Hello and welcome back to The Mummy Juggle, a series designed with Mums in mind to share stories and inspiration about how to cope with the day-to-day struggle of juggling work and family life. A struggle I’ve affectionately named ‘The Mummy Juggle.’ The Mummy Juggle: ‘The non-stop juggling act of being a mother, holding down a job, running a home and generally being an all round superwoman!’ I’m nine months into my maternity leave with Ollie now [9 MONTHS!!] so my head is now starting to think about how exactly I’m going to juggle things when it’ time to go back to work. This month we hear from Nicola, a full time working Mum who loves her job and thrives on the challenges it brings. At the same time, she adores being at home with her family and is currently on maternity leave until 2020 which she is hugely enjoying. Nicola | Mummy to Dex I’ve been a full time working Mum since my maternity leave ended in May 2017 and I returned to the work place. I work as a branch manager for a national company which is very prominent on the high street. It can be difficult having to deal with unhappy customers and disgruntled staff, but on the whole I love my job and thrive on hitting my targets and creating a friendly and positive workspace for my colleagues. I was dreading the return to work after having Dexter and it was made even worse by not knowing which branch I would be returning to. The great thing about working for a brand which has branches on every high street in the U.K. is that you can work wherever you want, pretty much. At least this was the case when I returned to work in 2017, more and…
Hello and welcome back to The Mummy Juggle, a series designed with Mums (or Dads) in mind to share stories and inspiration about how to cope with the day-to-day struggle of juggling work and family life. A struggle I’ve affectionately named ‘The Mummy Juggle.’ The Mummy Juggle: ‘The non-stop juggling act of being a mother, holding down a job, running a home and generally being an all round superwoman!’ This month I have a Mummy Juggle with a twist as it’s actually by a Dad, Phil. In this months edition Phil from Parenting Phils shares his story about how he and is partner finally became parents and the struggles he has found juggling work, fatherhood and day-to-day life! I love this months edition because it shows ‘the juggle is real’ for anyone, not just Mums!! Thanks so much Phil for your story. In honour of you, I’m renaming this months edition ‘The Daddy Juggle’! You can find previous contributions to this series here, here and here. Phil from Parenting Phils in The Daddy Juggle Being a dad was something I had always dreamed about, and for quite a while adoption was something really on my mind, however it was it clear that it wasn’t on my partner’s. I finally swallowed that dream and tried to move on from the idea. About 6 months later, he was working away in India and totally out of the blue sent me a link to our local authority website. The link was to a story about two young boys who were looking for their forever home. The text that came with it read “I think we could offer kids like these a great home” and was then followed by another text saying that the organisation was hosting an information day the following week and that we…
Hello and welcome back to The Mummy Juggle, a series designed with Mums in mind to share stories and inspiration about how to cope with the day-to-day struggle of juggling work and family life. A struggle I’ve affectionately named ‘The Mummy Juggle.’ The Mummy Juggle: ‘The non-stop juggling act of being a mother, holding down a job, running a home and generally being an all round superwoman!’ This month I have a special contribution from Eda who set up ‘Money for Mummy’ a blog dedicated to helping parents find opportunities online to supplement their income, or even find an income if they are unable to secure part-time work. Eda’s story is not only inspirational but also very useful and I hope her site can help some readers find opportunities for themselves. You can find previous contributions to this series here, here and here. Eda | Money for Mummy When my daughter got to 6 months old, I realised I needed to decide what would happen when I went back to work. My priorities had changed with the arrival of my little one. I wanted to be able to spend time with her during the week, but still work enough hours to support our family income and keep my foot in the door to my career progression. I suggested working some hours from home to help me get the right work/life/financial balance. Unfortunately, my employer wouldn’t support this, and I had to cut down to 3 days/week. I was earning so little by working there after childcare costs were considered that it really was just for the love of my job that I was going back. I would be left with quite a big hole in my income. As I would look after my daughter on the days I wasn’t in the…
