Moanings of a working mum

Most of the time I feel pretty lucky about my work situation. I've re-trained and carved out a business for myself which I do mostly from home around the needs of the children. I also work 2 days in an office which I've managed to negotiate so that I start super early whilst the husband drops off the children, and I finish in time to pick them up from school. Compared to many situations this is the best of both worlds.

Yet at this time of the year there is a huge increase in the number of events and activities in my children's calendar, and my anxiety about not being there for them also increases.

In the coming weeks there is the pre-school nativity play, the school nativity play, the pre-school Christmas party, the school Christmas fair, plus a random inset day and end of term early finish. Aside from the school play which has an evening showing, all of these events occur on one of my two working days of the week. I have no annual leave left, and apparently I didn't have the foresight to save some for these activities. The children will have a mixture of Daddy looking after them and no parents turning up at all. Who knew that children had such hectic schedules?!?

So I ease my guilt with rationalisations. At least I am there to pick them up from school each day. At least I'm there at the weekends to spend time with them. They can see a positive example by having a working mum (not to imply at all that those working very hard running a household each day are offering anything less than a wonderful example too), theoretically we should have more money for holidays and days out (I say theoretically because we never seem to have any spare money!),

I negotiate and deal to get extra hours and days off. If I can wrangle the childcare and work late on this day, could I go in late after I've watched the nativity play? Can I appeal to my boss for yet another child-related activity which needs my attention?

To cheer us up here are 5 of the great things about going to work:
1) I can drink a hot cup of coffee
2) I can go to the toilet alone
3) I can spread out my work all over my desk and focus on a task without interruption
4) There are 7 whole hours when no one yells 'Mummmmmmyyyyyyyyyy'
5) It turns out that underneath all of the foggy, chaotic, mum of three madness there is a person with a brain that still functions. To some extent.

Sending big love to all the mums and dads out there who are working hard at home and in the office to be there for their children xxx

Easy veggie lasagne

I'm not really much use at all this homely stuff but I do try and get a few vegetables into the children. OK I present vegetables to the children and then wheedle and deal my way into getting them to nibble a bit. This vegetarian lasagne is popular with 2 of my 3, which is as good as it gets around chez Hastie.

To make it I chop up and stir fry 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 courgette, 1 pepper and about 1/4 tin of kidney beans. Sometimes I add brocolli too.

Once the veg is lightly cooked I add in 1 tin of chopped tomatoes and a dash of tomato puree. Then I transfer it all to a mixing bowl and blitz it with a hand blender until it is like the mush you feed to babies, ie no vegetables can be identified!

I then do 3 layers of veg mush, lasagne sheets and white sauce. There are great recipes for making your own white sauce but I use it from a jar to save time. So: mush, lasagne sheets, white sauce: repeat x 2. It should look a bit like this...

I cook it in a hot oven for approx 40-50 mins. After 30 mins I add some grated cheese to the top. I serve it with garlic bread to bribe the children into eating some of it.

I'd love to hear your quick and easy recipes for getting veggies into children!

A day for peace

Today marked the celebration of the Birth of Baha'u'llah, the Prophet-Founder of the Baha'i Faith. He was born in 1817 in Tehran, Persia. Now millions of Baha'is all across the world are celebrating this special day.

Yet as well as waking up to the happiness of my children ready to open their presents, I also woke up to the tragic news of yet more lives lost senselessly. Although many of you might see religion as a key cause of war, I believe it can inspire people to bring about unity, peace and social justice. Below is a quote from 'Abdu'l-Baha, the son of Baha'u'llah. Today more than ever I am trying to follow these words:

"I charge you all that each one of you concentrate all the thoughts of his heart on love and unity. When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love." 

Wishing you peace and prosperity from this corner of Devon.

Celebrating a new culture

Do we really want to be different? To think different, act different? Sometimes we just want to fit in. So how easy is it to raise children with a set of ideals, principles and teachings that are not the norm? How hard is it to remain consistent when parenting from any perspective?

My husband and I are members of the Baha'i Faith, a new world religion which teaches that world peace is not only possible that it is inevitable. A faith which asks us to overcome our prejudices and begin to see the world as one human family and to put that thought into practice by trying to get along with those around us. A faith that teaches that there is a Creator who is unknowable in his/her/its essence, but that our lives should be spent attaining closeness to that Creator by caring for our fellow men.

We are raising our three children to understand and hopefully embrace those teachings, whilst at the same time encouraging them to think for themselves and to appreciate and respect those of all faiths or of none.

It isn't always easy to go against the norm. One challenge at this time of year is the omnipresence of Christmas. Whilst we absolutely wish to celebrate the birth of Christ (as well as celebrate the Holy Days of other faiths) we do have our own calendar with special Holy Days. Today and tomorrow (13th and 14th November) mark the Twin Holy Days celebrating the births of The Bab and Baha'u'llah the Prophet-Founders of our religion.

Today gives me an opportunity to share the joy usually associated with Christmas with our children. We can share gifts as a family, celebrate together, and share stories from the lives of these two extraordinary figures.

I am really lucky to live in a place where I have friends who support and encourage me even if we share different faiths or perspectives. I hope you do too!

Happy Holy Days xxx

“The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.”—Bahá’u’lláh

For more info on the Baha'i Faith visit www.bahai.org