Juggling work, children and social life

I met Ben Jackson of BBC Radio Leicester yesterday at a business networking lunch and was interviewed for his breakfast show this morning on the topic of women combining a successful family life with a career and social life. The subject came up because it was reported at the weekend that a private school somewhere in the South of England has decided to teach girls of 10 that they can't have all three things. Two out of the three are possible, but not all three together ...

Ben interviewed three of us attending a BNI business lunch to see what our views are - it's hard to cover such a wide topic in a few minutes on radio, but for me the key has been first and foremost a hugely supportive husband, plus organisation and timing! I built my career during my twenties and early thirties and was lucky to have two wonderful children in my late thirties. It 's not always easy to balance everything and there have been times when I've wondered quite how it would all work out, but somehow it has.

These days after school clubs, breakfast and holiday clubs play a big role in helping working Mums to manage their time and we're very lucky that our children's school has a fantastic out of hours club. As far as social life is concerned, in our case much revolves around the children and the local community and whilst there are friends who we don't see as often as we'd like, we recognise that this is just for a short phase whilst our children are young.

So, should young girls be taught that they can't have all three things? No! At the age of 10 I believe that all children should be encouraged to aim high, believe in themselves and work hard towards whatever goals they aspire to. There's plenty of time for them to prioritise and decide what's important to them when they're older.