Melissa Walsh is a busy mum of two, who runs MELOBABY and is also a documentary producer. She is married with two girls: Serafina, 6 and Grace, 4.
They live in Drummoyne in Sydney's Inner West.
Melissa Walsh
MW: My husband is often away for long periods filming for United Nations, World Health Organization or corporate videos. We spend at least a couple of months of the year in the UK, filming for our UK clients. I also have a busy international business, MELOBABY selling our flagship product MELOBABY all-in-one nappy wallet + change mat.
C4K: So how did you come up with the MELOBABY idea?
MW: I came up with the idea for the nappy wallet when my daughter was born; even then there were no decent nappy wallets on the market. It took four years to develop and finally we launched our product two years ago.
C4K: When did you go back to work after having your children?
MW: I wanted to spend as much time with my children until they started pre-school, so I held myself back from work until Grace was a pre-school. Grace starts kindy this year, which is very exciting, but sad at the same time.
C4K: What were your main motivations to return to work and what was the hardest thing about it?
MW: I wanted to have independence and to be able to work around my children. The hardest thing is leaving them when you have to go away for work trips.
C4K: Who looks after the girls when you're working?
MW: They go to pre-school and occasional care – Drummoyne Occasional Care - and school I usually have their grandparents help out too.
C4K: What were you looking for in your child care arrangement for the girls?
MW: I was looking for loving carers for the children. I could tell if they were good if they laughed at the children's personalities.
C4K: How did you find your child care and was it a difficult process?
MW: Luckily we had the Occasional Care Centre two doors from our house and they had places, so we were totally spoilt in that regard and didn't have to do any looking at all.
C4K: What are the main benefits of your child care arrangement?
MW: Apart from the huge convenience of living a few doors away from the child care centre, the carers had been working there for 15 years and were very loving towards the children and they were very flexible, so we had two days a week from 8 – 4pm and that was enough for us at the time. We were lucky to have such hard working ladies. It's a hard job but they were always so lovely and we felt the kids really benefited from being there.
C4K: Have you any amusing or heart-warming child care anecdotes?
MW: My daughter (Serafina) had just started at The International Grammar school and they had recently had an "international food day" where the children learnt about different foods. One day one of the carers at Grace's occasional care was feeding a baby who had Indian parents and he kept spitting out the food. My daughter piped up and said, "He doesn't like it. I think he'd like a curry"!
Melissa Walsh
CareforKids.com.au®
Care For Kids Internet Services Pty Ltd
ABN 55 104 145 735
PO Box 543 Balmain NSW 2041
privacy policy contact us