Mother’s Day 2020: Six Aussie mums at different stages reflect on motherhood
A diverse range of women will be celebrated this Sunday: expectant mums, mums with young bubs, grandmothers and stepmothers. We spoke to six influential Aussies on why mothering is the best job in the world.
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This Mother’s Day is going to be a unique one for most Australians.
Despite the war waging against coronavirus, Australians will still take the weekend to celebrate the hero mums who keep the world turning.
We spoke to six Australian mums, from TV personalities and Olympians to models and Australia’s oldest mum, who all agree motherhood is the greatest job in the world.
EMMA FREEDMAN AND ONE-YEAR-OLD WILLIAM
MOTHER’S Day last year didn’t quite go to plan for radio and TV host Emma Freedman.
With baby William born a month early, the annual celebration for Freedman, husband Charlie Rundle and their newborn, was spent in hospital.
“It will be special this year in a unique way,” she said of her spritely one-year-old. “He has taken a few steps and is threatening to start running and starting to get really funny and has a big personality. It is really fun. We are so thrilled that Will came out of hospital and is just a happy and healthy little one-year-old now. It wasn’t easy.”
Motherhood for Freedman has been an enlightening experience, something she has both cherished and relished.
More kids are on the cards too, sooner rather than later for the couple who were married less than two years ago.
“We would definitely love a couple more so that is in the pipeline for the near future,” she said. “We don’t want them too far apart so we will be thinking of that in the next little while.”
Mother’s Day for Freedman is a chance to reflect on life to date and what’s to come.
“Not every day is going to be perfect,” she said. “You will have amazing days and pretty average days as well but it all balances out in the end and when you see them happy and thriving, it does make it all worthwhile.”
As a mum, Freedman describes herself as relaxed and interactive but also strict.
“I am probably a bit of a strict mum sometimes but I think also a lot of my family think I am really relaxed with things,” the Lexus ambassador said. “I am strict on things like sleep and eating. I was raised like that, my husband was raised like that so for us having some structures in place has helped us but also helped him.”
-Jonathon Moran
SALLY PEARSON IS A MUM TO BE
OLYMPIC champion Sally Pearson says she wants to teach her baby to be adventurous, try new things, and not take life too seriously.
The legendary hurdler will become a mum in 10 weeks, and has candidly spoken about how pregnancy had brought out a different side to her.
“I have probably learned I’m more patient than I thought I was, I’m a lot more relaxed and laid back, I guess that’s the real me coming out,” she told The Courier-Mail.
“For this chapter of my life, with growing a human in my body, it’s calmed me down quite a bit and made me open minded as to what being a parent is going to be like for me, because obviously I have no idea.
“It’s been quite nice discovering that about myself and hopefully that calmness is worming its way into the baby somehow.”
The Queensland world champion says the pregnancy is still “a bit surreal” as she navigates her way in a different world to what she’s used to. But starting a family with husband Kieran was always on the cards when she announced her retirement.
“We wanted to do it after Tokyo, which was going to be this year, but then I just had too many injuries and it was affecting me personally and my training and I just didn’t believe that my body could go on any longer,” Pearson said.
“I announced my retirement and we just kind of replanned everything, our goals, and we sat down and spoke about it and both felt that we were ready to go ahead with it.”
While they’re keeping the gender of the baby a surprise, Pearson already knows what life skills she hopes to teach her child.
“I would love them to be adventurous like me, and not be afraid to try new things, and not to take things too seriously and really enjoy the moment,” she said.
“I think that’s what I learned to do a little later in my career because I suppose when you’re just starting your career you’re learning about who you are as a person and athlete, and then obviously you achieve all the goals you want to and realise OK, I don’t need to be that intense or that tunnel visioned sort of person, I can still enjoy the moment.”
For Pearson, who has spent her life preparing for challenges, this one will be her biggest yet and has proved to be a learning curve for her and Kieran as they prepare for a life they know nothing about.
“We’re both learning along the way, it wasn’t our life ambition to be parents because we were so selfish – which is not a bad thing – of our lifestyle, we loved it and enjoyed it and travelled all the time and didn’t have time limits on anything,” she said.
“I guess going through that process of learning new things together and certainly learning about something we haven’t dedicated our lives to has been interesting because we’re starting from absolute scratch, and it’s really nice doing that together.”
Being raised by a single mum taught Pearson the importance of special occasions like birthdays and Mother’s Day, and she is excited to be spoiled by her baby this time next year
-Sophie Chirgwin
KYLY CLARKE AND FOUR-YEAR-OLD KELSEY LEE
AFTER weeks of not seeing her mum because of coronavirus, Mother’s Day will be somewhat of a family reunion for Kyly Clarke.
“It has been really difficult because of COVID-19 as mum and I usually spend so much time together,” the estranged wife of Australian cricket great Michael Clarke told The Saturday Telegraph. “Mum is of an age where I want to protect her wellbeing and that was obviously the objective through this time.”
Tomorrow (Sunday) will mark the first time Clarke and four-year-old daughter Kelsey Lee have seen her mother and grandmother in several weeks due to self isolation restrictions.
