Who said you can't soak up culture if you're wearing a nappy? For those of you who haven't heard, CultureBaby, the brain child of Lucie Charkin is a service to parents of very young children feel and interact with culture. It's unlike anything else around for Mums and babies and in my opinion, a far cry from dull toddler groups I've often found myself at.
Lucie says: The spark came 6 years ago when Lily my eldest and I were both asked to leave an otherwise empty Museum because she was crying. I left feeling unwelcome and confused as to why any museum would turn away a member of a key audience with time and a desire to learn. Like many of my friends I also shared a frustration at the mindlessness of standard mother-and-baby activities and harbored a desire for stimulating company and ways to share new experiences with my children. So in 2009, after my last child Thea was born, I started working on CultureBaby.
Have a look at CultureBaby's first year here.
Previous events include a Serpentine Summer Party, a talk on Damien Hirst at The Tate Modern and Italian Renaissance depictions of the mother and child at The National Gallery.
Read more about the supermum behind CultureBaby...
NAME Lucie
OCCUPATION Founder and CEO of www.culturebaby.co.uk
WHAT DID YOUR LIFE
CONSIST OF BEFORE YOU BECAME A MAMA?
More cycling holidays,
sleepless weekends – out of choice, travel and me! In my twenties I lived in
Hong Kong running a private gallery for a Swiss dealer, before setting up my
own art gallery in Beijing, China. I returned to UK in 2000 and hit the Dot.Com boom with icollector.com. After this I headed up the Charitable Giving team
at the Natural History Museum and then I managed to squeeze in an MA in Art Criticism
and Museum Studies and a dream job at Artangel before I got pregnant with Lily;
who just turned 7.
HOW HAS BECOMING A
MOTHER MADE YOU A BETTER PERSON?
Motherhood has made me
realise I am mortal and that you have to make the most of the time you are
given (heavy!!). I like to think motherhood has made me strive to be a better
wife, mum, friend and role model to my delicious daughters. I am more aware of
what my choices mean to those around me. Above all it has given me greater feeling
of responsibility towards womankind not because of the tie that childbirth suggests
but rather because of the life-changing challenges to the sense of self that
this amazing journey presents.
ASIDE FROM CONCEALER,
WHAT CANT YOU LIVE WITHOUT NOW YOU HAVE A CHILD?
Perfume. I like to
wrap myself in a smell that is with me day and night that makes me feel good.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU
GIVE A FIRST TIME MUM?
Take it easy on
yourself, work around your needs and try to get to know your baby. Set yourself
a small goal each day in those first weeks and REST. Do not underestimate how
much your child understands, feels and learns. Those first 18 months are a daze
but they are critical in shaping your child’s neuro-pathways
and your bond. Whether you are with them 24 /7 or 3 hours a day after work–
talk to them. Tell them everything that you are doing, thinking, seeing. BUT whilst you are doing this, do the things you love! Keep your mind open,
meet other parents and come to culturebaby to get a dose of mind candy!
HOW HAS YOUR WARDROBE
CHANGED SINCE HAVING A BABY?
It has shrunk! No time
to shop.
CAKE OR BISCUITS?
Biscuits – nutty ones
with a cup of coffee
WHAT OR WHO INSPIRES
YOU?
Seeing someone being
passionate about something they love
DO YOU HAVE ANY
SECRETS OR TIPS TO MAKING MOTHERHOOD THAT BIT EASIER?
Come to one of our
events – they make you feel alive, interesting, engaged and let you meet other
likeminded folk.
Also if you can love
yourself everyone you care for benefits and feels it. So try to keep a hold of
what you love doing (or loved
doing before babies) and do it with your baby that way you can both grow and
learn together. Always move on from a mistake we all make them, adapt and don’t
try to do too much in a day!
Lastly – travel and
make the most of that first year, as this is when our bundles of joy are so
portable and yummy to cuddle in a sling. Its not until they start really moving
that you realise how much freedom a sleepy babe in arms can give you and how
you can really make the most if your year off at home with your baby, friends
and family.
CultureBaby are on Twitter.
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