Our featured mother this week is Tegan Ritchie.A fellow Aussie, Tegan is a mother to four beautiful children all under 7 years old! A busy mama for sure! Tegan is a stay at home mum and still has to find the balance between parenting, her husband and self care which we know is so important.Tegan has a wonderful philosophy on life to focus on feeling strong within which I love as we know if we are not healthy and strong we cannot be the best version of ourself for anyone. You can follow Tegan and her beautiful family on IG @raising.little.ritchies
Thanks Tegan for sharing your journey with us !
How many children do you have , name and ages?
I have been very blessed with 4 gorgeous babes, Oliver is 7, Thomas is 5, Averie is 2 and Hugh is 8 months old.
2. What is your current occupation?
I am currently a stay at home mum and have had the privilege of being home with my babes since Oliver was born nearly 8 years ago! I helped my mum with her small business for a little while in between having children, but now this is my only gig!
( I would definitely say it is a full time gig!!!!)
3. What are the challenges of balancing work and parenting?
I haven’t worked for such a long time.But I absolutely admire mamas who work full time or even part time and juggle parenting too, you are AMAZING! I did complete my Bachelor degree when I had two young children at home and I think jugging any type of workload comes with the challenge of finding the balance between work and family, but definitely prioritising when you have to and that can go both ways.
4. What is your life philosophy?
Ohhh that is a hard one! I think it would be just to simply focus on the things that make you feel strong within yourself and embrace all of the love that comes along in your life. It is important to be able to appreciated the little things. Even if it means slowing down every once in a while and just breathing it all in.
5. What piece of advice would you give other mothers and what is one thing you wish you had know before having children?
The biggest piece of advice that I would give is just remember to always do you! Never feel the need to comply to what others think ithe the picrture of a “perfect” mother. Every child guides us through their journey and you know best what works for you and your babe. While other people’s advice can be appreciated it doesn’t mean that you need to follow it every time.
(great advice and I can totally relate to the not worrying about what others think as you as a parent!)
I think I wish I would have known that this journey is so full of ups and downs. Such as overwhelming and beautiful journey all rolled into one!
6. What is your greatest achievement apart from your children so far?
I would say completing the last two years of my Bachelor Degree in Psychology when my eldest two children were 2 years and a newborn. It was a long journey for me and I got to do most of it from home, but I got there in the end! And whilst I haven’t decided what path I will take when I cboose to go back to work it still feels nice to have accomplished that. Oh! And of course my beautiful marriage and home that we have built together!
( I would say both are amazing achievements, I could not even imagine the challenges of studying with two small children, bravo to you!)
7. What have you done that you thought you would never do?
When I was 9 years old, I was diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. In my case it manifested itself in extreme hand washing, to the point of breaking my skin and an irrational fear of things happening to people that I love. Along with this came times of depression and anxiety which have flared up and down over time.And whilst across time I have been blessed with being able to establish strategies that have successfully worked for me and it affects me so much less today, I feel that something that I have done that I thought I could never do is accept the fact that this is me! While I am not defined by this part of myself, it is still a part of me. And to embrace it, has allowed me to become stronger and opened me up to speaking openly about mental health with others.
(Wow, bravo to you, it cannot have been easy when you were younger and so glad that you are able to manage it and more importantly talk to others about it to help others, so important.)
8. What books do you like reading to your children?
We are MASSIVE book lovers in our house!Our collection is extremely extensive (and colour coded haha!) But some of our current favouorites include , All the ways to be Smart, Feelings, The Anna Walker books and Going on a Bear Hunt. Oh and my children can never go past the Philip Bunting books or a good old Dr Seuss.
I love the colour coding for the books and love that you are massive readers. I think reading is so important for kids to foster their imagination and teach skills. I do hope that you can add my book Three Times the Fun to your massive library for the kids to read.
Would love to hear your story