Meet SA Mom blogger Sharna-Lee Clark! We’re about to find out more about her…
1) What do you normally get up to on an average day? (Give us a brief description about yourself)
An average day, which actually has nothing average about it, begins at 5am. While the rest of my lovely family has an extra hour to snooze I get up. No, unfortunately I’m not one of those supermoms who get up early to exercise. I’m up early to have an hour of peace. An hour just for myself. Not to do anything fun, but to pack in lunches, make breakfast and pack school bags without a two year old hanging onto my leg. I then wake the rest of the gang at 6am and the school rush begins. I manage to make my way to work by 8am looking fairly normal and begin my day of work. I am a lawyer, but I am currently not in practice. I made the decision to take another route when my eldest was a toddler. I felt that as much as I am goal orientated and career driven, I was not prepared to sacrifice my time with my child. Our children are little for such a short period of time and I wanted to be there for that period as much as possible. So instead, I spend my days moulding the young minds of future lawyers at a private university in Cape Town. I love what I do. I love solving problems and coming to the ‘rescue’ of others. My family members lovingly refer to me as ‘the fixer’. In my head I imagine I’m a bit of an ‘Olivia Pope’ (without all the violence, blood and danger). My work is flexible, which is just what I need with two little busy boys. I leave work at 3.30pm, collect my children from school and make my way home. Our evenings are rather chaotic and rushed, but everything settles at 8pm when the boys drift off to sleep. The Hub and I then sit together and work or watch some mindless TV and fall asleep on the couch.
2) How do you feel about motherhood – what are your struggles and joys?
My journey to motherhood began at a young age. I was a teenage mom. My eldest son was born a week after I turned 19. In all honesty, I’ve always been a motherly type of person. I’ve always known that I wanted to be a mother. In fact, I wanted six children. Becoming a mother at such a young age wasn’t any harder for me than I imagine it is at any age. I had an amazing support system and a wonderful boyfriend, who is now my husband. Motherhood generally is a life changing event. Being young didn’t make it easier or harder. It changed my life of course, but don’t all babies do that? I can honestly say that it’s changed my life for the better. I’m less selfish and self-absorbed. I’m more driven, because now my decisions and choices affect these other little people. Yes, I haven’t had the typical life of other 20 something year olds, but if I’m honest I don’t think I would have had that life anyway. I’ve never been that way inclined. I’ve never been the party girl, I’m more of a book worm, nerdy girl.
Now that I have two children, my biggest struggle is constantly dealing with the chaos and overwhelmed feeling. I promise, my social media feed might not show it, but I feel overwhelmed every single day. Parenting is damn hard, I say this often. Most evenings I am relieved when my children go to sleep. I’m relieved for the silence. I’m relieved that we’ve survived another day. I also struggle to deal with the constant guilt. Guilt for feeling relieved. Guilt for not doing this or doing too much of that. Another big struggle is discipline. I struggle to discipline my children and I don’t know why. I struggle to be authoritative with them, yet I’m perfectly fine being that way with others.
The joys of motherhood definitely outweigh the struggles. My children are my joy. Seeing them develop and grow is a joy. Hearing the hilarious things that come out of their mouths is a joy.
3) Tell us about your kid(s)
Seth, my 7 year old, is a deep thinker. He is unlike any child I’ve met at that age. He is very much like his Papa Bear, always deep in thought and trying to find the meaning behind things. He is witty and very quick with his mouth, much like his mother. At 7, he can already easily weasel his way out of trouble. He loves taking things apart and putting them back together. He loves discovering how things work. What astounds me the most about my Seth, is that even as such a little boy, he is extremely sensitive and sympathetic towards others. By nature he is sweet and helpful. He wants to help when he can and he wants everyone to be happy. He is extremely intuitive for such a little man and so very thoughtful. Two days ago, I walked out of the bathroom after having 5 minutes of peace and he had stuck a note to the door saying ‘to momy I love you veri much you are the best’. I mean come on, how adorable. Of course he has another side to him as well. The crying, nagging, moaning and whining side, but don’t we all? I know that I do.
Luca, my baby, is 2 years old. Seth was the calm before the storm. Luca, my darling, is the storm. He reminds me very much of someone I know…me! He is stubborn and headstrong. He insists on having things his way and don’t dare go against him. As little as he is, he knows what he wants and when. He is demanding, but he is also bloody adorable. He is so cute that I have to stop myself from eating him. That sounds weird, but you know what I mean. He is a charmer and melts everyone’s heart with his smiling eyes. He has the chubbiest little, adorable body and his latest obsession is Barney. (I’m really hoping it passes soon, there is only so much Barney that I can handle.)
4). How did you start blogging?
I started blogging late last year. I’ve always loved reading blogs and for as long as I can remember, I’ve always been a writer by heart. It may not be the career I’ve chosen, but I’ve loved writing since I was a little girl. Naturally, those two loves made me decide to start my own blog. Until recently, I wasn’t really sure where I was going with my blogging. I wasn’t sure what my blog was actually about and what kind of reader I was targeting. In May of this year, my blog really started to take shape and follow a particular path, that being one of my favourite things, parenting. I started this journey to document our lives. I’m a sentimental person. I hold onto everything. Blogging seemed like the perfect way to do this without the clutter and without ending up on one of those hoarding reality shows.
5) Share with us a valuable blogging tip you’ve learnt.
The most valuable tips that I’ve learnt have definitely come from the SA Mom Blogs website. I’m not sucking up, I promise. I’ve learnt so much about writing, shaping and developing a successful blog, increasing readership and even some scary things about receiving freebies.
The most valuable tip that I can give any new (or old) blogger is to plan. In the beginning I didn’t realise that my blog would need a plan or goals. This changed when I started to put more time and effort into the blog and realised that it’s sort of like a second job. Wait no, it is a second job. So much work goes into running a blog. So much time and planning. Once you start seeing it this way you will realise that you’ve made a commitment, not only to yourself but to the loyal readers that have been drawn to your blog. You will need to plan and set goals for yourself and your blog. Be realistic with those goals though. For example, I work full time, so I know that my blogging time is limited to ‘after hours’, which means in the wee hours of the morning. As a result, I know that it is not realistic for me to publish posts on the blog every single day, so instead I set a goal to post at least 2-3 times a week. Also develop a plan to get yourself out there. Readers don’t always fall into your lap. Use social media to your advantage. It’s free and readily available.
6) If you make money from your blog, give us a breakdown on how you do it. Give us some of your methods on how to get started on this, or any tips or advice.
I haven’t made a cent from my blog. Although it was never my intention to make money from blogging, it is often very frustrating when you’ve put so much time and effort into something and it’s not noticed. I’m not keen to make money from the blog, but I am very keen to be involved with reviewing products that are appropriate for me and my family. There is something else that I sort of view as getting ‘paid’ for blogging and that is my stats! I am very, very grateful for every single person who reads my thoughts and I see that as payment enough (although I wouldn’t mind a freebie or two. What? You were thinking it, I just said it).
Sharna blogs at: Legally brunette and Curvy (please go and support her – her brother in law has just been in a tragic accident)
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