“My mum is a very doting grandmother so I think to have the three generations together will make her feel over the moon because she is all about family unity,” Clarke said, adding: “It would be really nice to get outside and go for a scooter ride together. I am so grateful that two people are able to visit another household because I really want to see my own mum and just thank her for being her.”
The House Rules interior design expert lives in Sydney’s eastern suburbs with daughter Kelsey Lee and co parents with her ex.
Mother’s Day will be all about spending quality time together.
“I’m a hands on mum for sure,” Clarke said. “I really like to be as involved as possible but I think my biggest role for her is firstly being her best friend but viewing that from a parent perspective. We have all grown up wanting a beautiful, compassionate, loving and caring mother who also can give you advice and steer you in a direction but not in a way that you are being told what to do. I am doing my best to bring that best friend attribute into that so that she can always view me as a guide rather than someone who tells her what to do with the same result.”
-Jonathon Moran
TAHLIA GIUMELLI AND NINE-MONTH-OLD SOPHIE
BECOMING a mother at 26 was not something model Tahlia Giumelli planned, but if having her daughter Sophie, nine months, has taught her anything it’s that “life never really goes according to plan”.
Giumelli and her fiance, Rabbitohs star Tom Burgess, will celebrate her first Mother’s Day in isolation tomorrow.
She said while so many people talk about the sleep deprivation that comes with being a new parent, no one warns you about the emotional rollercoaster it can be.
“No one tells you that it’s OK if you have some days when you don’t want to do it,” she said. “It’s such a beautiful job but there are definitely days whenI go, ‘I don’t want to do this today!’ Of course I love Sophie but what I would do to have a sleep-in or watch Netflix for hours uninterrupted on end.
“But I think it’s OK to have those moments and for mums to talk about it so we know we aren’t alone.”
Being open about the highs and lows of motherhood is something Giumelli makes a conscious decision to do, especially when it comes to any discussions of her post-partum body.
The former Miss Universe finalist has shared pictures on social media pointing out her “stretch marks” and “loose skin”.
“I used to be so caught up in how I was going to look after I gave birth but once you have a baby, you throw away all the B.S,” she said.
“I started modelling since I was 18, I’ve seen how many girls battle with body issues. But everyday women have stretch marks and cellulite, and range from a size 8 to 16 or plus. That’s women. And my body has changed. I can’t go back in time, so I have to embrace that.”
Giumelli adds her strong stance has been inspired by both her daughter – “I want her to have a positive real life role model,” she said – and NRL star partner.
“Tom is my biggest supporter and he’s been so helpful. He’s always encouraging me and inspiring me.”
-Karlie Rutherford
SAM SQUIERS AND IMMI, 3, AND ELLE, 6 WEEKS
SPORTS presenter Sam Squiers has revealed she spent sleepless nights suffering “terrible guilt” during her second pregnancy, “obsessively” searching for ways to blame herself that her daughter Elle had developed a cleft.
Now, the 38-year-old wishes she could go back and give herself a glimpse of “how amazing” her beautiful, healthy girl turned out to ease the pain.
Squiers, who almost died during the dramatic premature delivery of her first daughter Imogen Grace in 2017, welcomed Elle Soleil in March.
But halfway through her pregnancy she was told Elle would be born with a unilateral cleft lip and palate — a gap in her upper lip and gum which failed to join during early pregnancy. “(My husband) Ben would find me at 4am going through my calendar, trying to find out where I was, what I was doing, what I was eating at 4 to 6 weeks of pregnancy, when clefts are formed, trying to find a reason why,’’ she said.
“Sometimes I wish I could go back and give that (pregnant) Sam a cuddle and say ‘It’s going to be OK, she’s beautiful, she’s healthy, that’s all that matters’.”
-Kristy Symonds
MABEL CROSBY, AUSTRALIA’S OLDEST MUM
ASK Australia’s oldest mum’s advice on pretty much any subject and her reply is simple: “Do as you’re told and you won’t get in trouble.’’
Fast approaching her 111th birthday, Mabel Crosby — mother of four, grandmother of 10, great-grandmother of 20 and great-great-grandmother of seven — certainly hasn’t lost her sense of humour.
When daughter Robyn Bamberry, 78, listed her favourite Mother’s Day gifts — scorched almonds, perfume, something blue, a potted plant — Mrs Crosby chimed in with: “Don’t forget the half a dozen bottles of whisky.”
“You’ve never drunk whisky a day in your life,” her daughter laughed.
Mrs Crosby was born in Kent, England, in September 1909, and migrated to Queensland with her family when she was four. With late husband Ernulf Crosby, a farmer, she raised four children: Dot, 83, Ruth, 82, Robyn, 78, and Stuart, who died in 2010, aged 70.
This year’s Mother’s Day will be somewhat different, with only two people allowed to visit Mrs Crosby at a time at the Sunnybank Hills aged care facility.
Ms Bamberry says her mother, who is healthy though hard of hearing, misses visits from her large family but still enjoys bingo and Scrabble with her fellow residents. “You can’t beat the old girls,’’ Mrs Crosby said.
-Leanne Edmistone
Originally published as Mother’s Day 2020: Six Aussie mums at different stages reflect on motherhood
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