Katrina Ashmore Podcast
===

[00:00:00] Victoria: Hello and welcome to the big hearted podcast. Today is our super special guest Katrina Ashmore. From all the way up in Bundaberg. Thanks so much for coming on today. Katrina. 

[00:00:13] Katrina: No worries. Thanks for having me.

[00:00:15] Victoria: We did it, it wasn't anywhere near as good the second time over. Oh dear. So just for anybody who may not know who you are, I are and the backstory of how we became friends. And even how you started in our wonderful professional family daycare. Do you want to just tell us in your own words, how you came to work in this profession and then how you and I got to it. 

[00:00:42] Katrina: No worries. So all was I 18 years old is all when I started and coming in daycare, and I'm a little older than that now. And when I was suddenly family daycare, I really had started not knowing anything about childcare at all. Wanted to have my own children. So I started caring for children on weekends, not in family daycare, but it was [00:01:00] great, loved it loved working with children and families. So I was deciding open up my own family daycare home and started working from there. So I, over the years I have my children 12 years later. Cause I couldn't have children at the time. So it was amazing and I loved the profession for being able to give back to families and a new family daycare stood for it. As I grew more in my position of filming daycare and when I sat and what I saw happening, I've been in the industry now for 25 years working in family daycare alone. And just having the ability to help families and working with children and empowering other educators and watching other educators grow within the industry and seeing family daycare and what family daycare stood for for me meant so much. So I, here I am 25 years on still sitting here. So, and then when I met you last year. So it was that last year? It was last year, right?

[00:01:57] Victoria: Yes, 2020 

[00:01:58] Last year [00:02:00] when all the COVID hit and it hit our industry so incredibly hard and our educators so hard. I just happened to post a video of what family daycare meant for me and how I didn't agree with what the government was doing to it educators and our whole industry throughout the whole of Australia. And that video that I posted just kind of went viral very, very quickly. I think it had a hundred or 200,000 shares, like in 24 hours. It just went off the chart and it was just me just speaking from the heart of what I really thought filmmakers stood for and have incredible educators are to do the work that we're doing. And then it happened to get posted on your page and then bang, we kind of met and it was just love at first sight. So, no we both stood for the same thing professionally and I think that's what meant a lot for me was meeting someone else in their profession that had the same outlook for family daycare as me, and then I opened up this whole big doorway of [00:03:00] all these educators who had the same outlook as us and family day care means the same to them. And That's what we are today. 

[00:03:07] Victoria: Yeah, it was so incredible. I remember I had so many people messaging me because we started that page. The truth about COVID childcare package or whatever it's called the truth page to me. And. Within, I think it was only a couple of days after that just exploded overnight. I remember having a meeting with my team on zoom, my family daycare service team on zoom. And we were like, this is not okay. Like Scott Morrison came out that day and said free childcare. And then nobody heard a single thing after that announcement except us educators that went well, hang on a second free childcare. What does that mean? You know, you could almost hear parents rejoicing in the streets and we were just like, oh no, what, what on earth does this mean? So my team and I penned the letter together, [00:04:00] which is still sitting on the about page there. And we stayed up till like 11, 11 30 that night just writing this letter, being really, you know, we chopped and changed and we chucked and we crossed bits out and we added bits and it was this real collaborative approach for my educators. And we started this page, you know, I had this, what I call as a God bolt moment does this thing when we were talking to my team and just this voice came in start a page. And so I did, I don't argue with those things. And I started that and I think it was within a couple of days that you and I connected after we started that page, because I didn't even know the purpose. What that purpose was for that page. But when we started it that night, we just shared it within all the family daycare groups in early childhood education groups. And it was like, whoa, someone locked it or joined. Cause at that point it was a free for all open to everybody. And I think by the morning we had something like 900 to a thousand people within the space from 11 30 at [00:05:00] night to 6:00 AM in the morning. Like it was just not, but it just shows. That people were like freaking out. I knew nothing. Like none of us had any answers, waiting to know a single thing. All we knew was that it was free childcare. We didn't know what it meant. So