Hello and welcome back to The Mummy Juggle, a series designed with Mums in mind to share stories and inspiration about how to cope with the day-to-day struggle of juggling work and family life. A struggle I’ve affectionately named ‘The Mummy Juggle.’ The Mummy Juggle: ‘The non-stop juggling act of being a mother, holding down a job, running a home and generally being an all round superwoman!’ I’m four months into my maternity leave with Ollie now [4 MONTHS!!] But that doesn’t stop me constantly thinking about how I am going to juggle things when its time to go back to work and that’s only with two children. This month we hear from Gemma who at age 20, on maternity leave with her second child realised working full time and paying for childcare was going to leave her out of pocket and so she began looking into options for running her own business. Her entrepreneurial spirit and desire to learn meant she opened her own children clothing store soon after and she’s recently just graduated with a Business and Management Degree where she worked part time through out with four children under 10!! She really is superwoman and I’m very proud to be able to share her story… Gemma | Yorkshire Mum of Four I was 18 when I fell pregnant with my first child and a record ten years has passed since then through a relationship break down after 7 years together and 3 children later to the happier times of meeting my current husband, having my fourth child with him and buying my first home. So lets recap over the last 10 years and talk about my years of being a parent. Becoming pregnant at 18 while still living at home was terrifying, I had just left college where…
H ello and welcome back to The Mummy Juggle, a series designed with Mums in mind to share stories and inspiration about how to cope with the day-to-day struggle of juggling work and family life. A struggle I’ve affectionately named ‘The Mummy Juggle.’ The Mummy Juggle: ‘The non-stop juggling act of being a mother, holding down a job, running a home and generally being an all round superwoman!’ It’s been a couple of months since I last shared a post in this series as I took a little time out to concentrate on Ollie, however now its back I think you’ll agree I’ve found the perfect guest poster to kick the series off again. This month we hear from Claire owner of Daily Deals UK who makes me dizzy with all that she has managed to achieve since becoming a mum for the first time at 14. Determined not to become a statistic, Claire has worked painstakingly hard to achieve her dreams and is now the proud owner of two successful businesses with five beautiful children to boot. Her determination to teach herself new skills in order to realise her dream of owning her own website is breathtaking and I’ve found this story so inspiring!! Claire | Daily Deals UK I had my first child at age 14 and dropped out of school and started working in a supermarket on a Saturday to make ends meet at the ripe old age of 15. There was no way I was going to ever become a statistic and went from job to job until I was in my 20s and got a work at home role as a customer services assistant. It was then I knew I would always work from home! There was no more jugging the kids (2 by then) and it…
Hello and welcome to this months edition of the Mummy Juggle series. A series designed with mums in mind to share stories and inspiration about how we all cope with the day-to-day battle of juggling work and family life. A struggle I’ve affectionately named ‘The Mummy Juggle’. THE MUMMY JUGGLE: ‘THE NON-STOP JUGGLING ACT OF BEING A MOTHER, HOLDING DOWN A JOB, RUNNING A HOME AND GENERALLY BEING AN ALL ROUND SUPERWOMAN!’ In the series so far we’ve heard from six other amazing mums who are juggling work and family life and from the stories we’ve heard, it’s clear that the notion of a ‘perfect mum’, with an amazing career, perfect house, flat stomach and four beautifully groomed children doesn’t actually exist. The reality is there will always be compromises that have to be made. In this months edition of The Mummy Juggle we hear from Maria who courageously took a leap of faith and left her job whilst on maternity leave with her second child. Its scary taking such leap into the unknown, especially when there’s an additional mouth around the table to feed, but it appears Maria has now found her path, recently setting up her new business ‘Fill That Space’. I really enjoyed hearing Maria’s story and hope you do too… The Mummy Juggle: Maria from Mummy On A Break Until I became a mummy, I really had no idea how it would affect me. How I would think. How I would feel. How I would see things, and how things that were once important would become unimportant. To complicate life even more, and throw more balls into the juggle, whilst I was on maternity leave, with my second child, I decided to take a leap of faith and leave my job. Crazy or courageous. I’ll let you know in…
Hello and welcome to this months edition of the Mummy Juggle series. A series designed with Mums in mind to share stories and inspiration about how to cope with the day-to-day struggle of juggling work and family life. A struggle I’ve affectionately named ‘The Mummy Juggle.’ The Mummy Juggle: ‘The non-stop juggling act of being a mother, holding down a job, running a home and generally being an all round superwoman!’ Returning to work after having Ettie was a huge hurdle I wasn’t expecting to climb. The impact of trying to juggle running a home, maintain focus at work and spend enough quality time with Ettie really knocked me off my feet and it was something I wasn’t expecting. I set up the Mummy Juggle series as I was interested in hearing from other Mums on how they deal with the daily struggle of working life in the hope that it will provide a place for Mums to share tips on how to make life a little easier. I’m lucky in that my work is pretty flexible and I’ve been able to make small changes (such as working from home on a Tuesday) which mean I’ve slowly been able to create a workable work/life balance. However its still hard. In an all too familiar situation, this months guest writer Caroline realised that her original career in media wasn’t going to provide the flexibility she needed to raise a family and so she re-trained as a Career Coach and now works on a freelance basis, helping Mums achieve their career goals and navigate the job market – which is a pretty scary place for any Mum. Caroline joins five other amazing mothers who have also contributed to this series and you can find links to their stories below, however before that please take time to read Caroline’s story, a story of guts,…
