1) Please describe your typical day
2) What is your favorite moment of that typical day?
3) What moment do you struggle with the most?
4) When do you daydream?
5) What's the best part about bringing up a family in central Berlin?
6) What is the strangest parenting advice you have received?
7) What piece of advice would you like to give the typical Berlin mom?
8) What memories do you have your mom at your own current age?
9) You're a mom of two girls and a boy - are little girls and little boys very different?
10) What are your hopes for this brand new co-written blog?
1) Please describe your typical day
ReplyDeleteMy weekday typically has three phases. Once the 3 kids are at daycare and school, I doodle around on the computer and at home. I'm not very good at concentrating on one thing at home, so I multitask - and end up getting very little done. The second phase of the day is to spend time outside of the home, meeting people for lunch or coffee, going to the gym or a class, going to the library or occasional exhibition, and reading at a cafe, or walking around. I had kept this babysitter time free for possible full-time jobs, but so far it's just "me time", and it does me good to be forced out of the house. I have a tendency to stay at home all day and get frustrated otherwise - and there's so much wonderful life to see outside of the doorstep. The third phase of the day is family time, when I spend time with the kids and my husband (if he is not traveling). If my husband has been traveling a lot and is at home, I often also go to meet friends who work full-time and are not available during the daytime for dinner or drinks after the kids are in bed.
2) What is your favorite moment of that typical day?
If I take a step back, the giggles of my children, the momentary realizations of the amazing support and love of my husband and the coziness of our home. But in the here and now, drinking a really good cappuccino and having a good laugh with friends over a glass of good wine.
3) What moment do you struggle with the most?
The half hour in the moorings before the kids are supposed to get to school. Although the older two are already very independent, I feel like I'm commando mode. Brush teeth. Get dressed. Brush hair. Make beds. Get ready. I hate it. And the last 30 minutes before bedtime, when everyone is getting slightly tired and there are still evening routines to be done with the kids (see morning routines…). It gets easier each year though, as the kids get bigger and more independent. But three is still a juggle at this age.
4) When do you daydream?
While I blog, and while I sit at a cafe and am inspired by something I read.
5) What's the best part about bringing up a family in central Berlin?
No car. Short distances for both parents and for playdates. Window shopping. Cafes. Eternal possibilities for a great coffee-to-go.
6) What is the strangest parenting advice you have received?
When I gave birth to my first child and stayed at the hospital for three days because I thought I would better "rest", the advice to pump milk with a machine every three hours, day and night, so that I would speed up breastfeeding. It was a big mess - I was a mess.
7) What piece of advice would you like to give the typical Berlin mom?
Use what schools and daycare can offer. You don't have to taxi your kids around the city for the best hobbies on offer.
8) What memories do you have your mom at your own current age?
My mom had children slightly later than I did. At 34, I was only 3 years old. She drew and did lots of crafts with me, and we had lots of playdates. She was often tired, especially a few years later when my younger sister was born. I didn't understand her needs then until very recently, when I feel the way she probably did back then.
9) You're a mom of two girls and a boy - are little girls and little boys very different?
Extremely. Boys have a different physical energy. My son throws things over, brakes things and is just stronger, even though he's a relatively calm boy. He's also fascinated by cars, engineering details. The girls enjoy drawing and crafts, and can sit still. But he's just as caring as the girls. I'm very luck to have such lovely children.
10) What are your hopes for this brand new co-written blog?
I can't say yet. Let's see where this leads to! I hope to hear more about life in Hong Kong, and get a better impression of daily details, which make life so spectacular.