Our feature mother this week is Bronwyn Wiebecke. Bron is from New Zealand but lives in Germany! I am thrilled as Bron is our first feature mother of two grown children, so she has lots of experience to share. Bron works part time and like all mothers even with grown children has to find that “balance” between working and parenting.
Thanks Bron for sharing your story with us!
How many children do you have, name and ages?
I have two children ,Lara who is 21 and Carl who is 19. Both of them are studying at University.
2. What is your current occupation?
I am a self employed English language trainer and I have two jobs. One of my jobs is teaching business communication for a bachelor programme in International Business. That’s at a German University near home and it’s an international programme so I have students from all over the world which I really love. Makes it so interesting!
In my other job, I work for a language school where we teach a variety of languages including English. I work with students in companies or at the school in group classes or one to one lessons. These lessons are all tailored to meet the learner’s individual language needs. This includes Business English, English for academics or private lessons who just do it for travel or fun.
3. What are the challenges of balancing work and parenting?
I have been really fortunate to have the luxury of being able to work around my family duties. Since my husband has always worked long hours, I stuck to part time work while the kids were growing up. This meant I chose teaching assignments I could do while they were in kindergarten or at school. Now that they are older, I have more freedom to choose when I work. I have pretty much stuck to part time work as I have come to realise how important it is to get a work life balance going. Even thought they are quite grown up, they still need advice or help from time to time.
In general I would say it takes good organisational skills to work and be a hands on Mum. Sometimes life does get in the way and then you have to be creative with your solutions. It’s also great if you can have your partner on board and get them to realise how important it is for you as a person to get out of the house and do a job you find rewarding and enjoy. You definitely have to learn to say no ,to which I still struggle with sometimes.
( I think we all struggle with this no matter how old our kids are 🙂
4. What is your life philosophy?
I like to laugh and see things from the funny side. Life is truly short and when I look at how grown up my kids are now I realise how time is flying by. I try to consciously treasure time we spend together and often make myself stop and just enjoy the moment, whether with close friends or family because they are what really counts.
5. What is one piece of advice you would give other mothers and what is one thing you wish you had known before having children?
Somebody once said to me, while the kids were going through puberty. ” They are just a different kind of animal.” I thought this was really funny but he was in fact right! Another really good thing I also heard was/ “it will pass” and it always did. I would say to hang in there whenever your kids are being difficult. It all comes out in the wash! Lol. Don’t be afraid to do things your way. I wish I had known that there really is not wrong way, despite what others might tell you. Just love your kids, listen to them and be there for them as much as you can. There is no perfect recipe and I think it is healthy for your kids to know that you are only human too.
( Great advice, and there really is not wrong way, we all figure out what works for us along the way!)
6. What is your greatest achievement apart from your children?
Writing two short stories which were published in February this year wins hands down! Through teaching connections, I was commissioned to write a small reader for 16 year old high school pupils in Germany who are studying English. This has a New Zealand theme as their text book for the school year featured New Zealand. I had so much fun writing and it was a journey of self discovery. I received the final published version in the mail the day I was supposed to fly to New Zealand but couldn’t because of Covid and the lockdown. This made me really happy on what was otherwise a bit of a shitty day!
(Congratulations!!! that’s amazing!!)
7. What have you done that you thought you could never do?
I would have to say that it is choosing to live in Germany. I never thought I could leave my beautiful home country, my friends and my family to live on the other side of the world. Now I have a foot in both worlds and they both make me happy in different ways.
(Totally hear you as I did exactly the same! Good for you!)
8. What books did you read to your kids?
We read lots of books to the kids and I still have boxes full of children’s books, as I can’t bear to part with them! They love to be read to at bedtime. Probably their all time favourite was The Faraway Tree by Enid Blyton. There as also the Enormous Crocodile by Ronald Dahl as well as books like The Gruffalow and Room on the Broom. I also read my own childhood Golden Books (The Tawn Scrawny Lion) to them. Dr Seuss with Cat in the Hat and his other stories were also much loved. The list is endless so I’ll stop there!
I used to love The Faraway Tree too!! All these books are perfect for stimulating little minds! Perhaps one day you will be able to add my book Three Times the Fun to your grandchildren’s library of reading !!
