4.3.15

#ARWOMAN


Atterley Road have launched their #ARWOMAN campaign and have asked me to tell my readers about a woman who inspires me. Well I'm going to bend the rules a little bit and talk about the two most influential female figures in my life ( aside from my daughter!) My Mama and my younger sister Ali.

Growing up, my father would often be away on business for long periods of time, so really my mother brought my sister and I up entirely on her own. Sadly, she lost both her parents quite early in life, with her in-laws across the continent in Greece and as an only child, she had no one to fall back on should she ever needed a helping hand. I can't imagine how exhausting it must have been for her and this was undoubtedly one of the reasons why I hoped that my firstborn would never be an only child. My mother would tirelessly drive my sister and I to the best school around which was an hour round trip, morning and night, followed by after school activities every night of the week. During the school holidays, my father would often summon us to join him wherever he was in the world, at a moment's notice and I can distinctly remember my mum up all making lists and packing for the three of us. Even though my sister and I have now left home, her dedication to our family continues- when I was working part time, she would travel up to London from Wales every week to look after E and Rufio to save me going to the expense and stress of finding childcare for them. She is undoubtedly one of the most organised people I know, we jokingly call her the family PA as she is always trying to plan and coordinate things for us.

In a similar vein, my sister Ali gave up her high flying career in Banking to bring up her young family and pursue her love of photography. She is the smartest, sweetest and kindest person you could meet, I often joke that if she wasn't my little sister I would probably detest her for being so perfect! Bringing up two girlies under four, being the main carer for our family's three wayward Boston Terriers, all whilst pregnant with no 3 is no mean feat! Housewife, Stay-at-home-mum, full time mum- what ever you want to call it, (I personally find all three titles slightly patronising for various reasons), It constantly irritates me to witness the derogatory way that people treat women who chose to focus on raising a family rather than going out to work every day. I myself have been in both positions myself and neither is easy, going out to work and leaving the children takes it's toll emotionally, particularly from a guilt perspective and although staying home with the children is wonderful, being able to be part of their lives day to day, it is physically exhausting as you never get time to switch off.

I firmly believe that it is high time us Mamas stopped judging each other for one minute and appreciate the wonderful job that we are all doing. Ultimately we all have the same goal - to provide the very best for our families.

I would love to know who inspires you, why not share a photo of them on Instagram using the #ARWOMAN hashtag, tag your friends and get them to join in!

www.atterleyroad.com

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