[00:05:20] Katrina: I think for where we sat in that precise moment and it's actually really hard thinking back to where we were sitting, you know, asked to as individuals but. What in the background that was holding for educators, how scared they were. Their income was being cut in half or less than in half. But the same workload was sitting there in front of them and being scared of the government would release the package information. But for some people breaking that down into what that actually really meant with them and their business was so incredibly hard. And I know like, you know, when we were talking and stuff, [00:06:00] we really supported each other through some pretty intense moments there. And I think it was watching and listening to educators and opening up my own face. You know, for messages of help. And I know one that opened up and I think I had like 140 messages there. And you were the same and we answered people individually answered every single person we could in. I know, you know, for you and I, and I look at it now and I'm like, man, I don't know how you can go through that as individually either, but. There was moments where I would actually be surviving on hour and a half sleep a night because we were putting our heads together and what can, what else can we do to help these people? And where one person lacks other person's strong. So we knew it, educators were so strong and incredible in their line of work, but they were lacking in other areas where they needed the help. And we knew that we possibly could help them in that area. And so it was intense man. It was like,it was crazy. I dont think I still [00:07:00] caught up on that sleep.

[00:07:03] Victoria: No way at all? Like, it was probably for me personally, the biggest growth I have had. In my personal life in my business life, like, I had people requesting me on Facebook, which I love, but it also then meant that, and I'm being really vulnerable and honest here is that I had to stop sensoring myself, you know, because I had all these people from all around Australia, looking at me and listening to every word I said. And if I posted something flippant and silly on my page, which I quite frequently do.

[00:07:41] What would they think

[00:07:43] Yeah. And I had to fully like, oh, and really stop, you know, just, and I didn't have that much time for that. But for me, switching into social media and just like scrolling mindlessly was one of the ways that I could switch off because we work.[00:08:00] We had to keep working. I can remember thinking, when it was all starting to happen and I thought, oh, we're going to go into lockdown here. I fully had this fantasy and I was thinking of it this morning. Oh, If we go into lockdown for like a month would be, I'm going to go through my whole house. I'm going to pull every cupboard out. I'm just going to declutter my entire life locked down. It's going to be amazing. And then that was not the case at all. You're so right though, because all of these poor educators and services. Who overwhelmed with the amount of information that was just coming out on the daily. Sometimes multiple times things were changing and it was just not. So I honestly truly think that because I crashed early in the like, absolutely crashed. That's why I went real quiet on the [00:09:00] truth page. And I just recently crashed again. I was like in there again, and then I've recently crashed because. You know , I got my iron levels tested. I'm in a level eight when I should be up 30 plus. So my doctor was like I said to her, oh, do you think this could be, you know, like a lot of what I'm feeling. She's like, Victoria, you're practically getting no oxygen to your brain. And I'm like. 

[00:09:21] Katrina: Oh, that explains a lot. 

[00:09:23] Victoria: Explain our whole life.

[00:09:25] So, I truly think I was running on adrenaline all of last year. All of last year, 