Hello and welcome to this months edition of the Mummy Juggle series. A series designed with mums in mind to share stories and inspiration about how we all cope with the day-to-day battle of juggling work and family life. A struggle I’ve affectionately named ‘The Mummy Juggle’ In the series so far we’ve heard from four amazing mothers who are juggling work and life, but slaying it by making life work for them and successfully building some fantastic blogs in the process. From the stories we’ve heard, it’s clear that the notion of a ‘perfect mum’, with an amazing career, perfect house, flat stomach and four beautifully groomed children doesn’t actually exist (unless she pays for a little help!). The reality is there will always be compromises that have to be made. In this months post we hear from Jess, an honest speaking mother of two who tells it exactly like it is! She quite rightly points out just how many plates there are to keep spinning at any one time, but also highlights the really important fact that it’s OK to let some fall if we need to! As much as it feels like we need to be superwoman to keep it all together, sometimes we really need to give ourselves a break! So what if little Johnny has shop bought outfit on World Book Day, or Olive had to take a box of Sainsburys flapjacks to the bake sale on Tuesday! The most important thing is that Mummy present, there and happy on those rare occasions you get to spend time together! Not flapping about trying to make a Victoria Sponge, snapping like a Rotwiller in a heatwave! I love Jess’s straight forward approach to parenting and I hope you enjoy reading her story as much as I…
Hello and welcome to this months edition of the Mummy Juggle series. A series designed with mums in mind to share stories and inspiration about how we all cope with the day-to-day battle of juggling work and family life. In the series so far we’ve heard from three amazing mothers who are making the work/life balance work for them and successfully building some fabulous blogs in the process. From the stories we’ve heard to date, it’s clear to see that the notion of a ‘perfect mum’, with an amazing career, perfect house, Mary Berry-esque baking skills and beautifully groomed children doesn’t actually exist, as there will always be compromises that have to be made. Being a Mummy is HARD and I’d like this series to demonstrate that we all get stressed sometimes but its OK to admit that!! ‘The Mummy Juggle’ is all about sharing stories to help and inspire other Mums through the more challenging times and provide comfort in the fact that we’ve all been there. Some may also have managed to make positive changes to their life that will lead to a better balance in the future…. and this months story is no exception! In this months post we hear from Gemma, a working mum of two children who has recently changed career from accountancy to internet marketing. She runs Waist Trainer UK and writes a blog as Mummy’s Waisted, which centres around her attempts to fit healthy living and fitness around family life. I found Gemmas story so inspiring as it really resonated with me. Working full-time myself in a career which I was pretty focused on before having my daughter, I empathise completely with Gemma in how it is hard to find that middle ground between pushing yourself at work and being ‘present’ at home. With…
Hello and welcome back to the Mummy Juggle Series for 2018. I started this series back in October 2017 as I was struggling adjusting being back at work full-time and I thought it would be a useful way for other mums to share their stories to help raise awareness that its OK to feel a little stressed sometimes, and that whatever impression we may give off on the outside, being a working Mum is bl**dy hard sometimes and its OK to admit that! In that time we’ve heard from two amazing mothers who are making the work/life balance work for them and successfully building two fabulous blogs. Each of them admitted that whilst it is hard and sacrifices do have to be made, if you are organised and motivated then anything is possible. This month we hear from Justine who blogs at Liljemandbabye and is no exception. As an update from me, I’ve now hit the six month mark since returning to work and can definitely say that things are getting easier. Whether that’s because Ettie is a little older so I don’t feel as guilty leaving her, or because I was working through some emotional issues linked to the MC that I probably wasn’t aware of that have now passed. Either way I’ve found I’m arriving in the office a lot more energised and ready to tackle the day ahead. I’ve even re-started the process of becoming Chartered, something I thought was a complete pipe dream as little as two months ago. So to anyone out there who may be struggling, please don’t give up, talk to friends, make changes where you can to make life a little easier (for example I now take two Mondays off a month as annual leave so I can spend a day with Ettie), and…
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