Ahead of Mother's Day, Kiwi celebs reveal how they'll be celebrating. Photo / Sally Tagg
Ahead of Mother's Day, Kiwi celebs reveal how they'll be celebrating. Photo / Sally Tagg
Jeanette Thomas and Mia
Jeanette Thomas' motherhood motto is "You're only as happy as your unhappiest child", and that is why she always encourages her teens to follow their passions. Whether it's the environment or potentially following in her footsteps into the media world, the 48-year-old is always a cheerleader for her kids Charlie and Mia.
Youngest of the family Mia, 17, joins Jeanette for the Weekly's Mother's Day photoshoot and chat, before going shopping for a dress for her upcoming Year 13 ball.
Looking almost like sisters, Jeanette admits that apart from desperately trying to get her children to clean their rooms, she has never told Mia off.
"It's so odd, but it's wonderful. It's probably not quite normal," she laughs. "And it's not like we're best friends and not a mother, it's not that at all. But both my kids are very calm and easy-going."
Jeanette, who hosts The Breeze's breakfast show with Robert Rakete, says the hardest part of being a mum is the worry that she has felt since both her children were born. And those fears haven't gone away, even though they're now independent young adults.
Charlie, 19, spent nine months of last year working in one of the most remote locations in the world, Kure Atoll in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, with only three others, as an environmentalist. During that time, Covid-19 swept the planet and they were only able to communicate via a weekly email.
The Breeze breakfast host Jeanette Thomas and her daughter Mia. Photo / Sally Tagg
"Given that I couldn't speak to Charlie for the entire time, I simply had to trust that everything was going to be okay," Jeanette says. "In the end, the emails sufficed and frankly, given how 2020 panned out, who wouldn't want to be isolated on a tropical island as far away from Covid as humanly possible!"
Meanwhile, back in New Zealand, Mia was learning to drive, which Jeanette found just as difficult to handle!
"That first drive, she tootled off down the driveway with no one else in the car. It was like the first time she walked to school on her own, where you think that people are waiting to do terrible things."
When they're not making TikTok dance videos together, which Jeanette insists will "never see the light of day because I'm so terrible at them", the mother and daughter bond over their passion for netball. Jeanette's played the sport since she was a child and has passed that love onto Mia, who appreciates her mum's support from the sidelines.
"Even when it's pouring down with rain on the side of the netball court and she's drenched under an umbrella, she is there," Mia smiles. "I love that. She's one of my favourite people in the world."
Jodie McCartney and twins Lachlan and Connor
Jodie McCartney's sons Connor and Lachlan have starring roles on Shortland Street. Photo / Sally Tagg
For Jodie McCartney, motherhood has been filled with the unexpected. Firstly, she never expected to have identical twins and she also never imagined her adorable boys would star in the country's favourite soap, Shortland Street!
Jodie, 39, and husband Peter, 52, went through IVF to have their boys, Connor and Lachlan, who play Boyd Chakraborty's sons Romulus and Remus Rolleston on the long-running series. They chose to only have one egg implanted, so it was a huge shock to discover at their eight-week scan that they were expecting identical twins.
"It was pretty exciting, after the shock settled, because it's pretty unique."
Jodie marvels at how well her confident 4-year-olds handle their starring role and working alongside "TV daddy" Sam Bunkall.
"I'm really proud of them, doing what they do on Shortland Street. They look really cute and they have this English accent – I don't even know where it came from!"
Jodie is constantly surprised by how different Lachlan and Connor's personalities are as they get older, despite being identical.
"They're raised exactly the same and dressed the same. They've had the same nurture and everything, but their personalities are so different. Connor's more of a boy's boy. He likes cars and lizards and things like that. And Lachlan's very loving – he'd rather sit there and brush my hair."
But the boys both agree on the best thing about their mum, telling the Weekly that it's her "hugs and kisses".
Which is also Jodie's favourite part about being a parent.
"The love and the cuddles. I don't know if it's a twin thing, but they're always on me. If you're on the couch, then they are there. And I just love that."
For the busy mum, whose days normally begin at 6am, Jodie's dream Mother's Day strikes the perfect balance of time alone to relax and soaking up magical moments with her boys.
