After her husband took his own life, Vikie Shanks was left to raise seven children – all with special needs – on her own. She tells us about their unbreakable family bond, and how she has coped with no support from extended family…
home life
Family
From the bustle of east London’s Ridley Road Market to campfires in California, Cressida Knapp discusses leaving her nomadic lifestyle to settle in a former school house in rural Ireland. And what’s it’s like living in isolation as a new mother…
Family
“The early days with my firstborn were full of worry and extreme tiredness. We were readmitted to hospital after three days, because he had lost so much weight. I then had to feed him every hour.” Ruth Cullen on motherhood, so far…
Work Life
She changed the face of children’s literature by writing books with controversial themes: adoption, divorce, mental illness. We ask Dame Jacqueline Wilson – the author of Tracy Beaker – about mornings, her in-house library and the first time she called herself a writer…
Family
“If I could go back in time, I’d invent the kind of social media that exists now to empower and enable mums to be awesome. I didn’t know what to do with myself some of the time.” Occupational therapist Jane Fforde on becoming a mum at 25 and feeling a bit lost and lonely…
Mornings
She lives by the seaside in East Sussex with her husband – a musician – and earns her crust making rather lovely toys and decorations for children. We meet Michelle Kreussel, founder of The Fox in the Attic, to talk mornings and artist’s studios…
Family
“They performed something called a Kristeller’s maneuver, where a nurse had to stand over me on the bed and press as hard as she could on my belly with her arm and elbow, basically like squeezing out a tub of toothpaste.” Loraine de Sanctis, on the trauma of her daughter’s birth…
Mornings
“If the girls have nursery we get them scrubbed up and ready to leave the house. It’s a chaotic process that rarely goes to plan and usually results in Nathan being late for work.” Lulu Watts, founder of Lulu & Nat, on juggling a homewares business with raising two kids…
Family
“Becoming a mum means that you never have time to think about yourself. I think I miss the spontaneity of my married life before kids.” An incredibly honest and touching account of motherhood from Aster Sadler…