Training Coordinator Jenny Wallwork On Being 'Just A Mum'

Introducing the first in a new series of blogs from our team of Training Coordinators. We have been delighted to have expanded our training team and welcomed Jenny, Mandy and Alison to The WO family! 

These three will be out and about all over Liverpool City Region delivering different personal development programmes like Toolkit for Change and Change It. 

Also, they’ll be trying their hands at a bit of blogging, discussing the types of issues that they regularly discuss during their training.

First up is Jenny Wallwork and her blog ‘Just A Mum’

One of my passions in life is recognising and acknowledging the sheer hard work and skill of thousands of women who are forever saying when asked what they do for a living; ‘Well, nothing really. I’m just a Mum.’

I’ve engaged with so many women and had great joy in picking them up on the devaluation of their skills which often leads to humorous training sessions looking at the skills they have accomplished in becoming ‘Just a Mum.’

So, let’s take a look into the qualities and skills that Mums have…

From the moment, our little bundles come into the world, our lives change for ever. We develop amazing stamina as we negotiate a 24-hour on-call shift pattern, pacing the floor at all hours to get our little one to sleep. 

Our time management skills are taken to a different level, learning to get out of the house with a new born baby, having to be in so many places at one time, fitting in feeds on demand as well as numerous appointments, lasting throughout their teenage years. 

We never knew we had such strong organisational skills from planning breakfast, dinner and teas, playtime, washing and ironing, shopping, attending playgroups, parents’ evenings, birthday parties and numerous gatherings for mums to get together and console (support) each other! 

Our problem-solving skills reached perfection, queueing up at Toys R Us from the early hours for the latest Teletubby doll or Tracy Island, don’t ask me why, I thought it was the thing to do and created lifelong friends as we jumped up and down to keep warm, as well as finding the right batteries for the numerous electronic toys we got for Christmas.

We can budget and develop ways of saving when caught up in the 3 for 2 generation, ending up with reams of toilet rolls, paper towels and nappies. We become experts in sports and games and become good at role play, often becoming a climbing frame, donkey and any other animal that the kids want us to be.

Our juggling skills reach new levels; children, housework, work, friends, parents, partners, trying to keep everyone happy.

Negotiation and influencing skills become a must in any household, compromising on whether they want a red ball or a blue one, refereeing over friends coming over to play and wanting the same toy. These skills fiercely develop over the years to whether they go to bed at 7:30 or 9:00 or come in later at 9:00 or 10:00, meeting in the middle and walking away as though we had both won the contest. 

We become self-taught psychologists, as to what they are thinking and which move they will make next. As they become teenagers, we become full time taxi drivers, on call at all hours, ferrying them from Kate’s to Hannah’s and back again in the early hours. 

We become adepts at crisis management skills, you are the lynchpin of the family, keeping everyone in the loop, often taking on detective traits to find who is doing what, where and when.

Developing patience and resilience and tact, you never stop being a Mum. The skill set is endless and one that we should be proud to share.

So! In future when someone asks you, what do you do? Hold you head high and say you have a full time job, one that you are proud of, as a Mother and Manager of a very busy household. 

If you want to find out more about our new personal development programmes that Jenny and the team lead, you can read about them here and here! And check out this special blog where we interviewed Jenny and found out all about her!