[00:09:32] Katrina: That's where educators, you know, for the educators. And there was a lot of educators who were trying to siphon through what it was meaning for their business and what was next and were they doing the right thing? And then the fear for the providers, for the services and the providers knowing, and we had many zoom meetings with lots of providers and all the time break this down together and yeah. It was so [00:10:00] incredibly hard, but the best part, what I love is the people that we met along the way, I mean, and I'm pretty Bogan. Like I say, shit, and I swear a lot. Like I talk some serious shit, and it's all in fun. Like one of the half things was the empathy. So I love, and I'm very empathetic to people and I often can feel what other people feel and in it, and it's very hurtful to see, how people are feeling and you want to help everybody. But one thing that we had to recognize, and we probably didn't soon enough was we couldn't actually help everybody. So we certainly tried so hard and our understanding set out the educators didn't understand the same thing. And we tried to break that down with everybody. And I think that was really, really hard because how will the information came out and even now I think you went onto it as well but. When you go on to any of the websites now for the information back then it's all deleted. Luckily we've saved it or we've got it all. But [00:11:00] if you went on there to go, what was that men again, it's gone. As soon as the update come the one from last week is gone. The next one's gone. So. It was really, really hard for people. And then listening to educators stories and their heart and soul was putting to their businesses. And they, it was heartbreaking. And, at the long side that for myself, I have two children and I was trying to also be a mom and run my own family daycare business. And I'm also compliance officer for a service, so trying to do everything. And we did it in the name. Trying to help people because that's what we are believing in family daycare. And we didn't want to see family daycare highlighted for anything that we're doing wrong. So it was very much, so this is what this piece of paper says. Whether we agree or not, and believe me. Well, there was some things in there that all, but we didn't, we were opening a whole can of worms steal. So for an industry, and I think that was really incredibly hard and [00:12:00] trying to keep the peace. Trying to keep everybody feeling good about what they were doing in the service that they were actually providing the families, even though the wordiness educators were feeling was just not there. And that was so hard because they play such a vital role. Fulfill me that ain't going to have its name yet. They questioned their every movement and I'm like, but you guys are incredible. Like I see their photos that they put up and you know, the service that they run and the service that they give to families every single day. They are incredible humans, you know? And I'm like, they need to be acknowlege for what they did, and I feel like the acknowledgement wasn't there, from what we had to go through with all the COVID process, wasn't there for educators and they eventually took a big hit and in themselves it was, it was really hard. And I think that was something that. I know for me, I crashed and burned you know, for myself mentally, as you know, and I was just like, ah, it took me quite a number of weeks just to go, you know what? I should just stand back [00:13:00] up and keep going. I kept my business running to the best I possibly could, but then other things in your life suffer, you know, putting family daycare aside and your work aside. When you are struggling with different things, other things do suffer and it's shit because it's like, you know, it's so hard when you start to pick it up. So that's where we find when we have got incredible people around that can scoop us up and help us. And that's what. You and I had set a task to do through the COVID period and I would do it all again, the same, you know, because it's about the educators and our whole industry and holding that family day care name as the name of it is because it is an incredible service that is warranted for families ever in Australia and all wanted to stand up in top of the roofs and scream, family daycare's name from the top, because I do believe that more people need to know about it because you know, family daycare is made up by just by me, you're by you or by, you know, five people. It's every educator throughout Australia and every service and their providers, then we all have differences of opinions [00:14:00] and ideas. But that's what makes it incredible, you know, that's what makes them one of these. And, you know, we live it and breathe it. And I think it's fantastic. And that's our reason for me, our 25 years of my own business. But then I stepped into doing compliance. You know, and that is basically with a service where I do help them to make sure our standards are high and helped to empower educators. And everyone would know that I started up the choke image on service last year, worst thing we ever did. And it's very vulnerable for me to say that because I don't like to fail because I'm that person. But, you know, I was very excited about it because I wanted to empower more educators and help them. And so. We've got an I M website built cause I was going to do, you know, so many things, but I just couldn't, I just did not have the power. And it was probably a very bad time for myself because we had been through all the COVID stuff. And then in the midst of it at the end of it, I've gone yet. I want to do this [00:15:00] now. I just, I just couldn't hold it up. I just went, you know what, so I deleted, I had I think it was 19 or something. People cost me $6,000 husband's still with me. So I, you know, because I had this thing, you know, I paid that money out. No one was me. This is going to help educators help services, because I was already kind of doing that through COVID and I realized I loved helping people and, you know, I could actually make a business with this and I could actually turn this into something for family day care more so but it was Jassy and Victoria. You asked me about it, you know, how's it going? And I'm like, yeah, I deleted all my subscribers off and stopped all their payments because I just couldn't give them one on you on either to give them. And that was a really hard decision for me. But my heart is in the family daycare, like my own business. I love him. And I still have people message me and ask me for help. I help them where I can. But the worst thing I probably did was looking to do my own empowerment, I suppose, [00:16:00] for educators, but at a time when I actually needed that myself. 

