in something.

[00:28:45] And that really really sent and all credit to Brody that she's developed this guide, which is just a beautiful, and so it's honestly just amazing. Everything that you could need to know as it would [00:29:00] want to know as an educator and how to do it real practical wise with young kids. So

[00:29:05] Victoria: Is this guide available for everybody or is it just for your service

[00:29:10] Brody: I've have hoping that in the near future it will be at the moment I'm wanting to get eight.

[00:29:16] Reviewed by the indigenous community. I want to make sure that it's appropriate, that it's relevant. It's respectful as much as we endeavor for those things to be in this handbook. Can you now work? We have to make sure that it is by asking. Is this correct? Is this okay? Are we allowed to do these?

[00:29:43] So it's we're in the process of that, which is really exciting because maybe we might get to add to it or we're going to learn. Maybe we've done that bit wrong. So the purpose of it, I was really, really stuck. How do I? And so[00:30:00] 

[00:30:03] it became from a small dog to have a really meaty. In depth, practical step-by-step handbook for educators. So I've done a lot of professional development and I will never stop that. Part of the curriculum club, I do their webinars, their training. If they offer us that mean our hands are out.

[00:30:26] We want, we want to learn. That's just one, but they're fantastic. So I'd recommend every educator jump on their Facebook page, check out their website as a place to start. Because also we didn't want to be giving information to our educators that wasn't backed up, that wasn't like, it's referenced.

[00:30:49] So I've, I've referenced it so that people can go and find for themselves and learn for themselves. Hear it from the horse's mouth [00:31:00] because, we're not experts and I'm not indigenous, but I know the importance of these there's protocols, et cetera, that we should all know and understand and follow.

[00:31:13] Catherine's . You want to learn it? How do I embed indigenous perspectives in the sandpit. 

[00:31:20] Victoria: But how would an educator go about doing that? Because I know there's, I know for a lot of people there are. Well within Australia, there's 250 countries within Australia alone. Like some people won't know that some people will know that each country has its own law.

[00:31:39] LOR E it has its own language, their own set of , customs and things like that. And so that can be overwhelming for the average Joe. And , so how, and you don't want to do it wrong and you don't want to misappropriate anything and you [00:32:00] absolutely don't want to cause offense to anybody.

[00:32:02] And those just those few things can cause people to just go don't even want to touch it. 

[00:32:09] Brody: Completly stuck and I think I'm better off doing nothing. We say to all of that educators, you're not better off doing nothing because then you're. You're doing nothing. Yeah. So we want action, not inaction. And it's the motivation behind those actions.

[00:32:29] That's important. We let everybody know that if you're wanting to do this for the right reason, That is the perfect place to start. You want to do it because you see the value and the importance and the need for it. In contemporary Australia, there's such a need for this. It wasn't available when we were children and it should have been available, but we are now in a position to make it available.

[00:32:56] If we have to do this. So [00:33:00] let's bloody do it because it's so important. So starting from the right place is the right motivation. I know why I need to do this. I don't know what to do, how to do it, but I want to do it because I know it's right. I learn. 

[00:33:17] Catherine: And it's good for the educators to know for myself, we can code learn with the children.

[00:33:22] If the children don't know snap, they're not going to know something if we don't know, but that we can learn together. And , when you accept that, that's okay. It feels a lot easier. I think to go, I'm open to this. I'm going to do this. You're going to ask some questions. It's okay to say, I don't know, 

[00:33:42] Brody: on the children to see that you don't know.

[00:33:44] That's a really important lesson within itself. They're going to see the value in learning hundreds. What we do in early childhood education is we in still in the children a sense of inquiry and a love of learning to set them up [00:34:00] for life. And they're going to see grownups wanting to learn. Yeah.

[00:34:05] Fantastic. It never stops. I love learning with grown ups. 

[00:34:09] Victoria: Yes. 100% look, I run the essential elements. So we have a course, an online course that educators can join. One of the things that we talk about is intentional teaching and the importance of intentional teaching. And there's been a bit of a sway away from intentional teaching.

[00:34:25] It's almost become a bit of a dirty word or practice in the spontaneous learning and child led learning. There is 100% and made for intentional teaching and intentional teaching comes in many different forms. So it can be how you set your environment up. It could be that you have a specific task or skill set that you want to teach.

