Julia Morris is a busy woman. She’s an award-winning actress on House Husbands (which is soon starting filming of its fifth season), a host of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here, and a successful and damn hilarious comedian.
She also has two girls, Ruby and Sophie, with her husband, fellow comedian Dan Thomas.
Free time is a rarity for her, and she’s not afraid to admit that on the odd occasion she does have some moments to spare, she doesn’t necessarily want to spend it with her kids and husband.
“You can try and create extra time for yourself but it doesn’t mean that I want to spend it with my husband and children,” she tells The Weekly Online.
“The one thing that never gets seen to is time just for mum. I know I get to be myself when I’m out working but when I’m home, it’s Dan, the girls and I – so when’s that time you actually get to yourself? That’s the sacrifice of looking like you’ve got it all.”
The comedian isn’t one to shy away from saying she needs some Julia time. “I’m blocking the girls at the moment, I’m not feeling guilt for that – I definitely need time for myself.”
She tries to find these child-free moments during the week when the kids are at school, but she admits that when it comes to the weekends, she likes to devote her time to her family.
“If the girls want to do playdates, then [that’s a] triple bonus. But if not and they want to have children at the house, then I feel like the minimum I can do is be present and let that happen.”
So how does a busy working woman like Julia balance it all? Well, she says that fairytale concept just doesn’t exist.
“I love that people keep saying we need to strike that work-life balance but I can absolutely assure you there’s no such thing. I think it’s an advertising catch-phrase.
There’s no point looking for that work-life balance because you’re just going to be dissatisfied in the fact that you can’t find it.”
So what’s the best remedy? “I guess – for want of an overused expression – it’s being in the moment,” she says.
In Julia’s eyes, having this mindset when it’s come to being a mum has made her proud to admit she’s far from perfect. “I don’t have perfection in me. I can try and try but I’m doing so much stuff I’m probably going to get a few of these wrong.”
This, she believes, is the same for all parents – and there’s nothing wrong with that. Because when it comes to parenting, there are no rules. “I think you can just try your best every single day. Who knows what the children are going to take from our lives. I’ll know in my heart at the time that I tried my best,” Julia says.
In a world that is constantly passing us by, Julia sums it up pretty neatly: “Life’s like a treadmill; I’m not really noticing what’s up ahead, I’m just trying to keep up.”
She did give us a few priceless pieces of parenting advice though:
1.Apologise to your kids when you need to.
“When we do make mistakes, it’s [about] going to them and saying you know what, I did do that wrong and I’m going to try better next time and I’m sorry I mucked that up. It’s not that often, but it is important as an adult. That’s a big lesson I try to pass on.”
2.Send videos as thank you cards.
“I found a genius revelation for the girls’ birthdays. If someone buys you a birthday present I think the least you can do is say thank you in return. I said to Dan, ‘you know what, as they’re opening the present, let’s video it and then email it saying thank you!’ I reckon that saved us probably a whole Saturday and a Sunday morning of making 20 thank you cards.”
3.When you desperately need some free time on the weekend, the Pyrolytic function on the Westinghouse oven is Julia’s sneaky hack.
“On the weekend, tell the family you’re going to clean the oven and suggest they go out for a few hours to avoid the chemical fumes. Once they leave, just turn on the Pyrolytic function (which cleans the oven for you without any chemicals) and enjoy a cuppa and a magazine on the couch in silence!”
We’ll take that advice, Julia.
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