[00:16:04] Victoria: You really, really depleted in what you could. I mean, all, I really hope that you, you know, take some time and then come back to that. I think it's such a worthy thing. You know, Product that people could really utilize. So I do hold a little flying that you'll come back to that because I think it's such an important you know, thing that people need and the trust that people have in you because of how you speak. And you're very open and clear and honest, and you know, like I quite often will ring you and go, Hey, what do you think of this? Or I've just seen that. Yeah, I run a lot of things past you and I am eternally grateful for the ear that you provide. And that was one thing, as you said, that when we were going through the midst of everything, we banded together with other services and, you know, it was so good to know that, there was [00:17:00] Carol who from inspired, who's amazing with all Government stuff. I don't follow the government stuff. I don't follow politics and all that sort of stuff, but she had some really great insight around that, and Brody and Catherine, over in WA. And there was so many people that stood up and were a part of what we put together because we had a services team and we would have meetings to just discuss things. If anything, it just helped us all to feel like, okay, we're not on our own, because it did very much feel like we couldn't turn to the department because the department would just go, oh, that's a business decision. And you're like, well, that's not really helpful right now because you guys just changed the rules. And I haven't had any time to like, digest that. Not only that, but if I do this, it has this impact. If I do that, it has that impact. If I do, oh my God, there's four [00:18:00] different ways. I could take this new thing that you've just put out which way is it meant to be taken, but I don't think they actually knew. And you know, and that's not their fault either. And there's no criticism on the department or anybody really, because it was such a. Moving beast, you know, and that was multifaceted and there was just so much information and it was like the people making the decisions at the top. We're making them from a broad perspective and it would have been impossible for them to have, you know, looked at things from a more detailed perspective at the time. However, I do think. That there could have been time or things allocated where they roll something out. And then they listened to the feedback because every time they sent a survey out, it was worded so that the government looked like a [00:19:00] shining beacon of. Like everything I did was great. When on the ground that wasn't the case and, you know, yes, we are small in numbers, but there's 15,000 of us that provide care for. I don't know how many hundreds of thousands of families. So when you're looking at it in that context, when they are telling educators that, you know, you have to keep providing food, you have to keep providing nappies. You have to keep doing overnight care. The same level of service you are providing prior, you have to keep providing, even though you're getting half of your income, and there was all that fear around being Dobbin, because if you had a family and we all know families are your best friends until they're not, you know, and this is something that I say to my team all the time. You've got to keep these boundaries because they are your best friends until they're not. And then when they're not, they're quite happy to go and put in a complaint about you. So we had all of that stuff hanging over our [00:20:00] heads too, which made it really difficult. And like, you can't make . Decisions in a place of overwhelm, like you really, really difficult to make really balanced, cohesive decisions when you're in that place of overwhelm. And I know that's where all of us were sitting, you know, so. Oh, I don't feel like I've recovered from last year. I don't know that I ever will necessarily, and don't get me wrong. Not all of what came out of last year was negative either because it was our, we have started these fantastic relationships with other services and it's like working in coopertition. So it's working, recognizing that we are in competition with each other to some degree. But we're working in like cooperation. So it's like, you know, co-opetition we come together because if I can help you and you can help me, that has a positive impact for all of our [00:21:00] educators at the children. And I think that's what really stood out for me was because prior to that, really, I really only knew one other service provider on the coast. Didn't know anybody else. Now I know, like I could go. I said to Bernie and Catherine, last week I could go around Australia right now. And I reckon I could probably pull up stumps in just about every pub in Australia and have a wine with everybody and, you know, just be able to do that the whole way around Australia, which is amazing because had last year happened and I still would have been in my little niche bubble here. Doing my thing. So, you know, the benefits of what happened last year in terms of meeting so many people and, you know, us all gathering in a professional space like we did was awesome. And I think that's, you know, their friendships like yours and mine that I will have forever, you know, definitely be invited to my funeral.[00:22:00] 

[00:22:01] Katrina: Well, I'm not going to be your friend much longer after this zoom on that. Something that was really positive for the educators. It all the independence, because a family daycare is isolating. So isolating for educators. When all this happened COVID and now already isolated I've found that there was in some ways, because of a difference of understanding with what the government was bringing out and because of the speed it was coming. And we were wanting industry and in millions of industries in Australia, we all want to industry with, you know, 15,000 passionate educators working on the ground. So I don't think one of the things was educating. There was a wedge put in between educators and services. Hard to see because, you know, in most cases, everyone was traveling along beautifully and their relationship with the communication, everything was fine. But the second that this happened, the lack of communication happened because people didn't know what to say. Tell your competitors so services weren't really communicating sounds normal services. But not because they didn't [00:23:00] want it, but they didn't really know how to be quiet. And I'm thinking that was really hard. And that was really hard, incredibly hard for us to watch and to be coming back from both sides. But the beautiful thing about it was, educators all made new friendships that was really betrayed because of your page, the truth page. And I think it was people got to know, oh, you're in that area. And I started, you know as dm direct message in that optimal, I guess, messaging, DMing direct messaging each other, and that all built these friendships. And I think that was really special and something that. People will take with them forever. I like them. You said you had your little bubble. Educators did too. And now that they know someone from different areas and they're bouncing ideas and educators own business pages, so all of them now these big people and they're getting this feed back and new ideas in their business and getting to see what other educators are doing and knowing that. [00:24:00] One of the things I find as an educator in talking to other educators is always doubt their ability and they doubt themselves is what I'm doing enough. And I don't want to enough for what comunicators is. And I want to say that from what I've seen from other educators,sure it's brilliantly, incredible humans, you know, and that's something with ideas. That you get to bounce off of each other. And what these children than family daycare get to experience is incredible. Like it's amazing experiences. So I think something that will stay with us long past COVID and as many scars that serve many of us past COVID and all these memories will. And I hope that they go back to the subconscious math to really dig for them, you know, in a couple of years, but for the positive things, really? Yeah. The incredible relationships and pulling everything from that ever. That's going to start people forever. I think that's.

