BEING A MOTHER

Katharina and Elizabeth Brocke 1988

Being a mother is the most amazing gift, giving a child the chance to grow up in this community is too … and parenting is a juggling act, wherever you live in the world. Single parents, or two-parent families like ours, have their particular sets of challenges. In my daughter’s first year my partner was very stressed through his work in the Findhorn Foundation, and only once he changed jobs could we begin to share the responsibility and the joys more fully.

Pregnant May East, Christina Nash and Karin Heyde

We currently don’t have a Foundation creche or a group of mothers looking after each others’ kids. After a dry spell in terms of children, they are only just re-emerging on the community scene, so there aren’t enough of them to make a solid group yet. My daughter, Isabella, age 2 ¾, is currently looked after by experienced community babysitters while I work. As a residential staff member moving into non-residential status, my current choices will cost more per hour than I will earn.

Fathers Loren Stewart and Craig Gibsone

I am incredibly grateful for the support the Foundation has given me in terms of maternity leave, yet coming back to work has not been easy. However, watching my daughter unfolding, trusting the world around her, interacting with a community of familiar beings on a daily basis, reminds me why we chose to live here

Bettina Jespersen