The Netmums Podcast - S13 Ep3: Laura Hamilton: Motherhood and family adventures - A place in the sun... with the kids!

Episode Date: April 30, 2024

Alison Perry is flying solo in this episode and sits down with TV presenter and property developer, Laura Hamilton. Known for whisking hopeful homeowners to dreamy locales on "A Place in the Sun," Laura, mum of two, spills her best-kept secrets for travelling with kids, from essential travel gear to encouraging adventurous eating. Laura talks about her entrepreneurial side, and also shares her philosophy of integrating children into her dynamic lifestyle, starting from their first passport photos at just three weeks old. She advocates for the power of travel in teaching kids people skills, confidence, and an appreciation for different cultures and ways of life. Stay connected with Netmums for more parenting tips, community support, engaging content: Website: netmums.com / Instagram: @netmums 

You're listening to The Netmums Podcast with me, Wendy Gollich, and me, Alison Perry. Coming up on this week's show... When you do a job that you genuinely love rather than chasing the money, you make a success of it anyway because you're doing something that you genuinely love. And Rocco said to me just last week, I don't want to do a job that just earns me money and I sit not liking my job. I want to do a job that makes me happy in my head and I'm like and he's 10. Welcome back to another episode I am flying solo this week because my co-host Wendy has jetted off abroad with work which is very apt because the guest that I'm going to be chatting to today has got a lot of experience in traveling the world and the

sun has started shining a bit here. I've got a family holiday to France booked soon. But I don't have a great track record with recent family holidays. Think vomiting bugs, chicken pox and rain-soaked caravan holidays. But I'm wondering if our guest today might have some advice for me. Because today we are joined by TV presenter and mum of two, Laura Hamilton. Laura is perhaps best known for presenting A Place in the Sun, but she is also a property developer and entrepreneur. Laura, welcome to the Netmums podcast. Oh, hi, how are you doing?

Good, thank you. How are you? Just laughing to myself, hearing you saying about your holidays and caravans. But you know what? that takes me back to my childhood yeah because that's what I grew up doing camping and caravaning and had some of the best holidays ever and probably where I kind of got my love and bug for travel yeah it probably was it just goes to show you you don't have to go to far-flung places to have a brilliant time so speaking of far-flung places you have just come back from an amazing family holiday so let's start with some tips from a traveling with kids pro what do we need

to know how do we make it go smoothly do you know do you know i have been i was very much somebody that when i had children and you know i know everyone obviously parents in different ways and and sometimes i get criticized maybe for the things that I've done, but I just wanted to do it my way. And my way was the children were going to fit in with my life rather than it being the other way around. And I just thought, right, I was freelance. I am freelance in television.

And so I knew that if I didn't go back to work ASAP, then, you know, someone else would probably fill my shoes and that would be it, you know, my job would be gone. So I was extremely fortunate when I turned around to my employer, Freeform, a place in the sun, said to them, you know, I'm pregnant. And they said, amazing. Well, when you've had your children and you feel ready to come back to work, you must bring them with you. And I was oh my word what an amazing opportunity and experience I can I could be a mom and I know this is going to you know maybe be a challenge but I guess I knew no different so when both of my children were three weeks old there was 17 months there are 17 months between them I went back to work and I started traveling with them for three weeks old I'm pretty sure the

passport office thought I was was crazy you know getting passport photos of a three-week-old baby how do you even do that I mean they're wriggling around all over the place trying to get a photo of them well actually at three weeks old they're not are they they're literally just sleeping and and not doing a lot so um I I got them passports, both of them. And I was very much kind of like, I wanted them both to have exactly the same experience. I was like, right, I've traveled with one since they were three weeks old

and I'll do it again with the other. And I just did it. And I do look back now and think, I don't know how, but I just did. But I didn't know any different. So it was a case of like, right, well, I want to do this and they're just going to have to fit in with my lifestyle um but I definitely learned along the way

the best travel products out there to travel with little ones you don't have to take everything in the kitchen sink like it can be so simple so basic babies don't need actually a lot at all so tell us what are your essentials so one of the biggest and best things that I had traveling with a little baby was a product called a doona which was a car I mean it was very I mean my two are now nearly nine and and ten so a long time ago I've been out of kind of like push chairs and car seats and all that well push chairs so um but I I was like well I can't do this amount of travel with car seats push chairs and car seats and all that well push chairs so um but I I was like well I can't do this amount of travel with car seats push chairs all this stuff like it's

