I am so happy to introduce our Mothers with Many mother for this feature all the way from Italy! One of my favourite countries! This amazing busy mother of 4 and with the 5th on the way lives with her husband , kids , 2 bunnies and their dog in Florence AND works as a teacher! This busy mama never imagined having such a big family but wouldn’t want it any other way. You can follow Francesca and her beautiful family on Instagram @come_fate_con_4
Thanks for sharing your story with us Francesca! Grazie!
1. How many children do you have, name and ages ?
Hi everyone! My name is Francesca, I’m 34 and with my husband Alessio (38) we raise our 4 children (and 5th arriving in May) in the wonderful city of Florence, Italy. You can find us, know more about us, on our Instagram account @come_fate_con_4 that means in Italian “how do you manage with 4?” Because it’s the question that they ask us every day, but soon they will ask how do you do with 5!!! On our stories you can see our everyday-life!
–Children’s names and ages:Paolo 5 and half, Silvia 4 and half,Maria almost 3,Elena 15 months, Baby #5 expected in May.
2.) What is your current occupation?
I am an elementary teacher and my husband works in a bank, we have 2 good and quiet jobs with good hours, also my husband is at home a lot of the time.
3) What are the challenges of balancing work and parenting?
Actually I’ m on maternity permit, and I’m very lucky because my job permits me to stay home paid for all the pregnancy and 1 year after giving birth (with a reduce pay). With 4 children all so close in age I stayed home continually since 2013.
4) What is your life philosophy?
We live our everyday life trying to survive the best way possible, every day is a challenge!
5) What is a piece of advice you would give other mothers and what is one thing you wish you had known before having children?
I learned a lot in child care with the first two, and when we had the third newborn we could say we were expert parents! With the first one we didn’t know anything but then I read two books that helped me a lot: very different, but I found our perfect mix taking from both: “the baby whisperer solves all your problem” and “5 Days to a Perfect Night’s Sleep for Your Child: The Secrets to Making Bedtime a Dream” From both the books I learned that all newborns have a delicate balance between sleep and hunger, the more they eat, the more they sleep and the more they are quiet and you too! Now that I learned this, newborns are just a pleasure in our house.
6) What is your greatest achievement apart from your child/children so far?
My degree and my work. At the age of 23 I was already living by myself and earning from my work (in Italy is not so common: most of young people still live with their parens till 30) but i wanted to be independent and have my family.
7) What have you done that you thought you could never do?
I have never thought I could have a so big family but now I can’t no more imagine my life in a different way.
(I can only imagine how wonderfully happy and delightfully noisy it would be in your house Francesca !! I love that!!)
8) What books do you /did you like reading to your children?
My children love the good night stories: I read them fairy tales, classical or modern, adventures and interesting books. Their favorite book is “The Spiffiest Giant in Town”. They know it by heart and my son always wants to dress like him with tie and belt ;-))))
I love that Francesca reads all kinds of books to her children, so great for their inquiring minds! I hope Francesca you can add Three times The Fun to your library for the kids to read.
