A guest blog by Louise Emerson, the Musical Minis Durham franchisee, about her typical day.
Like most mums, my days are very busy with 3 fairly young children to care for. Our mornings start at 6.30am when I get up and ready before the girls, as once they are awake, chaos ensues! It feels like everything is on fast-forward; rushing around preparing breakfasts, distributing the outfits I’ve hung out the night before for each of them and doing 3 lots of hair before the school run!
Sadie, my youngest is at nursery school and she starts at 8.30am and so I have to take all of the girls with me to drop her off first. When she has gone in and settled, we head back home to drop the car off before I walk Holly and Phoebe to school.
On a Tuesday morning I have a 10am class so I jump straight in the car and head for Lanchester, which is a good 15 minute drive providing the traffic is good. This is a lovely group and I do look forward to seeing the children and their parents each week, to find out what they have been up to and discovering any new skills such as who has taken any first steps or learnt to clap or can now sing the words to a song they couldn’t before.
Following the morning session, I head back to nursery to collect Sadie at 11.30am. I then pop home briefly to grab a quick bite to eat and leave Sadie with my dad who looks after her while I do my Durham classes. She invariably ends up in a soft play centre or a park or farm! I then go to Durham where I have 2 back-to-back sessions from 1-3pm. It’s always a mad rush to get home to collect Sadie before sprinting to school for 3.25pm to collect her big sisters.
When we get home just before 4pm, the girls have a quick snack before we are off out again to take Holly to Harriers which starts at 4.30pm and finishes at 6pm. We don’t have to stay, which is just as well sometimes as it gives me a chance to get tea sorted.
It’s nice to finally get in for the night even though I then have to sort out housework/homework etc. My husband’s job involves him being abroad for weeks at a time so it’s often just the girls and me. After tea and a bit of a play, they all have a bath and get ready for bed. As they all love books, it’s 3 lots of bedtime stories before I can finally come downstairs to sort through any emails or admin I may have to do for Musical Minis.
My days can be very busy but it’s great that I have a job that I can work around my family. I always do the school run; attend any sports days, concerts, assemblies etc. Plus there aren’t many jobs where you can take your child to work with you – which I do on a Thursday. I can’t imagine going back to my previous role as a full time teacher now. I feel I have the best of both worlds; I still get to work with children, which I love but I don’t have to sacrifice time with my own to do it, so I feel very lucky.
Musical Minis Durham runs classes in Belmont, Chester Le Street, Durham, Lanchester and Newton Hall. For details about classes and to book online please click here . Louise can be contacted by email at [email protected]
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