[00:24:54] Victoria: Yeah, most definitely. Hundred percent agree with that. Like that communication. I talked about it last [00:25:00] week with Brody and Catherine is that, you know, I was having services message me and I was having educators from the same service message me now. I never ever shared to either of them that here, I already know this because so-and-so already told me, but what I could see happening was that the service was saying that they were putting this message out, but the educator was hearing it a different way and vice versa that the educator would type it. I responded with this and the service was hearing in a different way. And look, all I kept saying to everybody is, look, I understand both sides. And I, you know, I think what they're trying to say is this. You know, but it was so difficult because people were in this space of overwhelm, you know, services that were overwhelmed, like the amount of additional work that we had to do through that period of service owners and management was just absolutely nuts. It was nuts. And you know, and same with educators. Do you know, their workload [00:26:00] was completely different because they were glued to what was happening now. Like if I, if I do this, am I going to get in trouble? So they were second guessing. Absolutely. Every decision that they made, because nobody knew, you know, and then everybody was tired. Everyone was under this financial cloud. And people were hearing things that were not actually being said and not hearing things that were actually being said. And there was just, it just goes to show that zoom is amazing, but there is nothing like face-to-face connection with people. And I know that like, I miss that, like I miss visiting my team. I miss the quarterly seasonal planning that our team does. Like we had our last one in November or sorry, in August canceled. Cause we went into a snap lock down and it was like, no of all the weeks, like we would just, I had to cancel everything we had organized. But that means it's six months since [00:27:00] I've seen my tape, cause my coordinator goes and visits them. But I know there was a lot of us that were locked down and we were just doing all our visits via zoom. So that sense of alienation and isolation was even more enhanced. You know, and not being able to have parents come in and just having them come to your door. Like, it was just this whole massive level of disconnection. And as a human race, that is one of our core, fundamental needs is the need for connection. And when that was severed and it wasn't able to be like, you couldn't greet people with a hug, there was educators. Like I can't even hug the children. And it was just like, oh man, Like it just was so intense and you know, that, that whole decision making process. I was so interrupted and that did so much harm, like so much harm to services and educators alike, that it saw a lot of movement within our [00:28:00] profession. And some of that is good and some of it's possibly not so great, you know, and that's just the nature of change. And we are in a big period of change. And I know. Yeah, I really want to acknowledge all of the educators that finished up this week due to the current mandates that have happened. And my hat is off to those people who have stood in their truth. And the thing that, you know, really is them standing up for their right to choose. You know, there there's a huge amount of educators that are no longer working, highly qualified, highly experienced, really passionate people. What was okay for them to work all of last year and this year, and all of a sudden, it's not. So, you know, this is causing a massive upheaval within our profession as well, because it's sort of settled down a bit now, but when those mandates first came out, the things that people were saying to each other to another human [00:29:00] being from both camps was chest really. Distressing. It was really distressing. And, and that sent me into a really deep pit, you know, and there's no coming back from saying some stuff, you know, and people will say stuff and it's just, it's there forever. You know, things are being said.

[00:29:20] Katrina: I'm very much a scroll and while I person, and if it's on online stuff and that's, you know, one of the things that can, it can really affect people mentally and people go. And I have the smaller better sometimes. Cause it always see people posting hashtag the Dolly bullying thing, which I'm very much for bullying. It's just horrible. But then I see grown women doing it to each other or growing humans online. I'm not sure what this is. Okay. So I'm, I don't have an opinion on any of that or. You know, want to do that stuff. I'm like, I'm out. I don't do it. I'd rather just there's enough hate in this world. I'd rather a lot more people.

