We chat to the mums that inspire us on Instagram to find out their best tips and tricks to motherhood. From raising teenagers, to surviving the newborn phase, this advice is pure gold! So grab a pen and paper, and get ready for a good laugh…

Jayde Couldwell

(aka @londonxboston)

Mum Hacks:

One hour of power! - This is where I make the girls clean up all their mess at the end of the day - genius.

Get up half an hour earlier before the household so you can have a shower and coffee in peace before the mayhem starts!

My favourite podcast is @beyondthebump.podcast - raw truths of motherhood.

I believe in order to be a great mother you need to take time for yourself.

Sybil Steele

Best Mother Hacks…

I always put the vegetables out first while I'm cooking the main dinner and it's a sure thing they will disappear.

I have two teenage girls, 13 and 15. I keep an open door policy for the teens and their friends. Not 24 hours a day, every day, but all their friends know they are welcome here and it's a great way to observe without intrusion, what they are up to or going through.

Books…

Girls and Sex. Redefining how we approach the topic of sex with girls and making it a more positive experience, with further education and removing programming that no longer serves women.

Tips…

I try my hardest to celebrate WHO they are and not what everyone thinks they should be. That's a very careful balance of listening and giving independence. It's hard not to worry, especially raising them in NYC, but I think it will empower them later to own up to themselves and not please everyone else first as a priority.

I also have a great teen therapist - for me! It is a proactive method rather than reactive. I will give him situations we are in, how I handled it and what I'm worried about. He helps guide me on what works with teens. He's counselled NYC homeless teens, to kids with incredible abundance and wealth. I like his range and his years of experience.

Quirky things I do…

Sometimes I act like the teenager and that seems to make them more responsible or cautious. I’m as mature as I am immature.

What is helpful as a mom…

Having a community of friends to lean on. I would be lost without my girlfriends. They are a massive support system for mental and emotional health.

Self-care…

Workouts, massages, beauty, meditation, girls trips. I have no problem putting myself first, and often!

Courtney Reynolds

(aka @napkinapocalyse)

I have 2.5 year old twin girls and a boy who is almost 5. Here’s a few random things that I thought of that have made our lives a little easier. I keep a jar of gummy bears in my car and the kids will leave almost any situation to get into their car seat for a gummy bear. My husband and I feel pretty overwhelmed very often and I think keeping a sense of humour throughout all of it is the only reason we’ve survived. The chaos is actually hysterical depending on how you look at it. Being able to laugh was what really got me through the baby stage with the twins.

Getting enough sleep is huge! No matter how irritating the day can be, if you’ve had enough sleep, it’s so much more bearable. I have a hard time with that one because once the kids go to sleep, I’m so stoked to be drinking wine and watching TV so I stay up later than I intended. We didn’t read any parenting books prior to having our kids, I wanted to see if my intuition would be enough. I think that helped a lot with expectations and took some of the stress out of it. The books and internet are always there if you have a problem, but I didn’t want to have a proposed path laid out in front of me.

Justine Cullen

My motto for motherhood has always been ‘whatever gets you through the night’. That might be yoga or it might be pinot noir, but I don’t think you can ever feel any kind of inner peace until you accept that you’re only human and forgive yourself for it - constantly, over and over again. You’re definitely not always going to get it right. Things aren’t always going to go according to plan, particularly if you have a toddler. Or an infant. Or a teenager. For someone who’s a bit of a control freak, like me, that was initially a tough lesson to learn. Parenting - especially in 2020 - is easy to overthink. But what I’ve learned is that for me is that happiness as a mother is about four pretty simple tenets: prioritise my relationship because that’s the beating heart of our family, maintain my friendships because they remind me of who I am outside of being a mother, let my kids be their own people, and retain a sense of adventure, even in the everyday.

Sophie Pearce

(aka @svpearce)

I think motherhood is so personal and you really have to find a style and flow that works for you and your personality, but I am always so happy to share things that work for me and my family. Isolation has definitely made me rejig things as I am around the girls 24/7 without the luxury of daycare, family help, etc.

I find waking up an hour earlier than the girls (so that’s 6am for me) is an absolute game changer! I can chill, have a coffee that’s actually warm, shower and even eat something before the beautiful chaos of the day begins.
I have also changed my mindset on “self-care” during isolation, because the only alone time I get is a 1 hour nap overlap (if I’m lucky during the day), so I’ve decided that I can do self-care while they are awake!
Some examples of these are dancing with Poppy to YouTube music videos, she thinks it’s the best and it’s such an endorphin boost. I am so NOT a DIY mum, but have actually been having so much fun with Poppy doing air dry clay and she loves it too. Also, if I’m giving her TV time, I just sit on the couch next to her reading my book rather than road runnering around the house getting every chore done!

I don’t read too many parenting books, but if I can self plug haha, I co-host an honest and authentic podcast aimed at mums and mums-to-be called Beyond The Bump and I would like to think that it is an amazing resource!