going to be too much so what is out there that can make my life as easy and straightforward and it was a product called the doona it literally was a game changer for me like the most amazing car seat that turns into a push chair that I could travel everywhere with it, knowing that, you know, I could not have to worry about hiring car seats when I got to destinations. My push chair was there. It was just that that was, I think, hands down, probably one of the best things that I travel with. That must have been so good because I remember traveling with a baby

and flying with a baby. And you're allowed to take the buggy up to the gate. But then when you get off the plane, you've got to take the buggy up to the gate but then when you get off the plane you've got to wait until the luggage carousel and i remember struggling with baby bag another bag you know and like really so actually that must have been amazing to have that available to you well yeah because i don't know if you know you're the same but it used to frustrate me that particularly when you'd land back into the uk the airplane would be at gate 117 which was you know about a mile and a half walk away from where the luggage carousel is and it used to i used to be like i used to go crazy

and think well great they've got push chairs at the airport but none of them are ever there where they need to be so you get off a plane and you're like great you know i've got pushchairs at the airport, but none of them are ever there where they need to be. So you get off a plane and you're like, great, you know, I've got to get from there back to the luggage. And so having that was just, you know, a game changer. But, you know, I did obviously like to carry a baby, baby Bjorn as well. Brilliant to travel. I used to have like one on my back, one on the front. I remember breast pumping in a car park in Mallorca um literally like just because my mum was with me and I was you know she was looking after the

children but I was breastfeeding and during the day my boobs were just getting massive so in my lunch break I would just have to go and breast pump to make sure that I got the milk off and then the milk would be back to them oh that, that was, that was mental. But again, I know breastfeeding, you know, doesn't work for everybody. I did it for, I actually only did it for three months because after three months, I was like, I just, I just felt like I wanted my body back to be honest. Um, but also traveling and breastfeeding was a massive, you know, convenience for me because it was just like, right, baby's crying, didn't have to worry about sterilizing bottle. But again, I know it's not for everyone. And I, and I did obviously get to 12 weeks and think I can't, I just can't do this

anymore. So then I did go to, to, to, um, like, you know, a powder milk and stuff. And again, I didn't take loads of it away with me because i found that what what i was using was readily available abroad so it was like you know doing the research to find out that what you what you use is available to get in the supermarket when you you go or a similar type of product like providing your baby doesn't have any allergies to anything you know there are other there are supermarkets abroad you can buy nappies abroad you know you you can do like hand washing there are laundrettes abroad you know you don't have to stay in a hotel and use hotel laundry actually you can make it cheaper for yourself by

finding a little laundrette that's very close by in the holiday resort unit they're all out there because those laundrettes are available for the staff and the workers that are living in those resorts. So there are ways where you don't have to take a load of stuff. I mean, I very much also found that, and I find it now, I travel with my two only with hand luggage because they now carry their own cases. I mean, even prior actually to this, another amazing product that I swore by is a product called Zinc Flight. And it was a suitcase that had a scooter in the back. I've seen those. So, I mean, we did the trunkies and tried that, but they were almost a bit too little to pull

those around. So, the Zinc Flight scooter, they only stopped using those, I think, probably around a year and a half ago. And then I was thinking, oh, my God, what's the next best product out after this as they're getting older? But it was brilliant because they carried their own luggage in this little suitcase. And then they were scootering, you know, around. I wasn't having to carry them. And then when we obviously get to the location, they've got a scooter. Oh, that's the dream. So for me, it's all about finding products

where there's like cross use you know where it can work work here it can work here it's multi multi multi uh multi-use products that's brilliant um and now that your kids are in that kind of pre-teen stage does that impact does that impact the kind of the type of traveling that you do like the locations that you go to like do you always you know go self-cater the kind of the type of traveling that you do like the locations that you go to like do you always you know go self-catering because of the age they're at or do you you know does it impact the the sort of um the types of holiday you have no i mean i i will say that i i find it as i grew up i i did i was camping i was caravanning um you know I went to I wasn't fortunate enough you know to go to some of the Balearic Islands um and did you know the family sort of packaged holidays

