Balancing work and family

What are your top tips for getting children to do what you ask? Her sticker Chart! If she fills in two weeks worth of stickers she gets a treat or some pennies for her money box. She can choose to spend or save them! (Usually spent on ice cream)

What family task takes you the longest? Getting ready to go to an activity, such as horse riding or swimming. If we’re not organised, riding boots or arm bands are usually forgotten, making us turn the car around again!

What’s the weirdest thing your children have done/brought home/done to your house? Unicorn poo. Saffie has an obsession with slime, and was bought Unicorn poo as a treat (slime with butterflies and glitter in it!) It ended up all over her Uncle and our sofa!

Have your children ever really, really surprised you? How and why? She was born at 26 weeks, her strength and fight from such a tiny human being to now surprises me every day. She was 1lb 14oz when she was born.

What’s the most bizarre thing you have found yourself saying since having kids? “Do you need a wee?” I ask so many times a day, she’s been toilet trained for two years but I still ask an unnecessary amount!

What’s the funniest thing your children have ever said/done? She once shouted me at six on a Saturday morning asking if she could get into my bed, I kindly told her it was too early and to go back to sleep for an hour. I heard her say to herself. “Yeah, hmmm, ok. I think I’m going to go get in anyway.”

Mini moan - what really gets your goat? When Saffie doesn’t concentrate or listen…and she says Pardon five times even though she heard me the second time.

What’s your favourite family day out? We enjoy bowling and then tea afterwards as a treat day out. Spending quality time together and a bit of healthy competition between mummy and daddy.

What hobbies/pastimes do you enjoy as a family and separately? I enjoy tap on a Monday night, Tom enjoys playing cricket for a local team and Saffie enjoys horse riding every Sunday and swimming with her Dad.

What’s the hardest thing about being a parent? For me it’s working full time and having enough energy. Tom works away Monday to Friday most weeks, so I deal with the household and work on my own a lot.

What’s a typical evening for the grown-ups once the children are in bed? When Tom is at home, wine, dinner and a film!

What is Leeds’ most family-friendly restaurant and why? We enjoy ASK in Wetherby. The staff are great with Saffie, it’s always tasty and plenty healthy and naughty options for kids.

What’s the best thing about weekends and why? That we are all together, we cherish it as we only get 48 hours together as a family every week.

What is your most treasured memory? The day Harrogate Hospital told us we could take Saffie home. After three months in hospitals it was the end of a very long and anxious journey.

What’s the children’s favourite food/meal? Fish Pie or Salmon fillet.

What’s your top penny-pinching tip? Feeding Ducks. Animals entertain children for hours. Living right by the river we are very lucky to have this within walking distance from home and it only costs 50p for a loaf of bread!

One family member’s proudest achievement? Buying our first home, as a family.

What one item can you not live without? Anything that connects me to the internet. When I need answers I need them now.

What can your children not live without? Her bunny rabbits they are “her poppets.”

Child’s favourite book and author. A Squash and a Squeeze – Julia Donaldson.