Ten years after we celebrated their births, we discover the babes of 2013 are thriving, inspiring and melting hearts
Healthier, wealthier and wiser . Gen Alpha's future looks bright.
Ten years ago, the Sunday Herald Sun introduced you to 100 babies born on 100 consecutive days at 18 hospitals across Victoria, to celebrate the joy of new life.
Now, 10 years on, we've revisited those children to discover the triumphs and challenges of their lives to date and to share the excitement of their life plans.
On these pages the seven 10- year-olds from the original 100 are a snapshot of Victoria's future they are multicultural, optimistic and brimming with ideas.
As members of Gen Alpha, they can expect to live longer and healthier lives, to enjoy greater prosperity, and achieve higher education than any previous generation.
In the 10 years since they were born, the world has already changed dramatically.
Earth's population has grown by almost a billion, Melbourne's median house price has nearly doubled, and new technologies such as artificial intelligence have created both excitement and trepidation.
Like all loving parents, their mums and dads worry about their futures climate change, social media, the economic crisis, technology, a new pandemic worse than Covid-19 . And while most parents simply wish for their children to be healthy and happy, these spirited 10-year-olds have bold plans.
Showing wisdom far beyond her years, Emaira Tomar, from Williams Landing, plans to be a neurosurgeon or heart surgeon because "this world needs a lot of them".
Ruansh Chowdhury, from Wyndham Vale, hopes to be "an Australian national team cricketer like Shane Warne".
Koby Robertson, from Ballarat, dreams of becoming a professional enduro motorbike rider, while Bianca Sommers, from Melbourne, wants to be a tennis player.
Saira Bakshi, from Point Cook, plans to become a zoologist. Ben Steinhauser, from Doreen, has his heart set on being a real estate agent.
"I want to dress up in a suit and drive a sports car!" he explained. And Andy Zhu, from Notting Hill, is truly reaching for the stars.
"I want to be an astronaut so I can explore space and research stars and planets," he said.
For these 10-year-olds, Covid-19 lockdowns, remote learning, mask wearing and sport cancellations formed a defining chapter of their early primary school years.
But most have bounced back better than ever, equipped with a new resilience.
Ruansh's mum, Priyanka Chakraborty, said the Covid years were highly stressful, financially and mentally, and took a toll on her son's physical and mental wellbeing.
"Fortunately, he was able to quickly recover and cope with the post-Covid life," she said.
Now, Ruansh is one of the top students in his class and recently achieved a best-inschool award in the Australian M a t h e m a t i c s Competition.
Ms Chakraborty's biggest hope is whatever Ruansh does in life, from studying to playing cricket, he will "be the best in it and make a big difference for the society and country".
For Ben, the challenges of Covid-19 were exacerbated when he moved house and changed schools in the midst of the pandemic. "His first day at his new school was on an online Zoom call," his mum, Kristy Steinhauser, said.
Clinical psychologist Zena Burgess, chief executive of the Australian Psychological Society, said a child's first 10 years were an "incredibly important" period in their development.
"As well as being a time when children learn about being in a family, it's when they learn resilience, empathy for other people and how to be in a team," she said.
While the pandemic was a tough time for children, Dr Burgess said several positives emerged from it.
"It teaches them about resilience and building positive relationships and flexibility," she said.
"Even for young kids that didn't have an opportunity to socialise at the time they would normally do it, it just means they've learnt those skills a little later. In fact, children are much more flexible and adaptive than we are as adults." For our 10-year-olds, reaching double digits this year has been a big milestone, accompanied by new privileges and opportunities to be independent.
For Ben, the best part about turning 10 was "being old enough to choose what I want to buy at the shops with my pocket money and birthday money".
Saira says the best part is "getting more allowance", while Emaira, wise as ever, likes making more of her own decisions and being "independently able to help my parents in daily household life".
Social researcher Mark McCrindle said today's 10- year-olds could expect to have six separate careers over their lifetimes, work until their 70s, live to their 90s, and enjoy greater health and wealth than any previous generation.
"This will be a globally connected, the most technologically savvy and formally educated generation in history, emerging into the workforce at a time when there's mass retirements and an ageing profile," he said.
"So what an opportunity for them to be leaders, influencers, earners at a time when there's going to be shortfalls in the workforce and opportunities to make those impacts."
The 10-year-olds are experiencing vastly different childhoods from their parents, with more technology including video games, social media and less free outdoor play.
Like most mums, Ms Steinhauser juggles work and family, and can't be there for her kids every afternoon the way her non-working mum was when she grew up.
"I'm not there to sit side-byside to do their homework after school, so they probably fend for themselves a bit more than I ever did," she said.
For Bianca's mum, Cindi Sommers, watching her daughter enjoy more opportunities than she had growing up in South Africa has been a joy.
"Being Australian has just been so fantastic for her, to live in such an amazing country and to have the opportunities that she does have, and the freedom that she has," she said.
"She goes to a wonderful school and has wonderful friends."
As for future challenges, the parents' concerns are plentiful.
Ms Chakraborty said Ruansh's possible challenges would be more pandemics, climate change impact, natural disasters, man-made disasters such as war, and "technological revolution AI and machine learning and robots taking the place of humans".
For Ms Sommers, like many, the biggest worries are the cost of living and plummeting housing affordability.
"It will really be hard for them to own their own assets and it will probably come down to parental help," she said.
Without exception, the parents believe their kids have made them better people.
Koby's mum, Lisa Robertson, said the first decade of her son's life had been "10 years of growth, fun, tears, laughter and lessons".
"He's taught us more about life in the best possible way than we ever expected or imagined," she said.
Emaira's mum, Archana Panwar, said life had become "very mechanical" and the couple forgot to look for happiness in the little things in life before their children were born.
"Their childish things fill us with happiness and even bring out the little child out of me," she said. "I learnt and am still learning how not to be judgmental and it has made me a more forgiving person."
Andy's dad, Yong Zhang, said it had been an incredible journey watching his son's development, and he was excited to watch him "evolve into an amazing person".
"I have a deep love for Andy, and I'm incredibly proud of everything about him," he said. [email protected]
WHAT TO EXPECT FOR GEN ALPHA NN Half will live past 92 years of age NN Most will enter the 22nd century NN Most will work 50-plus years and still be earning income in their 70sNN On average, they will have 18 jobs across six careersNN A third will still be living at home in their 30s NN Many will attain the highest level of formal education ever NN More likely to delay having children until their 30s, and more likely to have no kids
NN By 2047, when many will hope to buy their first homes, the average income will be $197,000 but the average Melbourne house will cost $2.4m Source: Social researcher Mark McCrindle |