um and I have been fortunate as I've got older to do you know all sorts of travel from luxury travel to um camping still and I think it's actually really important that my children you know experience different levels of it, you know, experience different levels of it too. You know, we've been lucky enough, I've been lucky enough to take them away on some lovely holidays, but then I explained to them, it's not always like this. And actually, you don't always have the best times doing those things. So it is equally important to experience it, you know, at other, you know, ends of the scale as well. You can create some of the, you know, the best on on holidays that maybe

aren't as expensive um but i one thing i will say through travel is i always made sure with the children that i wasn't going to um i when it came to food again i was lucky because neither of my children had allergies and i'm very mindful that some people's children might have allergies so it isn't always as as easy and straightforward but i was like well look if we're somewhere and this is the food that they've got then this is what you have and this is what you try so um that's that's the way it is like now we'll go go away and I'll be like right well you know what what food you're gonna we go to France well they've tried snails and you know they love sushi and you know they'll eat the normal food of a menu I say normal but you know I wouldn't go somewhere and just think oh

well it needs to be chicken nuggets or you know I personally have just felt like well like olives that's another thing but they love olives just like wherever you've got to eat what's available and not kind of like stressing too much about that so so now when we go away um i would say again we do a mix a mix of things if it's a self-catered holiday then i just do my normal kind of like shop like i would do at home and we will make food together as a family or they get what they're given basically and if they don't if they don't eat it I'm a bit like well okay if you're not eating it then you're not eating it I don't you know they're not going to go hungry is what I'm saying that they're so um I would rather

them then I always think I'd I'd rather them try it I know they might go oh well I don't like that I'm like well how do you know you don't like it if you haven't tried it? Until you've tried it, you can't, you might not like the look of it or the texture of it or whatever, but just try it for the flavors. And again, I'd say I've been quite lucky that I can kind of convince both of my two to go,

go on, just, you know, see what you think, see what you think. And if they then try and go, oh, that's disgusting. I don't want it. Then I'm like, okay, fine. Well, you know, maybe try it another time down the line when your palate's changed or whatever yeah I feel like Laura that conversation has happened over like up and down the land in every single home yeah every single parent listening will be nodding thinking yep we've had that conversation just try it yeah just try it if

you don't like it fine but don't tell me you don't like it if you haven't tried it yeah have you have you ever taken them on like an adventure holiday, like somewhere really exciting? Yeah. Oh, God. Well, I love skiing. So we're a very sporty family. So I've skied quite a lot with them.

And I'm glad, actually, because they're kind of on board with that, as they've got that love as much as I have. But I think one of the best kind of adventure things that I did with them was a couple of August ago. I decided, right, OK, I'm going to take the three of us are going to go to Croatia. And we did a four day trip. We flew to Split and we did like one day of kind of going to a few different islands. And we saw that on a rib rib boat we went to her car i can't even remember all the names of the places we went to but i created a nice little

like montage video on my on my on my phone and um so we went to have our the next day um we uh went uh on that trip to a place where they did the high wires. Wow. And I tell you, one of the things, I look back now at this video. This is a wonderful thing, I think, about having like a phone now. And as much as there are negativities about social media and all the rest of it, actually being able to capture all these sort of memories on our devices, I think is brilliant. And it does make me laugh because I remember growing up,

my dad always had a camcorder and he'd be filming constantly all the caravanning holidays and that we'd gone to and we'd be like dad put the camcorder down like what but now we can as a family we can go should we get out that video and watch back so it's nice now having it all on like our phones right so we can film everything and I look back at this adventure holiday um and this in these high wires and I'm not I'm not exaggerating when I say this one of the um the the wires it was like 200 meters high and 200 meters long through this like this canyon and so like you had to climb and harness and think go ape but

think like out in the wild like kind of real like so I'm like saying to Rocco and Talia you call with us and they're like yeah mum yeah mum like that's fine you know we'll do it we'll do it and they're like the two of them trekking up like great great great and we get to the top and the guide goes okay so we'll go down with the little people first and I'm watching thinking oh my word I'm basically sending my two children down this zip wire that's 200 meters long and I'm like you go guys you go first you test it out um and if it doesn't work out then I'm not gonna do it I'll just hang back here but you know they obviously don't go down on their own they take them they're they've got a someone that's with

them but I just watched and I was like oh my word they've now done it and like literally feel it like fearless right great we're gonna do it mom and I'm like now I've got to do it on my own because I can't be seen to have like my because at the time they were two years younger watching them go down it and me chicken out so um so I did it but yeah I look back and I think wow but I do wonder the older they get do they then become a little bit more like oh not sure not sure, not sure. My son, I don't think so, because I think he's definitely got that kind of adrenaline kind of, you know, my daughter, I don't know. She's just going to be a little bit more cautious of things. But that was a great adventure holiday.