"My dream would be a coffee in bed and two hours of peace. Then we would do something fun and after we've spent some time together, I'd enjoy a big bottle of wine and a book by myself. That would be amazing."
Angela Bloomfield and Max and Maya
Shortland Street star Angela Bloomfield is surprised her teens Max and Maya think she's funny. Photo / Sally Tagg
As Angela Bloomfield listens while her children Max, 16, and Maya, 15, tell the Weekly what they love about their mum, the former Shortland Street star jokes the experience is akin to attending her own funeral because she doesn't often hear them say such sweet things!
"Mum is really nice," Max tells. "She's a very empathetic and thoughtful person, and will do a lot for you, no matter what."
But what surprises Angela the most is hearing that her teens think she's funny, with both Max and Maya admitting they would love to inherit her sense of humour.
"I'm really dry, so it does surprise me that they say that I make them laugh. I think what they mean is that they like laughing at me." Angela adds, "Max and Maya are funnier than I am."
Getting to know Max and Maya's personalities has been one of the biggest surprises of motherhood for 48-year-old Angela. Before becoming a mum, she never considered how they'd gel as a family.
"I didn't overthink their individual personalities and how that would work with my personality. You just go, 'Oh, we're all a family and we're all going to get along.' And then as children get older, you start to see who they are. Especially with Maya, it was like, 'You're really different to me and the things that work for me in my life are not going to work for you.'"
When it comes to parenting, Angela, who now works as a real estate agent, says that it is important her children are able to challenge her.
"I tell them, 'This is a discussion. It might feel really aggravated but it's a discussion, so now you're allowed to say something back. It's not just about me telling you stuff,'" she explains. "And when they're brave enough to turn around and challenge me and I say sorry, it makes me really proud. Maybe not at the time, but later on I'm really stoked!"
As her kids get older, Angela relishes any chance she has to do family activities. "It's harder the older they get because everyone wants to do different things, but they're pretty good at sucking it up."
But for Maya and Max, it's the simple things that they do with their mum that mean the most. For Maya, it's sitting down together with some treats to watch an episode of Gilmore Girls. For Max, it's a simple chat. He explains, "I like that at the end of the day, we'll sit on my bed and talk about our days. That's quite nice because she's a good listener."
Lorna Subritzky and Zoe
Coast radio host Lorna Subritzky is facing the reality of her kids leaving home. Photo / Sally Tagg
For Coast radio host Lorna Subritzky, the idea of her children moving away from home is not an exciting idea. But with two of her three children now in their 20s, it's a reality she's had to face.
"I know some parents say they can't wait for their children to leave home, but it's different for me. My son's already left and I miss him terribly."
With her two oldest kids, Max, 22, a locksmith, and uni student Lucy, 20, making their way in the world, it is often just Lorna and her youngest Zoe, who she shares with husband Steve, 47, at home. The 11-year-old is known to spontaneously break out into TikTok dances in the middle of a conversation and has even managed to get Lorna to make a few videos with her.
"I have no coordination, so it's a losing battle," laughs Lorna. "Zoe is a very good dancer, which she gets from her dad. I'm terrible, so she tries – I'm becoming the butt of the joke, but that's okay. That's what mums are for, right?"
Their other favourite mother-daughter activity is curling up on the couch to watch a show together.
"In the evenings, when everyone else is off doing their own thing, we curl up on the couch. We're watching Modern Family right through. And Zoe lies with her head in my lap and I tickle her back – it's really nice."
Zoe adds, "I really like when she tickles my back."
Lorna can see a lot of her own traits in all three of her kids, adding that unfortunately, her stubbornness is one of them! But she is happiest to see that she has passed her optimism on to Zoe.
"She is one of those kids who's always just woken up smiling and goes to bed smiling, and smiles in between. I love that. I hope that always continues for her."
In her life Lorna, is surrounded by inspirational mums. None more so than her own mother, who moved her young family across the world from England to New Zealand to give them a better life when Lorna was 6 years old.
"She brought up four kids in extremely poor conditions in England. And then, to give us a bit of a life, she and Dad moved us out to New Zealand, where they'd never been and knew nobody. That's a hell of a thing to do. I don't know if I could do that."