[00:34:50] The children could be that you're tracking the milestones and you're wanting to , make sure chores. So you set things up specifically for that blah, blah, blah. There's also [00:35:00] intentional teaching. Asking open-ended questions. And it's like also another style of intentional teaching is exactly what you're saying is where it's beside intentional teaching.

[00:35:12] So you learn beside each other. So you the adult have the skills and the knowledge to be able to. Source the information that you then bring to the children. So that's also part of the EYL F of intentional teaching. And a lot of people skip over that because, it's the whole child led movement, but this is the perfect opportunity.

[00:35:36] And sometimes I wonder too, like if educators. Sometimes think, oh, I've done my diploma. That's it. I don't need to do anything else. That's actually not, not true. You really have to keep yourself current. And like , I used to like to choose, , I didn't know how ,so I learned how to sew and that was a skill then that I started in partying on to the [00:36:00] children or the children you had to saw when they left my service. Gardening, I sort of started the process of gardening and teaching your children how to garden or with children. You had a garden by the time they left my service. So, for me, the next part of the process would have been looking at indigenous perspectives because I don't know enough about it myself personally.

[00:36:21] And so for me, it's like, oh, that's such a juicy topic to be able to really learn about. And as an educator, you need to have a level of understanding within yourself. First, and then you can start in parting that with the children and learning more as you go. So how would you suggest that someone would go about making contact with their local indigenous services?

[00:36:51] Brody: Go on an indigenous to around your local area, you're going to pay him in Perth. It would be you're going to meet a [00:37:00] person and they're going to give you information, talk to them, tell them why you want to know. And I just start a conversation part of the way I've written this handbook as well is I've put in. Did the dark came you in the sky. Did that the fifth star in the Southern cross is actually formerly named with its indigenous name in recognition of the ancient astrology that we have in Australia, all this astrology in the world. Did Aboriginal Australians with the world's first bakers? 

[00:37:43] Victoria: No

[00:37:45] 

[00:37:45] Brody: Hey guy. They, they turned grain into flour. They baked their own form of bread. Wow. So we buy by teaching or giving these cues to [00:38:00] our educators. I want them to become curious and excited. Whoa, I didn't know that. What else is behind that story? I've got hundreds of books. Go read this one. What about doc Amy want to learn about agriculture in, in Australia?

[00:38:17] Pre-colonial Australia. Read Takemi it's fascinating. We've got the oldest scientific knowledge in the world. We've also got the oldest longest surviving cultures because there's so many countries in Australia in the world. How cool is that? We've got so much to learn just here. In Southwest WA history goes back 45 to 50,000 plus.

[00:38:50] Yes, that's just in our little pocket here. It's phenomenal. 

[00:38:54] Victoria: That's amazing considering that we invaded 200 years ago and we [00:39:00] think our country's 200 years old, it blows my mind, and there is a wealth of information and knowledge, like an absolute wealth. I sit with auntie Ruby in my area, I live on UGA bear country.

[00:39:16] And. I have had auntie Ruby in my home a number of times. And I sit in the grandmother's circle with her, which means I just sit and listen to her, tell stories and stories and stories and stories, and just sitting in her presence he's calming. And the things that I've learned now, the things that I've learned has been about women's ways women's business, and it hasn't been about children's business, but there is definitely areas.

[00:39:43] For that and people that are very, very focused on that. I look at my husband, my husband's 54, and I look at the attitudes that were acceptable in his era or vintage for want of a better word. And I look at the [00:40:00] conversations that my children have with him, and they are so vastly different and, he's, open-minded by all means, but there's things that they pick him up on where he just goes, wow.

[00:40:11] Oh, oh, I didn't realize it came out, , came across that way. So there is a shift happening, but we as educators now with the knowledge that we have now and the ability to access this knowledge, there's no excuses for us not to be implementing this. I don't know about WA, but in Queensland and new south Wales, we have the inclusion support services.

[00:40:34] So services and educators. So educators would have to do it through their service, but they can actually apply for grants to have the you embed these things into their service. So if an educator wanted to do a class or a course, there's actually funding there, that's available for them to do that.