And then we've also done there's like a there's quite a cool place in the cotswolds um that i've taken them to there's like a glamping place and they have kind of um like a lake and you can do paddle boarding and they've got their zip wires and you've got like your fire pit outside your log cabin at night and you can all do barbecues and um so that's that's it feels like those those holidays are well they love but i have just got back from a from a club med holiday and again the facilities and things the that that are available there for for families and kids is just it's just brilliant yeah and with those kind of like sort of club med style holidays like do you ever put your kids into a kids club when you're away um and if not then how do you find me time because for so many of us when we go on holiday

putting them into kids club for a couple of hours is like the only chance that we get for a little chill by the pool yeah and I and I very much feel that again that's an age-dependent thing so when my children were a little bit younger, I think that they, I wanted them to go into those clubs because exactly as you're saying, I wanted to have a little bit of like downtime, chill time. Because let's face it, like a holiday isn't a holiday, is it? When you're having to constantly entertain or you're in the pool, you're out the pool, you know, you're mindful of them. Are they okay? They're not going to fall it, you know, any of that kind of stuff. So I was, I would, I definitely encourage that and thought, oh God, you know, don't feel guilty about it because some of those clubs are like, you know, amazing things that

they, but the older they've got. So for example, last week, I think, you know, I really feel like kids clubs should be re rebranded or named as something else. Because as soon as you say kids club to a child, they're like don't want to do a kids don't want to go whereas if it's if it's if I don't know if they could just rename it something else um that kids are like oh cool like what's that then you know yeah because when they go they have a great time but it's just getting them there initially you know and so now they're a little bit older and you know I'd say a bit they are becoming more sort of self-sufficient

um and I'm also mindful that you know they they do want to spend a bit of time with me they're not they're not a we can we can play tennis together we can do things together now rather than yes okay of course I'm looking after them and stuff but they're my son's better at tennis than I am do you know what I mean so we can actually have a little bit of a game so it doesn't it doesn't feel like I'm there with my little my little adventure buddies I suppose so I did three days this week um or last week with them where we were doing stuff together as a family you know out on a canoe out paddleboarding enjoying time together and then I did feel kind of like guys you're really missing out on on the other kids that are here and you know making because the thing about

Club Med is you know and actually lots of places not just just Club Med but they have got these kids kids clubs that you've got children from all over the world where you know so it's an opportunity for them to make friends from different cultures maybe you know learn some different like words in some different languages and I was like you're really missing out guys by not going to to this and experiencing these things now my son after my son actually wanted to go to play football every day at five o'clock so he very quickly like made his little crew and he said himself off his own back three days into the holiday mom tomorrow I want to go to the um I want to go to kids club because my mates are there so I was like okay great your choice you want to do it and that was it I didn't see him again my my daughter was like

oh I don't know if I want to go and I was like but they've got archery and you know they've got kayaking and and she was like yeah but I'd just rather just hang out with with you mum and you know can't we just do so I just said well let go try it and if you don't want to you know do it then you can come out and she did come out but then the day after she made some friends and that was it she was like well I don't want to I don't want to hang out with you anymore and then you're like oh yeah what about me they've gone they've gone and so I'm so mindful of friends actually that have got older children that are in that teenage bracket as you say that are kind of like 13 14 that don't want to be with their parents anymore and I'm so in a way I'm kind of like savoring this time when they're they want to be with me

but also want to encourage them that I want to sort of let them fly and find their own way and don't want them to just think I've got to be a mum or something but I just want to I want to enjoy them now because I know in a minute they are going to be not interested yeah I always say this I always say this that I because I've got I've got five year old twins and a 13 year old. And I think that that that that kind of that kind of period between I don't know, maybe like seven and 10 is like the golden period where like you say, they're fun to hang out with. You can do stuff with them, you can chat to them, but they still want to hang out with you. They haven't yet, you know, started hating the sight of

