Tiff, Terepai, Tainui, Rocket, Fin and Ochre, you guys ROCK and look like you have a lot of fun! Tell us... 

What does a week in the life of your family look like? Do you have any rituals in which you swear by? 

We don't have a very regular week-to-week routine as both our jobs are quite spontaneous, but the things that are constant would be... Because my boys are big skaters, and I've been skating too with a group of mums for over a year now, we tend to have at least one family skate session a week at a skatepark. And sometimes little sessions at home on our ramp set up. It's really nice sharing that together and i love being able to connect with them doing something we all love. Another ritual is simple but we chill on Sunday mornings; eat pancakes, drink coffee, listen to old music, move slowly and drift between the treehouse Terepai's building and the creek at our place. I can get lost in a happy place with them at home when there's nowhere in particular to be and have to talk myself into getting out and doing something.  

You were recently spotted at little splendour wearing some crazy fun outfits and playing some pretty cool tunes, Tell us how poppy galactic and the beat was born?

Poppy Galactic and The Beat is our kids band we started when Rocket and Fin were really little. We began because i thought there was a lot of room in the kids music world for some material that musically wasn't so "kiddy" but lyrically was. My boys would rock out to the music we loved, it's just that the lyrics weren't relevant to them. So we began writing songs that appealed to kids but because of the music, hopefully adults too. Terepai -being a drummer- is very good at creating fun, thumping beats to dance to and I love writing lyrics that are fun and help kids gain perspective on the world. Our tag line is "we may be small but we're all galactic"... Meaning, we are tiny beings in the scale of the multiverse but we're also literally made of stardust, connected to everything and very therefore very special. I want kids to feel expansive and like they're part of something amazing. Which we are! And i also want this galactic perspective to help make their problems feel smaller and more manageable. We also write silly songs about pirates liking jelly and the like, too. It's all about good music, gaining perspective and getting silly. 

From music to skateboarding, life seems action packed, what inspires your creative lifestyle?

Creativity is in all of us but i think some of us find it easier to access that others. It's easy to slot into the daily grind and spend our lives doing what society deems valuable without thinking about it too much but these days i'm keen on spending as much time as possible doing what i feel is valuable. It hasn't always been easy. I still sway between trying to find a balance of being able to support a family and at the same time spend time doing what i love. Music is what i love. It's taken a while to believe in myself enough to commit but also remembering that we're all going to die helps. LOL! But also not? It gives huge perspective, pondering our mortality and helps you get shit done! Feeling grateful for this life and wanting to squeeze every last drop out inspires me. I love yogi Adriene Mishler's simple message "find what feels good". When you're thick in the busyness of a young family then this to me is even more important as there's less time for yourself so you really need to get clear on what these things are. That's why we surf, skate, make music and dance. 
 

Four boys and lots of fury friends, give us some intel on how you find some calm in the busy hustle and bustle of family life? 

This year I've become part of a really great group of mothers who meet monthly to learn and practice the concepts of "Aware Parenting". This paradigm has brought a lot more "calm" to my parenting because it offers suggestions for different ways to respond to the usual kid related chaos. It takes a while to break the old habits that we've been conditioned with but it's so compassionate and effective. I highly recommend it. Skating has also been a game changer. It's given me something that i can go and do just for myself. And because you can't think about anything else when you're skating (or you'll stack) it's almost like meditation. Plus it constantly teaches me about life. I geek out on the lessons i've learned from skating. From facing fears to focus, belief and committing to things. It's all mirrored in life off the board too. 

Whats next?

We're currently finishing out debut album for Poppy Galactic and The Beat so keep and ear out for that. When it drops it'll be on all the regular platforms like iTunes and Spotify. And then i want to tour it. Globally! Thats the plan. Now just to make it happen. And Tainui's also about to release his own EP full of heart exploding tunes. It's going to be a big year for everyone once these tunes are out.  

Life is quite the adventure...Share with us some words of wisdom you guys live by?

A little line from a baby book i used whilst preparing for my boys' birth's springs to mind. "This is a wonderful moment." Right now, whatever's happening - you're here and that is wonderful. 

Tiff x

Check out more about Poppy Galactic & The Beat 

Until next time,

Munsterkids 

Did you know...

"Half of all marine life has been lost in the last 40 years"

Munsterkids has recently hosted a screening at our local school encouraged and organised by  Zai Brown. 

He felt compelled after watching the film with his family to share the message of his passion for the oceans survival. 

"By 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean then fish"

Being a Munsterkid not only means living life to the fullest but taking care of the world we live in so us kids always have the funnest backyard to play in. 

Munsterkids asked Zai if he could spend five minutes with us to give us some serious low down on respecting our mother...

What inspired you to want to show the film at school?When I saw the film I just felt like I wanted to show everyone how important this crisis is.

So sharing your passions is the first step to inspiring others?

Yes

What did you learn from BLUE?

That the ocean is in a very bad way and that us humans are responsible for whats happening ..

Why is the ocean important to you?

I surf in it everyday ..Its everything and I love it ..

Do you think more schools should show this film 

YES…definitely, Its just as important as the other things we learn at school.

So Zai, how can us kids help?

