By Angela Mollard
Five famous mums reveal how they juggle young children with their very public careers.
From breakfast through to bedtime, they’re on our screens looking polished and professional with neither a hair nor a word out of place. Authoritative and flawless, these TV dynamos seem so poised it’s difficult to imagine them dealing with dirty nappies and toddler tantrums. Yet they’re juggling successful careers with young children.
While others can hide behind a computer after a sleepless night or a brush with chicken pox, these TV yummy mummies have to front up to the nation and form coherent sentences as they deliver the news and weather.
So, how do they do it? Woman’s Day organised a play date with these TV mums and their tots to find out how they cope with their dual roles. Ten News presenter Natarsha Belling came with her 20-month-old son Harrison. Sky News presenter Tracey Spicer was there with her son Taj, 3, and daughter Grace, 19 months. And a very pregnant Kellie Connolly, who presents the news on Nine, brought along her two-year-old son Thomas.
Ten News presenter Kathryn Robinson came with her six-month-old twins Lucy and Sam, who found a little playmate in six-month-old Hayden, the son of Nine weather presenter Jaynie Seal.
As their children shared (and squabbled), the mums talked about their chaotic lives, including expressing milk at work, supermarket shopping between bulletins and that universal emotion: mother guilt.
How old were your children when you went back to work, and how difficult did you find it?
Kellie: Thomas was four-and-a-half months and in a great routine and sleeping really well. Of course, as soon as I went back he started waking at night. We hired a nanny, which made me feel more comfortable.
Natarsha: I went back when Harrison was three months. My mum travelled from the country each week to look after him and even though that was a great comfort, I suffered badly from separation anxiety. It was a struggle on a daily basis.
Tracey: Exactly three months after having Taj. It was tiring, because I was working until midnight on a Sunday then having to be back at 7.30am on Monday. Also, I felt I was perceived differently in the office as a mother because I was really the first newsreader to have children. Now it’s changing.
Jaynie: Hayden was five months and I had mixed emotions. I love where I work but, having spent every single minute of his life with him, it was daunting. Some days I’d be sitting at work and suddenly think, “Oh, my goodness, I have a son.”
Kathryn: The twins were five months when I went back. I missed them terribly, but I’d emailed a whole lot of pictures of them to work so I could look at them between bulletins. My husband (Seven News reporter Chris Reason) is on long service leave, so we haven’t had to address childcare yet.
Pictures by Andrew Jacob.
For the full interview, see this week’s issue of Woman’s Day (on sale March 10, 2008).
Read more about working mums.
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