[00:29:55] Victoria: Like this, the whole thing, you know, and that, that is the whole thing. And this is the last thing I'm going to say on it [00:30:00] because it's such a controversial topic and I don't want to alienate anybody, but you know, and I'm not, you know, it's, everything was a lot of people on, on both sides of the spectrum. But the way I look at it is that we're educators and we teach children body autonomy. We teach them kindness. We don't allow bullying within our service with the children. We don't allow children to overpower somebody else with their opinion, you know, all these sorts of things. And I just was standing back looking and seeing educators.

[00:30:33] And I'm going, if you behave like this in the online forum, like what is actually running the show in your. Like what, where do you draw the line between, I'm going to tell that to the children, but when I get online, I'm going to tell that to that person, why I can't come at that. And I really want educators to be aware of that and have a look at their online conduct and [00:31:00] see if that mirrors, how they want to be teaching the children. And if it doesn't. There is a disparity there. And you need to really look at that and do some work around that because we do have a responsibility. When you are an educator, you have a responsibility in how you present yourself online. That is why I centered myself after I started the truth. Because I know I have some controversial ideas and thought processes and things like that, but I really had to tone down and not share so freely because I was aware that what I said would have an impact. On hundreds of other educators within my profession. And I don't want to cause those kinds of controversies and things like that, you know? So for me, one of the big things that I got out of last year personally was I had some awful things said to me and I had to really sit down and look at it and go hang on. You know, I really want these people to be accountable. And then I was like, well, hang on. Where are you? Not accountable in your [00:32:00] life. When you need to get accountable in those areas. And when you're accountable in those areas, that's all going to fall away. And that absolutely did. I've gone to the gym. I haven't missed. Sorry.

[00:32:09] I've missed one session. Cause I was, I was not very well. I haven't, yeah, I haven't missed a session this year. It's been 10, 11 or 10 and a half months. I started in January 4th of January last year of this year. Yeah. And I've, I feel so much better in myself, but I showed up for myself. I showed up for my self.

[00:32:29] Because I, the lesson that I got was I wanted them to be accountable. And if I'd thought so strongly that someone wasn't being accountable, perhaps there was a message there for me. And that's what I got out of last year. One of the biggest things that I got now, I go to the gym every day. I have a gym family now and, you know, they're like, oh, I love that. I created that little, you know, bubble for myself. And it's so important and I really encourage educators to. Move, like you love yourself. Think like you love [00:33:00] yourself and like, you love yourself. Like you love yourself. I'm doing a self-love school course at the moment, personal development course at the moment. And their, the ethos is that they talk about in there. You know, and it's so important. Like I know a lot of educators, they put their businesses first and then they put where they put their children, their own children and their business. They come last down on that list. And that's, I think what a lot of us saw last year was our level of resilience was for some of us not so great because we're so far down on that list. And to put that first. 