[00:40:50] So they can embed that within their service. So a lot of educators probably don't know about that. And that's through the inclusion support services they have. I don't know. Do you have [00:41:00] that WA so people can jump on their websites. So obviously government funded Surface. So can there's heaps of information and resources and things like that on their websites as well.

[00:41:13] But you hopefully soon we'll have your handbook out too. So if people wanted to follow what you're doing or find out more about what you're doing, what's the best way for them to get in contact with you about that?

[00:41:26] Brody: We'll we talked about get that at quite a bit on Instagram. We've got safe stories up there. We talk about why we do.

[00:41:33] I promise, which is that we're always going to learn. We're always going to listen and we're always going to apologize if we've made a mistake and they can get in touch by email. Give us a call, a website, happy to have the chat.

[00:41:46] Victoria: So that would be where you tell us what your website is. 

[00:41:50] Brody: Westcoastfdcs.com.au.

[00:41:53] Victoria: Okay. West coast FDCs. So we'll put that in the show notes as well, so that people can follow you. And when [00:42:00] this is around, like up and happening we have a little guest in the office. It's getting to that time here, where normally he went in the door and Yon pawn me and say, let's go for a wok.

[00:42:12] So yeah, so we'll, we'll put these in the show notes and we'll also link you guys through our social media as well. So if anybody wants to follow along to you, they can do so via that. But look, is there anything else you want to share with us before we wrap.

[00:42:27] Brody: I talk about being excited and this and that, but there is a really serious side to it too.

[00:42:34] And the serious side is that we all have the responsibility to provide cultural safety that every child in care that includes indigenous and non-Indigenous children. And to have an understanding that indigenous children, don't not always have access to culturally safe spaces where they can explore their identity, learn about their culture [00:43:00] safely, where they feel comfortable to do it.

[00:43:02] So that's on us to provide that. And that's, again, that's what we talk about. We have big open discussions with all of our educators about that. It's a really important part of what we do in early childhood cultural safety, regardless of the culture in Australia, it's really important that our indigenous children and their families, that they have cultural safety within our service.

[00:43:26] Victoria: Yeah, it's such a huge topic and I don't understand why it's been almost taboo. Like it's been. Shadowed or shut down and pushed down. And it's so disappointing because we all miss out on that. Like we just walk through life sometimes with blinkers on and we're so focused on ourselves and I know. All of the indigenous people that I know that I call friends are so community and family orientated, [00:44:00] and it's not about self, everyone's an auntie, and everyone looks after everybody, they have this huge. Overarching network of all their family and there's so many people that could benefit from that too.

[00:44:16] And the fact that it's there quite often demonized and treated poorly and unfairly and have this really old. Association of, they're just not worth anything is so awful. And I am really keen to, within my own service as well to, to shift that and change that because the change has to start somewhere and as an educator and a service provider.

[00:44:45] We have the next generation in our hands every single day and have the power and the ability to change perspectives. You really can [00:45:00] impart these wonderful morals into children when you're working with them in this perspective and this way. You will learn yourself too. And the people that I know they're just beautiful, like, and the knowledge, the information, when I sat with auntie Ruby, she'd just been making a women's walk.

[00:45:21] On her property. It was so funny. She was telling a story, a story of Tony, how her and her husband were creating this walk and right where they were working that day, they looked up and there was Tony sitting in the tree right above. And she took that as a sign to say that, yes, we were told that day we were doing the right thing.

[00:45:41] We were in the right place at the right time. And it was a sign. It was a message. So they worked away all day and they thanked 24, his guidance. And then the next day they came out and Tony was no longer there. So she was like, Aw, , but it was really telling for her and she shared it. It was so powerful that she shared it.[00:46:00] 

[00:46:00] And when we went outside later that day to walk the women's walk, I walked outside and I looked up in the train and I was like, oh, there's Tony. And when I looked back and auntie Ruby, she was like looking at me, but she wasn't. She was like looking through me into my soul. And I was like, whoa. And then everyone was like, oh, where, where we're at?

[00:46:22] And then I'm like, Aw. And there's Tony's friend. Cause it always impairs there's Tony's friend and nobody could see them. And auntie Ruby was just like boring her eyes into me. And I was like, oh my goodness. And Mike was, I don't want to like, oh, it kind of, it was so intense that it freaked me out a little bit.

