Mums. Amazing, aren’t they? Meet four local ladies who’ve made a fine art of being ’mum’s taxi’ out of sheer willpower to make it work.
Margot Richards Rylie 12, Faithe 11, Trinitee 9, Iliana 7, Darcey 6
Between them, Margot Richards’ three daughters participate in eight classes of ballet, modern/jazz, Irish and acro dancing at the Townsville Academy of Performing Arts (TAPA) while both boys do kickboxing, Darcey plays Rugby League and the two youngest take swimming lessons.
Being a primary school teacher means Margot finishes at the same time as the kids and can do the sports drops then finish her schoolwork later when they’ve gone to bed.
“The only way to get everyone where they need to be is to be organised,” says Margot.
“My kids pack their own sports bags the night before and leave them at the door ready to go in the car the next morning. I also make sure I have plenty of afternoon tea packed and I plan dinner for the week on the weekend.
“The hardest thing is being ready for the whole day – leaving the house at 7.30am and not walking in the door until 5 or 6pm.”
Most of the time things run smoothly but there are the occasional hiccups.
“One afternoon I thought I was doing well for time and headed home but, after walking through the door, realised I hadn’t done my last pick-up from dancing,” Margot says.
“Luckily we live very close to TAPA and I was only 10 minutes late but now I always do a head count!”
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