My brother and me help clean up the beach whenever we can,

Take 3 For The Sea (A clean beach initiative) says each time you are at the beach pick up 3 pieces of rubbish, Which is easy! 

We also try to reduce the amount of plastic we use, which is fun to annoy Mum and Dad with and sharing this message to all your friends and family!

Thanks Zai for your commitment to the planet!

Munsterkids salutes you!

 

Watch Blue the film with your family or host a screening of blue wherever you can! Details at https://bluethefilm.org 

Follow Take3 for the sea and share your clean ups with them and your friends! 

Tag @munsterkids in your save the ocean activations and we will help spread your message 

Since I was a young girl I have dreamt of creating a charity project. My own contribution, my own way .. 

We lived in Vietnam for 2.5 years where the rawness and reality of life was felt everyday ..

I’d look around and people had so little but were so happy …I thought to myself ‘us westerners have got it all wrong …LESS IS MORE ..

I was still affected by the extreme poverty and  homeless kids ..and I knew it was time to get this charity project started …so it was then that “T4T” was born ..

Each season Munsterkids collaborates with an amazing artist. We design a tee and a jumper with their artwork and the all proceeds go towards our “T4T projects”. 

To create a little more kindness in the world, this is what we want to teach our children. 

Our first “T4T Projects” started small but were effective. We traveled to different Vietnam orphanages gifting them clothes and other essentials. This was all amazing but I knew we could more.

Our latest T4T project had been a long time in the making. I recruited my eldest son Jax, I knew  this was going to be something special and I wanted him to experience it too. I wanted him to see with his own two eyes and to feel it to the depths of his being ..what it means to give and how it feels to connect with people, total strangers unfamiliar yet still connected. I wanted him to experience life without screens, , without fast food and without wifi; life, the way it was intended.

We arrive back in Ho Chi Minh City. Our old home town .

The sun setting, drenching heat, intense waves of smells and the city alive with the constant buzz of the motorbikes. It had been five years since we had been back, but it felt like yesterday, there is just something about this place …It felt like home.

When we arrived to our old apartment, every part of me was smiling. We picked up our old motor bike (no way..it still starts..). We ate at all our favourite restaurants ‘Pho at Progoganda’ and  the best cupcake café in the world ‘Sweet and Sour’ (oh how I have missed real Vietnamese Food!). Revisiting our old stomping ground brought back fond memories,  we explored the old with the new and found the most insane skate park. Jax was stoked..After a quick skate session it was time to get to work .We flew to Pleiku , in the central highlands and spent the night in the BEST local hotel, we were up at the crack of dawn for pick up. A black van pulled up out the front and the door slid open, and we were greeted by a van FULL of  Vietnamese volunteers with giant smiles ready to help us on this mission.

And so we were off ..The adventure was long but we made a few stops along the way. We stopped for breakfast and it was Banh Mi for a all..which is a Vietnamese sandwich consisting of a baguette filled with ingredients such as pork, pickled vegetables, coriander, chilli. so good ..

We traveled onto a small village. The van could go no further, we had to swap to motorbikes as the roads were to muddy. The supplies luckily had gone ahead of us the days before .

My mum voice kicked in “what the hell are you doing .. Jax on the back of the bike with a complete stranger in the slippery mud winding through the unknown. 

The mum moment didn’t last long and like always I new I had to follow my heart; I knew this was a small risqué step In the rawness off this adventure in which I so badly wanted to share with Jax.. I left my worries behind and we rode off into the mud with big smiles on our faces.

I looked around, WOW …WOW , WOW …where are we heading. Google maps had no idea, our Vietnamese friends said we were somewhere close to the boarder of Cambodia…. That made it all the more fun. At times Jax looked at me for reassurance.. I simply smiled and said “Isn’t this AMAZING!”… His heart and mind were blown open, he was ready and I felt immensely proud. 

I felt like we were in a Nat Geo show, small villages and farms, kids playing and running around small simple homes made from timber. The view of the mountains were breath taking I swear I could almost hear Sir David Attenborough. Finally we reached our destination. A tiny school in the middle of no where. Jax and I caught eyes. The look on his face told me he was feeling the same as me..

We were greeted by the principal and director and got the grand tour of the school ..Meeting the kids and teachers ..The kids were amazing…bare foot, oversized and undersized clothing yet full of life and playfulness. 

That day we gifted over 300 individually packed bags containing essentials such as clothes, shoes and schoolbooks for each child. We built a library and filled it with books, We shared with them the toys and other books that we brought over from Australia that our friends and local community had donated. As we handed each bag to each child their faces were shy but grateful, we were unable to speak each others language but we connected with our smiles.

We stayed and hung out for lunch before riding off into the sunset. The kids waved us goodbye, I struggled to hold back tears of pure joy and gratitude. The sun wrapping around the mountains I looked at Jax  and it filled my heart with intense love. Ultimate gratitude that we were in a position to do this work. Thanks to our friends at I Love Kontum for organising all the big and small details, we could not have done it without them.

“Happiness doesn't result from what we get, but from what we give.” 

And to share this gift of  giving with Jax was the ultimate gift. 

One act of kindness wont change the world.

But it may change one persons world.

..Munster kids 

The Kid Life.