CAROLINE DE MAIGRET, MODEL, WRITER, AND MOTHER OF ANTON, 8 YEARS OLD

What do you love the most about being a mother?

That infinite love in my stomach. Yes, I belong to the cliché “it is the most amazing thing in the world.”

What do you find the hardest about being a working mother? How do you find your balance?

I am extremely fortunate because I love my job and life is good to me. So when I come home I am a happy woman and the time I dedicate to my kid is real quality time. I have time to listen to him, talk, play. So I don’t really feel guilty about not being always there, because I know that what we share is probably much more than what women that don’t travel have to offer their kids.

What are your favorite things to do together with Anton?

I’m a big board game and cards player, so that’s our main game activity. We like to draw and paint together as well, invent magic tricks… There is one very special game we love to play: We go walk outside in the streets of Paris for hours and he’s the one who decides if we go straight, left, or right at every corner. That’s our favorite game–full of surprises.

What is your favorite thing to do to relax when you have a bit of time just for yourself?

I read, watch documentaries..

I read on Into The Gloss that you hated working out and I know it’s been a while, but did you do anything specific to stay in shape while pregnant and then get back in shape?

No, when I was pregnant, I gained 24 kilos. That’s a lot. And of course, no exercises at all.

I did a diet for ten days, two months after giving birth (I wasn’t breastfeeding), and I lost basically everything. I cut out sugar of all kinds–fruit, pasta, alcohol… I didn’t do any sports after but I was 30–your skin is still tight at this age!

I started exercising only four years ago because it feels good for the mind and body, but I still hate it.

You are known as a style icon–do you recall your pregnancy looks? It’s so hard to dress when pregnant!

I would go to American Apparel, H&M or Zara and buy stuff I would normally buy, but in L or XL. I didn’t want to change my style and was really scared to be a girl “dressed from a pregnancy store,” I have no idea why.

What is your beauty routine? What are your favorite products?

I clean my skin really well every day, even if I don’t wear makeup. Every night I use Cleansing Milk by Avene and then I rinse with water, and I add LaRoche Posay Tonic Water. Then I put Renergie Lift Multi-Action by Lancôme for dry skin. I love the texture. In the morning, I put Genifique Serum by Lancôme then Crème de Rose by Dr Hauschka.

What advice would you give to a working mother to make it a bit easier? I know guilt is a big problem for all working mothers–I try hard to not feel guilty when I am working but I cannot help it!

Yes it’s not always easy but I strongly believe that if I’m happy, my child is happy. And I have the chance to have a very fun and interesting life. Kids are like sponges, so if I were frustrated, it would hurt him as well.

Your book How to be Parisian Wherever You Are is an international success– what would be a typical Parisian mother characteristic or thing to do?

Ha! there are a few texts about being a mother in the book. I really work on being fair and not lie to my son. If I promise him something, I will do it. These details are very important to his life and might appear not so big to us. He really knows he can count on us. There are just a few rules to respect. Like being polite or not do anything dangerous, the rest is quite free.When he’s not at school, we really insist that he has a lot of free time rather than running to extra classes of sport, chinese or piano lessons. Boredom brings creativity and imagination. It gives him the energy to get really interested in things, to develop passions. When he gets interested in something more than usual, we do our best to give him as much access as possible to it. Might it be Star Wars, soccer, or electrical circuits. He’s allowed to play video games or be on the computer on the weekend, around one hour a day on both days.

When it’s time to go to bed, we read a book together and we talk for a while. We play question games as well like what was the coolest thing that happened to us that day, or one thing we learned that day… it brings great discussion.

Then he’s allowed to read as long as he wants alone until he falls asleep. It’s a great way to have them read because at this age, they want to do anything but sleep. So he reads and falls asleep super quickly that way!

I’ll stop here! I could go on for ever on the things the three of us share together.

Photos by courtesy of Caroline.

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