Working mums - like Mumma like Minis

Meet Mia, tapping away at her Hello Kitty laptop and being "just like mummy" -  I so want on to these - and Eva getting serious on the iPants.

My girls, the lovely Mini Divas, love to play at being Mummy. I enjoy seeing see how they role play out their understanding of the world, as it acutely reflects on their understanding of me, my role as a mum, and how they view their role as a tiny, growing, female person.

More often that not I hear "I am mummy, I am blogging on the boom-cuter, then I am taking my baby to nursery , going to London and doing yoga". Oh right, that's me down pat then.

My girls are used to going to nursery, being with their family members during the week and having a range of settings. They know that mummy works ( we call the office at home "work" and London is also often referred to as "work", both are true. Ish). They, and I, also value immensely our time together which is invariably laced with colouring, cooking, cuddling and kissing. Learning from toddlers always gives a sense of perspective from the grown up world too.

Being working mum - or dad - is a constant ball jugging extravaganza of logistics. We often play tag team at home, so Miles comes home from work, we have dinner, send time with girls then he takes over as I pootle back to work. We tend to forget to tell each other things in the hand-over, often resulting in comical double ups and bad planning, but, for now, we manage.

My girls have a mum who is excited about her businesses, self employed, and proud of it -  albeit tired and very often frazzled.

I had a conversation the other week with a very high up, respected government organisation Director. All very grown up. I happened to be in my unicorn pyjamas,(staple evening wear I must add), ironing while the kids were hanging out and playing. Not so grown up.

I said I was happy to talk if he didn't mind my twins being around in the background, at which point he regaled me with stories of being a freelance working dad, and juggling conference calls with small people doing poos. It made me feel so much more human.

In my ecourse, the Freelance Workng Mum Survival Guide, we have been looking at referring back to your reasons for working, or being self employed. So often we can lost sight of why the heck we do this madness, as we fall over another lego brick on the way to answer a biscuit encrusted phone.

I am self employed because I can provide for my family and my daughters; I can inspire them to be ambitious and hard working, and because I enjoy my work so much I want to combine it with the way we live life.

Balancing everything is never easy. No-one ever feels they have it 100% sorted 100% of the time. But we try.

Do you lose sight of your aims? What motivates you as a self-employed mum?

I would love to know!

 

PS: If you missed the first round of the ecourse, don't worry  - you can check out my free tips and tricks on http://www.freelancemumsurvival.com/ and I will keep you posted when it reopens.