It seems like it was only yesterday when Kate Ritchie welcomed daughter Mae in August 2014.
But now the former Home and Away star is the mother of a pre-teen and we can’t believe how grown up she looks!
The mother and daughter duo recently stepped out in Kate’s hometown of Goulburn for the country town’s annual Lilac City Festival.
The proud mum also shared a snap of her 12-year-old reading a book to her Instagram Stories.
“My girl in Goulburn,” she captioned the picture as INXS track Beautiful Girl played in the background.
Motherhood certainly suits Kate who couldn’t contain her joy in an interview with the Australian Woman’s Weekly just months after her birth.
“My only fear is that I will become a complete hermit and never leave the house because I adore being with her. I want to spend every minute with her and talk to her,” she told the publication.
Kate, who shares Mae with her ex Stuart Webb, has called Mae “the greatest achievement I’ve ever had”.
“I thought the love of my life was Home and Away… Then I met this perfect being,” the actress and radio presenter wrote in an open letter back in 2018.
“It’s been a long road but I am so proud and so happy that I gave myself the chance to realise my greatest life achievements didn’t all have to be thanks to Sally Fletcher.”
In fact, Mae has taught Kate things that she didn’t even expect, including how her relationship with her body rubbed off on her little one.
“[Children] really do pick up on every single thing that you do. It’s been a very good learning curve that we need to be kinder to ourselves,” she told Good Health in 2018.
“I find myself every day censoring what I would normally say about what I am wearing or how I feel about my body, and I think in turn that’s teaching me to love myself a little bit more.”
After Mae was born, Kate made a concerted effort to keep her out of the spotlight, but in 2018 told Studio 10 why she decided to share snippets of Mae with the public.
“I think like any parent, you realise you’re just really proud,” Kate said.
“I think my biggest issue is what I shared – because I am the parent and I’m allowed to share – then became fodder for other people to perhaps write their version of events and that was the thing that kept me back [from posting photos of Mae].”
Kate told Offspring Magazine that parenthood has taught herself a lot about “dealing with it”.
“I do think that we are the parents and are meant to teach and guide her but Mae has equally if not more been a teacher to me,” she said.
“She’s made me more me than I’ve ever been.”
“I think what I realised about Mae is, she’s the first person in my entire life that I’ve ever met that doesn’t have a preconceived idea of who I am. I’m just her mummy,” she told news.com.au.
“That’s what I love most about her. She loves me purely for me. She really is the greatest thing.
“One of the highlights of my life was when she started making friends at school and her friends would yell through the gates ‘that’s Mae’s mummy’ because I was so used to people saying ‘That’s the girl from the television’.”
Kate has also previously opened up about the struggles mothers, particularly single mums, face while balancing their careers and parenthood.
“At times you can feel as though work is the thing that keeps you from being the mother you want to be – but it is important to gently remind yourself that in some ways your work also allows you to be the mother you want to be,” she said.
“I sometimes feel as though I am now on the outside of the world looking in – rather than being carried along by it.
“On a practical note, it has taught me I can no longer control everything, especially when it comes to my schedule.”
In a heartfelt Instagram post, Kate said her mini-me Mae is “full of wonder in so many ways” and helps her to simply be herself.
“She also helps me to simply be me, to pat myself on the back, to be patient, to care for other families, to appreciate the value of equality, to make plans, to want to be the best version of me, to realise I can have a go at anything, to accept myself, to count to ten and reassess, to stand up for myself and for girls, to love, to be loved,” she wrote.
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