[00:46:41] Anyways, as I was pointing to Tony and the friend. Just as I've said all, they both there, they both fluffed themselves up. Right in that minute so that everybody could see them. And auntie Ruby was like, that's your animal spirit, don't you? And I was like, huh. [00:47:00] And it wasn't long after that we moved to this house and there is a family of Tonys that are in our trees out there. They call out to me all the time. When I did family daycare from here, I used to go and the taught the children know how to 20 hunt. So we would go every day and look for the Tonys. And they knew two year olds, three year olds, four year olds, five year olds.

[00:47:22] I had one of them come trick or treating here the other day. Where's Tony Tori. I've been here for two years. So, she remembered and that was something that I've always held really did. There's a different way of looking at the world. And it's so beautiful and it's so connected and it's so grounding and it's so heart and soul felt why wouldn't we want to be sharing that and learning about that ourselves.

[00:47:54] Brody: The country is so important and [00:48:00] so amazing when you feel it, when you're invited in to feel that it it's very, very special. But the other thing too, just learning about these things, shows us the value and the importance of the environment and looking after what we have. So. It permeates through everything that we do.

[00:48:31] We've sort of started asking like, how are you going to embed some indigenous perspectives in that? Because I'm learning everything we do. There's a way to embed an indigenous perspective. There's a way to impart some more learning for the educators and the children. It's really, really, really cool. We've got the opportunity to learn and to learn alongside the children and to impart some [00:49:00] really important knowledge with them and to do some really good work.

[00:49:06] Australia. So we think that's really important and we are enjoying it. Awesome. You can say that our educators are really enjoying it too. The children in care are happening really quickly before our eyes. So. Yeah. Awesome.

[00:49:24] Victoria: Yeah, that's magic. That's fantastic. Ah, it just excites me, , there's so many wonderful things happening within early childhood, and I really hope that, with our podcasts that we can share a lot of that to a great bread of people, because there will be people over here who.

[00:49:42] The west coast, family daycare never heard of them, so for us to be able to use this platform to share this information, and it could just be that it plants a little seed, and an educator gets inspired and there could be one sentence in these podcasts. That's just tickled something within them [00:50:00] and created an alive this within them.

[00:50:02] And hopefully they go and act on that and start investigating and looking themselves about how they can implement this. And where do I get started? So just know that if you need some help, Brody and Catherine. Happy to assist you in that process, if they can and point you in the right direction.

[00:50:20] There's also the career curriculum as well, which you mentioned we've featured them in our imag earlier this year that's our online magazine for anybody who hasn't seen or read that. So yeah, there's, there's lots of opportunities. It just has to come from you. There has to be a fire within you.

[00:50:38] To want to jump on there and start fanning those flames. And it doesn't take much, and once it gets going, then it's just all encompassing. And I think there's so many gifts available for people. Like you say, connecting to country and learning different ways. I know there's a lot of educators that are like, oh, it's such a crappy yard.

[00:50:58] And I can't [00:51:00] do anything with it. ? Blah, blah, blah. But if you can look from, an indigenous perspective and seeing actually how the environment is around you and working with it, as opposed to against it, there's ways to be creative and bring things into your space. So. Yeah, super, super cool.

[00:51:21] Well, thank you girls so much for your time today. We will probably have you on again at some point. And yeah, as soon as your information is available, your book is available. Let us know because we'll, we'll put it out there so people can find it too and we can update the show notes.

[00:51:38] So if you're listening in 12 months from now, I'm sure it'll be available. So the notes will probably be in there on how you can get it, get your hands on that book. So yeah. Thank you so much. I really appreciate your time today. And we will talk again soon. 

[00:51:54] Catherine: And thank you Victoria, talking to you. We are just, it's always such a blessing.

[00:51:59] [00:52:00] We love you. We admire you. You are just, you're an icon in this industry. You're just amazing. Thank you very much. 

[00:52:08] Victoria: Thank you. How I feel about that? Well, I did was break pages.

[00:52:20] All right. Well, we'll talk again soon. Thank you. 

[00:52:24] Thank you for listening to this episode of the big hearted podcast. I hope you got lots out of it and it's caught the creative juices flowing. If you'd like to recommend our podcast or even better give us a rating wherever you're listening to your podcasts, we would absolutely be over the moon with that.

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