you and think that everything you do is it's crucially embarrassing exactly oh no they think mine think that about me anyway I like start I start singing and dancing they're like pipe down mum pipe down mum you're so embarrassing I'm like yep and I'm always going to embarrass you so just deal with it so I mean it does sound like your kids have gained so much from traveling what would you say the main things are that just looking back over you know their childhoods that you think that's because we've we've traveled and we've gone places i i think um people skills i think is a is a is a big thing that they've learned through travel that they're comfortable to you know just chat and engage and go up to because they've just met lots of people

from all over the place and I'm like look you know go do that food I definitely think is has been a good thing um for for travel and confidence like you know and also just seeing that there's different people in different cultures that maybe not as fortunate as they are i mean i've taken my children to a township in south africa you know we did a township tour and they walked around and i you know my son would remember it more than my daughter but just think you know there are lots of people that are less fortunate than us and you know you've got to be grateful for what you've got, even having food on the table, you know, like you're so lucky to have these experiences. So hopefully, you know, it's given them, you know, an appreciation of what they have and when,

but also given them like instilled adventure into them and making them realize that the world's a big place. And I just like roots and wings, isn't it? Like, again, I probably something I'm going to end up regretting in the future because my mom says to me, Laura, you know, you say to your children, you want them to go, you want them to explore, you want them to do all that. But you're going to miss them. And I'm like, yeah, but I want them to go live. And I want them to go and experience things and explore and I feel like if I if I don't do that if I don't give them roots and wings and I feel like I would have failed actually um as as a parent in in many ways so I don't know I mean as you say we've got the teenage years to come. And I think that's going to come with problems and challenges and attitudes.

I mean, every stage has its challenges. So all you can do is just, you know, live in the moment and go with it. Yeah. Now, I want to talk a little bit about your entrepreneurial side, because do you still own your local village shop and pub? Not anymore. So it wasn't a pub actually. Everyone thinks it was a pub, but I had an alcohol license for it. So it was formerly a post office. I became the local post mistress and had it as a part post office for a year

and then, but created a coffee shop, deli and restaurant within it. So we had 24 staff and it did have an alcohol license and it had about 60 covers. So it was quite a big, big place. Yeah. But I sold it two years ago. Right.

And I loved every minute of it. And it was a massive undertaking and challenge and task to do sort of alongside a TV job and obviously the kids and stuff um but that's that's something else that I really have wanted to always like instill into my children that like good work ethic and understand that you know and I appreciate it's hard again not every not every um if people are in a situation where not both parents work the mum might be you know looking after the children full-time or even the dad might be looking after the children full-time whilst mum's at work, whatever. But, you know, I was in a situation where we were both working parents and my children saw that we were both working. And so I would hope that they've seen that and saw how, well, I know that they saw how challenging it was.

I think they were quite happy when the shop was sold as well. But, yeah, I loved every minute of it and I loved creating something amazing in the community and employing local people and I'd never say never that I'm not going to do something like that again because now I've done it once having never done it before and you know the things that I've learned from it I would absolutely love to do something again but I've got other ideas of other things you know I've been developing property since I was 19, buying, doing up and selling. So that's kind of like another little side hustle of mine.

And, you know, I'm continuing to do that as well on the side of my TV stuff. So, yeah, who knows? I'm always coming up with business ideas. My brain's like constantly whirring um and when you think about it your kids could follow in your footsteps in a number of ways like they could become entrepreneurs they could you know sort of property development they could travel and do some some sort of career that takes them around the world they could go into television are you seeing

any kind of sort of inkling from either of them as to what they might want to do well both of my children have said to me so my son is loves football he's a big football like most probably 10 year old boys um and i i i hear i hear my so much of my mum in me when i when i talk to him because i used to say to my mom when I was younger I want to be a presenter I want to work in TV and my mommy say to me yeah that's great have a backup um and I go what do you mean like why do I need a backup she's like have a backup and my backup and I didn't you know I didn't plan for it to be property because I didn't come from a family with property you know developers or anything um I fell into that as my side thing and my backup and it's interesting how

