Why Jules Robinson wants ‘more’ for her boys
Written by admin on August 11, 2024
Fresh out of the maternity ward after the birth of her second son Carter, Jules Robinson clearly likes a challenge.
After adding “author” to her crowded CV with the release of her new book of down-to-earth Aussie wisdom Ask Jules, she and husband Cam Merchant are also midway through renovating. A giant workman even crept past the newborn as Jules was saying she was “not a natural writer”.
“I’m a great storyteller, I’m a great communicator, but with writing I really had to find my way,” she said.
Writing the book brought up her own past and pulled focus on her two boys’ tech-driven future.
“I want (the boys) to be more advanced than me in that regard, because I do realise I missed out on a lot of school,” she said. “I was bullied in high school and left at 14 to become a hairdresser.
“So I left school really young but (spelling) was one thing that I was fantastic at through primary.
“I’d always say to my brother and sister, ‘Can you spell encyclopaedia?’. We’d have these little spelling bee competitions with each other and I always thought I was so clever.”
Jules said the project, which she finessed with the help of a judicious ghostwriter, was “one of the most consuming, testing” challenges of her life.
“I’m really proud of it,” she said. “It’s no easy feat.”
But books are not a new addition to their home. The playroom has its own reading corner with a loaded bookshelf and Carter’s big bro Ollie, four in October, is already “really good with his words”.
He certainly proved fluent in Pig the Pug during the interview and chattered happily about dragons, Santa, animals and especially “baby Carter”.
“We read three or four books a night with him and he loves it, he absolutely loves reading books,” Jules said.
“You do need all that education to be able to navigate the world … it is really important.”
Cam laughed and said: “And sometimes life gets in the way and it’s … chicken nuggets and screen and survival.”
As first-time parents when Ollie was younger, they occasionally used YouTube but have since “totally pulled back on it”.
“It was Cocomelon and it’s the sound waves, the frequency of it that hypnotises them,” Jules said. “At the time we’re like, ‘This is amazing, it’s like a babysitter’, but we literally unleashed a little animal. It was like crack for your child.
“You look back and you think, ‘How healthy was that for my child?’”
With 50,000 students already registered for a dose of brain health during the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee, run by free classroom news site Kids News, Jules said she would have jumped at the chance to enter the current national school round when she was in primary school.
“I thought I was so clever,” she laughed. “I think it’s great. Year 6 in primary, I would have been so excited by that. I think it’s fantastic.”
While Cam was mostly all about ball sports as a kid, he also loved English and writing.
“I was always big on creating stories. I literally write every day still … ideas, creativity.
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“Any old school values we can bring back that still relate to today’s education is absolutely brilliant.”
Baby Carter might be just two-weeks-old, but his parents have already been inspired to start a new project: writing a children’s book together. And the family’s word of the day is an apt description of their newest arrival: beautiful.
Teachers can register and students across Years 3-8 can play the school round of the free, fun, online PM’s Spelling Bee until August 23. Visit spelling-bee-com.au or kidsnews.com.au for more information and to enter.