[00:33:39] Katrina: One thing I often talk to educators about is, and you would see the same thing through a way. They just don't believe in themselves. And it's just something that is so big and believing in who they are as a person and being proud. You know? If I can go back to the COVID period, and I know we're still in the COVID period, but you know the initial period that we went [00:34:00] through last year, And commend educators on how they actually handled running the business in a hundred percent and, you know, sanitizing, an extra sanitize, I'm still buying for your business and running your business and, you know, being successful at that. And that's commendable because you guys were amazing. You know, it's bloody hard, it's hard. And you couldn't go out and catch up with other educators or go to a playgroup or going to local parks. You were literally living at home and working at home and having other people in your home. And even then when you couldn't have visitors, but you had to work, it was crazy. And I want to commend every educator for that. Cause it's hard. And the amount of times that we see educators comparing their service that they give. And themselves to another educator. And it's, I know it's human nature to do that, but can I just say that the family daycare opportunity is exactly the same for everybody? So no, one's more worthy than what you are now. So if you have that [00:35:00] opportunity and your passion is to go down this road with your family daycare, I set it up like this. Then please be proud of that because now you've having that business family diagnosis. Isn't what it is. So it's about that belief in yourself. And when you get that belief in yourself and you can stand a little tall because you know, you do recognize that you're amazing. And that what the service that you're giving to families, whether you work two days a week, five days a week, or every day, whatever it is, that service is warranted. We have to say, thank you for that. Because family daycare is what it is because of. But it's so incredibly important to believe in yourself and exercise self care. I don't know that that's a good thing. And that was very much brought to my attention as it was to yours last year when we really did have ourselves on the back foot. And now I do, I gym every single day. And you know, I do it. I say to my coach all the time, I only come here for to be social and then every now and then I have to work out. I hate that shit. But in all honesty, I do it [00:36:00] because mentally it's the only time I actually get out. I get, I have to just concentrate on getting this workout finish otherwise, you're head at this speed that's your business and you're a mom or a wife or you know, you might've been married yet, but you've got other things in life. You've got a house and you've got to pay rent. All these things are just going through. So it's finding that one thing for yourself that you can look forward to outside of being Katrina or being mum or train hour, whatever it is, it's being away from that. And just something for you, whether it's you know, crocheting, whether it's going to the gym or just go onto the beach for a walk or lawn balls, whatever. At that little bit of time, I'll be reading a book that you really love get out the half an hour early in the morning and just have that head space where you can read that book or do some mindfulness week coloring in. I don't know, whatever it is that you like to do and done as someone take that away from you. But people have to stop the comparisons. We compare ourselves to another person. [00:37:00] You don't have their background. And have that life story only you have your life's story. And we saw this a lot, Victoria, last year when people were comparing and it's so incredibly hard and it really does set you back a little bit. So, I think educators are amazing. And I love the fact that family daycare has such a massive mix of humans in there. And I was seeing mile educators come through and I just mean assistance on mileage. Candace's the main educator in their home. And I think it's brilliant, you know, I think it's what's ahead for family day care. 

[00:37:33] Victoria: It's super exciting and you're right. You know, like how many they seeing educators, like I go and visit educators and you know, when they go, oh, I'm not sure if I'm doing it right. Or they message me and they go, oh, can you just have a look at this observation and sort of tell me what you think. And I'm like, Blown away by what they see and how they see it in children. And I'm like, how can you question this? This is amazing. How do you not [00:38:00] see the brilliance that you bring to your business, to the children that you work with? You know, and that's what I really think is so special about family daycare, as opposed to long daycare in that you get to. Love and care for the children the way you think they need it. You know, you can bring your morning tea earlier. If you think that the children need that you can allow different things to happen within your space, because you've got four children to care for. You have a greater level of flexibility, you know, you can, I've got Vanessa who shared. She was in one of our magazines sharing about some of the festivals that she celebrates within her family. And they share that with their whole family daycare service. And it's incredible because the learning that they get, I know she inspired other educators because if ever [00:39:00] daycare Australia had heard in their magazine as well. And other educators got to read that as well, because it was such a meaningful story and event that she shared. Every single educator within Australia has the same ability to be able to share the things that are unique to them. The skillset that they have that is unique to them. And to highlight that because I truly believe that children come to you in a soul connection. Right. I really truly believe that there is a bit of an agreement between your soul and the child's soul, that you have something to come together and to learn from, from each other. The children teach us as much as we teach the children. And for some reason, when we come together as educator and child.