Rocco said to me uh okay well my backup is going to be property so oh right okay um why is that then uh my daughter wants to be a farmer amazing and ride and ride horses so um you know, I love, I just love the fact that if they want to follow doing what I'm doing, then fine. But I, I mean, I probably wouldn't want to encourage them to be in TV because I'm like, it's not an easy business, but I think I want them to do whatever they want to do that makes them happy. And the other thing, the thing that both of them have said to me is we want to do a job that's fun and Rocco said to me and I think that's so important that um there's a there's a like a video that I've listened to um a number of times um and I think it's it's a something read by Alan Watts it said what if money were no objects and I know we need to earn money to live but when you you do a job

that you you genuinely love rather than chasing the money you you make a success of it anyway because you're doing something that you genuinely love and Rocco said to me just last week I don't want to do a job that that just earns me money and I sit not liking my job I want to do a job that makes me happy in my head and I'm like and he's 10 and he's saying that and I'm like okay well well good because I I knew I mean it's it's crazy when I look back as like a 15 year old I said I wanted to to get into television I didn't know how I was going to do it but never back then did I think oh well I want to work in telly because I'm going to earn loads of money doing it I just thought I don't know how

I'm going to do it don't know how I'm going to get there if if I'd have you know actually sat and thought about this figure out you sure you want to do this because actually it's unstable you don't know it's not going to be you're not going to necessarily have you know a guaranteed income every month you're not going to have a pension you're not going to have I didn't even think about any of that I just thought I want to follow a dream and so I just feel like with my children I don't want to say something you've got to be a doctor you You've got, again, everyone's different about how they want to parent. But I'm just like, I just want you to do something that makes you happy and a job that you love.

And then if you love it, then I'll just be happy because you're happy. Yeah, that's really good. I don't know. I mean, whether it's the wrong or right thing to do, you don't know. We're all just winging it. Exactly. But, I mean, the fact that talia says i want to be a farmer i don't know where that comes she's like yeah i'd like to be a farmer i'd like to own a farm in france and i'd like to maybe um have a farm in america i'm like okay brilliant i mean she's got plans right now she's she loves riding

riding horses and she's very she loves gymnastics now, she loves riding horses and she loves gymnastics. She does all these flips and things. And again, I look at that because I think, well, I could never do that as a kid. Gymnastics wasn't my thing. And like I said, I don't want them, really. I want them to be them. Yeah, yeah. That makes a lot of sense.

And you've just recently finished a big build project. Is that for a family home or is that one of your, one of your properties that you're going to then sell on? That was my family home. Yeah. That was for a family home. Yeah. What's,

what's that been like, you know, going through such a huge project? That's my 19th renovation. So, yeah. So I bought that two years ago and I knocked down every wall and rebuilt it as a kind of rebuilt my life and rebuilt the home. And I've loved it. Watch this space is all I'm saying.

There's a big change coming. Well, you did say, I saw on your Instagram, you'd said something about there's a big change coming. And I was like, what's that alluding to? You want to give us an exclusive, Laura? I can't say too much at the moment because things are changing at the moment when it comes to property things change unfortunately you know things don't always run smoothly but um there is there is a change yeah a big change coming and I'm gonna be uh announcing something soon but it's not in my control at the moment so as soon as it is in my control then i will i will say but um yeah i just love i love i love it as a house you know it's um it's it's been a

beautiful place to live it's in a beautiful location um but property's my thing so yeah watch this space um now we talked to a lot of well-known parents on here about, you know, people who are co-parenting and making blended families work. How have you been making it work with parenting since you split from your husband? Yes. So I would say that we're really lucky. Like we're lucky we we co-parent and have the children spend a week with me a week with their dad and we get on very well and you know I think it's so important that they they spend uh their time with him when they spend their time with me I would say that in the way we are as parents we've both got the same kind of like values in terms of like you know manners and but I think that we probably spend differently I'm a bit more like I'm adventuring here we're going here and he's probably a bit more like

right okay I'm going to be a bit more home-based because his job is is is so um and I just think it's brilliant that they've got the balance of from from both of us and I you know as sad as sometimes I sort of I say sad you know life our paths change and we go in different directions or whatever but I honestly think that in terms of like I'm so glad that he is their dad because they wouldn't be who they are without him being their dad and you know I just I would hope that he would say the same about me but you know you just think that I wouldn't want anyone else to be their dad because then they wouldn't be Rocco and Talia so just because we might have different paths that we're now going on different things we're doing I

