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Zoë Foster Blake Opens Up About The Challenges Of Being A Working Mum

“No more telling my son, ‘If mum can juuust get this work done, we can play!’” - by Pippa Nerada
  • 21 Mar 2018
Zoë Foster Blake Opens Up About The Challenges Of Being A Working Mum

Australian author-turned-skincare-founder-turned-app-creator Zoë Foster Blake has spoken candidly about the challenges of working from home as a mother, revealing she feels like a “half-worker half-parent”.

37-year-old Blake welcomed her second child, daughter Rudy, in July last year, and since then has not only released a children’s book, but an app and several skincare products as well.

But despite her successes, Blake admits it hasn’t been easy.

Posting a photo of the work space she’s just leased to write a new book from, Blake writes: “No more working from cafes! No more telling my son, “If mum can juuust get this bit of work done, we can play!””

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Today I leased a nook to work from. A proper, dedicated work space. No more working from cafes! No more telling my son, "If mum can juuust get this bit of work done, we can play!" No more trying to make unsuitable areas of the house (dining table, daughter's room, garden shed) into a work zone! I used to take pride in the fact I've written novels at rickety little tables I found on the side of the street, or at my kitchen bench, but I'm done with that narrative (as it were.) Also I am getting old and my back hurts and I need a proper desk and chair and probably some ugly ergonomic keyboard. Of course, working from home is a privilege and luxury. I know how lucky I am not to have to do the 7am-7pm, suit-n-commute. Working from home while my kids are so young and squishy is something I cherish. However, I now acknowledge that working from home means I do neither parenting, nor work, very well. Because as long as I'm being interrupted by adorable little people, I'll allow it. They'll be 14 one day and think I'm a loser: why would I knock back a cuddle when they think I'm wonderful? Alas, a productive day this doth not make. Trying to keep everything balanced is one thing; strapping on skates then throwing oil on the floor is quite another. And as an author on deadline, and someone trying to do Good Stuff with @gotoskincare, I need to treat my work with respect. To be a professional. To honour it, and give it my focus, just as I do with my family and my pet lizards, Knuckles and Biff. If you are fortunate enough to have a career you love, then I reckon you should probably take care of it, just like anything else you love. My goal is to leave behind the staccato, unfocused, half-arsed half-worker half-parent I currently am, and morph into a smug pig who elegantly compartmentalises work, family and writing appropriately. HAHAHAHHAHA! As if. I am totally just gonna lie here eating Redskins and reading Babysitters Club all day.

“Working from home while my kids are so young and squishy is something I cherish,” she continues, acknowledging that she’s lucky to be able to. “However, I now acknowledge that working from home means I do neither parenting, nor work, very well. Because as long as I'm being interrupted by adorable little people, I’ll allow it. They’ll be 14 one day and think I’m a loser: why would I knock back a cuddle when they think I’m wonderful?”

“Trying to keep everything balanced is one thing; strapping on skates then throwing oil on the floor is quite another. And as an author on deadline, and someone trying to do Good Stuff with @gotoskincare, I need to treat my work with respect. To be a professional. To honour it, and give it my focus, just as I do with my family”.

zotheysay View Profile
41.2k likes - View Post on Instagram
I reckon it just might be, girl.
zotheysay View Profile
102.5k likes - View Post on Instagram
Just a bunch of turkeys wishing you a joyous Christmas.

Kudos to Zoë for keeping it real.

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