When Mark Beretta isn’t presenting sports on Seven’s Sunrise, he’s busy being a devoted family man.
And although in the past he’s expressed his regrets about missing out on early mornings with his two kids, Ava and Daniel, the journalist assures Now To Love he wouldn’t trade his gig for anything in the world.
“I love my job so much and I love being with the team,” he tells us.
“It’s just never on my radar to change careers or to not be part of Sunrise. It’s such a magical work opportunity. I mean, we do over four hours of live TV every day, you know, a lot of people on TV don’t do that a week or a month.
He goes on to call his job a “rare gift” for someone who loves TV.
Mark with his wife, Rachel, and kids, Ava and Daniel.
(Image: Supplied)“And obviously we’ve had some great success with, 19 years of the number one breakfast show in the country. I could never ever imagine giving that up. I love it. I love working in sport. I love the guys I get to work with. I honestly pinch myself and I just have never ever considered leaving that.
“I will be there until they drag me out.”
Considering his mornings are spent working, Mark has cherished the afternoons and evenings he gets to spend with his family.
“I always got to pick the kids up from school and do things in the afternoon. A lot of my mates didn’t get to do that,” he explains.
When fellow Sunrise employee weatherman Sam Mac was preparing to be a father, rather than dish out fatherly advice Mark believes every dad should navigate parenthood in a way that works for them.
WATCH: Sam Mac makes his baby daughter laugh. Article continues after the video.
“I think what you find is that you’ve sort of got to do it for yourself a little bit and you can get all the advice in the world, but you go your own way and you make your own decisions,” he says.
“Everybody gets there in the end. And no matter who you are, or what you do, or how you plan, or the advice you’ve had, you’ll have ups and downs. Those medical emergencies and dramas and rushes to the emergency ward and all those things that happen in life, they’re sort of unavoidable.
“You do your best and you try to guide your kids with your values and just hope they come out happy and good community people who have a good sense of what they can do to help other people and an awareness of others.
“That’s sort of all you can hope for,” he continues, adding that he hopes his children “feel empowered and inspired to follow their dreams”.
“And have a crack at whatever they wanna do,” the journalist finishes.
Mark does, however, remember a piece of advice his own father gave him, which he tries to pass on to his kids.
“You might not be the most talented person in the room, but you can always be the hardest worker and that’ll get you there,” he recalls.
“Just having a bit of discipline in what you do. And when you’re dealing with other people, you respect them and you do what you can to help others.”
For a previous Father’s Day, Mark was pleasantly surprised with a RedBalloon helicopter ride around Sydney Harbour with his family.
“Whatever happens on Sunday will be an extra surprise because today was pretty special to do it with them,” the presenter tells us.
“Generally Father’s Day has been a Darrel Lea Rocky Road, which I love. And maybe some barbecue tongs or a barbecue apron or something like that. But they stepped it up and went into overdrive this year, which was fantastic.”
His kids’ gift giving skills have clearly been inherited by their mum, and Mark’s wife, Rachel, whom he describes as an “exceptional planner” and “world’s greatest gift giver”.
“Which is a curse and a gift at the same time, because I can never measure up to the same standard.
Mark is a sports journalist.
(Image: Instagram)“I also have a very thoughtful daughter who’s just like her mom and a son who’s pretty good too. So luckily that’s another thing they’ve taken from their mum, is the skill of gift giving.”
Despite loving his Rocky Road, Mark is a keen advocate for gifts that involve experience.
“I think it’s experiences that really bring families together,” he says. “I think they’re a great reward because most dads are big kids and they just wanna go and do stuff. And sometimes we get too busy and caught up in what we’re doing, whether it’s work or family life, and you don’t take the time to do stuff.
“But I think when someone hands you an experience and says, ‘listen, dad, you know, you’re going quad riding in the sand dunes, or you’re going for a helicopter flight over Sydney, or you’re going to jump out of a plane, or you’re going scuba diving or snorkelling, or you’re having a surfing lesson, when someone hands it to you like that, and it’s a gift, you up and do it.
“I’ve always been a big RedBalloon fan and, and you go through the catalogue of things they offer and I wanna do it all.”
Find dad the perfect Father’s Day gift now with RedBallon.