[00:39:47] There is something there to unload and to share with each other that is specifically meant for that individual. And in family daycare, you have such a [00:40:00] great ability and unique perspective to be able to share that exactly how they need to receive it. It's different in long daycare because there's so many children there quite often, you've got a different educator every second day or whatever it is. It's very rare that you've got two that work five days in the same room, creating that cohesive space for the children. And that's, what's different within family daycare. And I don't think I've ever. Seeing an educator who I've kind of gone, maybe, probably shouldn't be doing family daycare. I've never, I don't think I've ever come across that. So, you know, and I see a lot of educators and a lot of educators share things with me because they're looking for that outside perspective and someone who. Doesn't know them with a fresh look on things, you know, and we do a lot of that with, you know, essential elements course. Like you were sharing how you sort of struggled a bit this year and you pulled it away. I wasn't able to hold my essential elements the exact way I wanted to. [00:41:00] However, I'm building myself up so that when we launch again, next year, that space is going to be so alive. But the conversations that we are having in there and the things that the educators are talking about when they're doing the essential elements course, Is there they feel more connected. And I think that is one of the big things that's missing is this connection. And it actually has to be a connection to yourself first. So one of the parts of our course that we talk about is finding 10 minutes in the. I'm sitting in space in 10 minutes. Now, if it means you have to get up an hour earlier, so you can get all your children's stuff organized just to have that 10 minutes, it's so important. And it will start your day in a total different head space than, you know, if you're rushing around trying to get out of your jamas because you had your first family pull up in the driveway and you're like, oh my God, I'm not organized. Hashtag bang net. But you know, when you [00:42:00] realize that and you get into that flow and it is about prioritizing yourself, as you say, and making, because nobody else is going to prioritize you. They really are not nobody else. Who's going to prioritize you. You have to do that yourself. And that's one of the things that I took out of last year, move forward into this year. And it's just like five days a week. I'm up, I'm out the door at 10 to five. I tend to six in the morning and I'm down at the gym and I love it. Like I just, it gives me. Even though I've got low iron and almost couldn't function. I still showed up for myself because I was showing up for my self. And showing up for anybody else or any other purpose other than myself. And if that's one thing that educators can take away from this particular podcast is that there's so much support within our profession. You've just got to discern who it is that resonates with you and stick with them, you know, and hang out with them because they're [00:43:00] going to fill you up, but you have to show up for you first. And you have to prioritize you first because nobody else is going to do that for you. And it's never, ever, ever, should you feel ashamed for asking questions ever? If, if you feel like I'm not sure if I'm doing this right. Seek that, seek that clarification. No, what's the word? Affirmation. Seek that from those people who you respect, you know, we've got to start reaching out and keeping these beautiful connections happening and alive. So yeah, so right. Educators really do. They need to trust themselves. They need to know that what they're doing is enough. In fact, you probably do too much. If you pull it back and focus on the quality of what you're doing, rather than the quantity, you'll actually find that you relax. And when you relax, the children will relax. And then there's this enjoyment that can really come out of family daycare.

[00:43:59] Katrina: You know, it's [00:44:00] about being proud of their service and whatever you're offering your families. If you've got families in care and they are coming back every single day. Be proud, and if you need to change something within your service, baby steps, we put some pressure on ourselves in life, not even just in family daycare, but just in life. And we need to really take a step back and go. We don't actually need that much pressure. There's one another as humans. And, you know, I'm a believer of reaching out and helping people. That's where we are at the moment, you know, helping people. So I hope that family daycare from here and beyond just keeps on getting bigger and bigger and I'm hoping to see it. I hope I'm a part of it because it's exciting. And I really want, you know, meaningful relationships with educators to continue. And I'm, I must apologize because I have been a little quiet. And I have been, you know I've been quite, not really quiet cause I'm pretty loud. I'm talking a lot of shit, but I had been in the background a little bit doing other stuff and you know, cause last year really did take [00:45:00] it, take a lot out of me, probably more so than what I actually recognize at the time, because our whole focus again was I was helping people. So. Yeah, I'm really excited for what's to come from the daycare. And, you know, if anyone wants to reach out and say, Hey, you know, please always reach out. I don't want 150 people a day. I can't do that again, but we can certainly you know, chat to whoever needs some help or we're here for the long run. Thank you for the opportunity today Victoria, to come on and chat to everybody.

[00:45:29] Victoria: It was so good. You are such a beacon within our profession, Katrina, you know, and I said it before Katrina for prime minister,

[00:45:38] put me as your treasurer.

[00:45:39] Katrina: My boss, sometimes it gets me in trouble and I like to beat around the Bush. It's a fact, some fact, and. That's all I want as well as I am factual on it. Like non-factual stuff. I'm just to the point and factual and I won't talk. And if it's not factual, so. Thanks for watching everybody.

[00:45:57] Victoria: Yes. Thanks so much Katrina. And [00:46:00] we will get this podcast up and yeah. I love your feedback. Anybody that wants to make comment. And there were two times where Katrina said she loved me just so that, you know, 

[00:46:11] Katrina: You can edit that right.

[00:46:12] Victoria: I might make it repeat several times. I love you, Victoria.

[00:46:18] We'll be back again soon with our podcast next week. Thank you for listening.

[00:46:23] 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. Please remember we love feedback. So let us know what you think and share with your friends. If you know anybody else that would be interested. We'd love to share our thoughts and ideas and inspire as many people as we possibly [00:47:00] can. So we'd love to have you back. Our podcast comes out every week, so we'll see you then.

[00:47:05] Bye for now. .