How to follow your passion with 3 young children.

I am often asked how I manage to have time to make so many meals and creations in the kitchen with 3 young children (9 months, 2 years old and one almost 5 years old).

First of all, I must specify that I am currently on maternity leave. Any parent on parental leave will say it's not really a "leave" it's more of a 24/7 job but there comes a point where you get some resemblance of a routine and you have more confidence to start thinking about yourself again. Also my two eldest go to daycare, so during the weekdays except exceptions I can take care of my youngest, the house and me (often in this order I must say).

My tip #1: portage

My youngest child has had a lot of difficulty falling asleep since birth. Since I love babywearing and since I also did it with the other two it was just normal to use my many wraps and baby carriers to help him falling asleep. And once asleep, those who do babywearing will understand me, it is difficult to sit down and a transfer to a bed is not always possible! So I take this opportunity to cook!

My tip #2: support

My husband is my biggest supporter. He strongly believes in my talents as a chef and always encourages me to pursue my passions. Which means taking care of the children if I have to finish something in the kitchen, doing the dishes most of the time and throwing at me lots of ideas of how I can evolve in my passion. He believes in me sometimes even more than I do and I wouldn't be where I am without him. I also have a few mentors that I follow in my field who help me and give me tips. These mentors are often other chefs who teach me everything I currently know. It's wonderful how it's a beautiful community of sharing and mutual aid.

My tip #3: be passionate

Nutrition, baking and cooking is more than just a hobby, it's a passion! It's pretty much one of the things I think about the most during the day! Whenever I have a moment, I watch a video to learn how to make chocolate candies or various cake decorating techniques, I read about the different terms and techniques or I study in one of my certifications. And that means sometimes putting an earphone in one ear when the kids are watching a little movie si I can listen to something on my phone, or cutting into Netflix at night when the kids are sleeping to study my certifications, or enjoying the time my son takes a nap to make dishes and pastries. Every free time I have I spend it this way. It's not an obsession, but almost!

My tip #4: organisation

I am very organized. Which is positive when you have to think about all the things you need to do for the entire household. But that can be negative because I have to remember to live in the present moment and not be constantly in the future to think of a thousand and one things to do. Mondays are often my days of organization and cleaning. While I pick up around the house I take the opportunity to think about the dishes and creations I want to make during the week. In the afternoon I often do grocery for the missing ingredients. I also keep all my appointments in my Apple calendar and I have a paper agenda where I write down the recipes I want to make. Often my desserts are made over several days so I write down what step I plan to do when and as a chef I know how long it will take me and I also know my baby's routine so I plan accordingly. It's not planned to the minute but I know if I want to do this or that in the morning or in the afternoon. I also use some techniques from the Agile methodology to plan my coming months and what I want to do. I know roughly what I want to accomplish and when, and I only detail the steps a week in advance (a bit like in a SCRUM).

So far this is what works for me! I'm in the very beginning of my career as a chef and I'm just starting to build my business and sell my products. Maybe if one day I have my restaurant it will be different and I will have to adapt the way I operate. But by then my children will be older and everything will be even easier to manage. Chaotic but manageable!