would never in in a million years change that and I I like change you know wouldn't want anyone else to be there but you know so it's um I think it's it's so important for the children as well to see that, like, why would I never want them to not have time with their dad or I'd never want them to not have time with me? We made the choice to have children together and we've got a responsibility to both of them to parent them and bring them up in the best way that we possibly can. So, yeah, that's where we're at. And it's working at the moment so hopefully it doesn't change that's good that's good and it seems like you've got a strong group of female friends around you how important has that been like that support over the last few years well what i'd say is i think i think females are really funny creatures aren't we and i think girls just generally are funny creatures because even now like looking at bringing up a son and a daughter

I think that how different they are with their friends boys I'm sure many parents would agree with this boys have an argument with their mates or they have a little bit of a scrap or a fight um over next day they've forgotten about it and moved on girls oh my word like it's a it's oh you know she's doing this or she's doing that and they they're just they just feel like but i feel like with women what happens is they get to a certain point in their life where something changes and they realize that that's not not necessary to be like that with you need your your friends are your your like your women around you should all lift each other up support each other and and I just wish that girls were like that younger

because you're like oh my how amazing would it be if they had that from an earlier age if you if you could tell your kind of younger self listen I'll just keep your friends close because we can all help each other out but it's just funny how it doesn't seem that way. But I feel very fortunate that I do have an amazing group of girlfriends around me, some of which have gone through the same that I've gone through. Some don't have children. Some haven't been married. Friends that I've known from school and grown up with. And I just love being around and being able to support them and um

I I say I see them probably a bit more now than I used to because in the times that my children are with their dad I I get to spend time time with my friends so um yeah I think it is it is so important to have your your the women around you and that you can all lift each other up and support and celebrate. Yeah. And it feels like you have achieved a lot. So your travel, business, motherhood. But finally, Laura, what is left on your to do list? I'm doing the London Marathon on Sunday and I'm absolutely. Oh, my goodness. Fricking it. I honestly, I don't know what the hell I've signed up to.

I don't know how, I mean, I have been trying to train and run in between, but, you know, how on earth do you fit runs in when you're with parenting children on your own? In my week on my own, you know, I can't just say, oh, sorry guys, I'm just going out now for a two and a half hour run see you later you know make yourself dinner um I mean they're independent my kids but I wouldn't do that you know so I don't know I'm just kind of like I did it because one is for charity it's for world child and I think it's so important if you can where possible to give back and I wanted to raise money for them and And again, like, you know, there's so many poorly children out there.

And I think how lucky I have been, you know, with my two. So to be in that position, and it's an honor to run the London Marathon. I know people wait and want to do that for years and they never get a place. So when World Child said to me, look, we can get you a place. Do you want to do it? I don't know what I was thinking, but I signed up to it. And yeah, so, but but again it was a bucket list to kind of like you know I'd love to be able to say I've done the London Marathon

um what's on my list I think um just to carry on trying to raise two children and I mean I've got some friends that have got children who are older and have really like you know done amazing things with their life and I just think I just want to do that I just want to I want to have two young adults that I can think yes they've you know they've smashed it they've they're becoming who they want to be and feel like I've and there's still a long way to go with that so but yeah in terms of me personally who knows I don't know I'm just like you I am a planner but I'm also very like spontaneous and just kind of go with the flow um I just think you know no one knows what's around the corner and um don't worry about things you can't control and I am I am I am you know generally a very happy person um embarrassing for my kids

yeah that's not going to change um but yeah just just just keep doing me and then i'll also say is that it's always easy for other people to judge other people's parenting skills or to judge other people the way they live i just think just do you and stay in your lane and focus on what you think is right, because you're never going to get everyone agreeing with you that it's the right way. Some people will admire it. Some people will try and talk you down. But as long as you've got your group of women around you that understand why you're doing what you're doing, and they might agree, they might not. Some of my friends will give me advice and opinions and i'll take it on board and go yeah okay i'm still gonna do what i want to do but um yeah i just think it's always

good to just black out the noise and just focus on on you that sounds very sensible um laura on that note thank you so much for joining us today. It's been lovely to talk to you. Nice to chat to you too. Hopefully I'm still alive after the marathon. Oh, fingers crossed. You will be. Sending you all the luck. Thank you.