Immigrate to the UK and listen to British stories: According to a report by the British Daily Mail on April 16, for most modern women, balancing work and children seems like an impossible task. Even the Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, could not manage to juggle raising children while handling a busy career. However, Englishwoman Amanda Owen has recently succeeded in doing so, which is truly admirable.
Twenty years ago, inspired by the works of James Herriot, Amanda and her husband Clive decided to move to a remote town in the Yorkshire Dales, where they purchased a 2,000-acre farm and began a life of sheep farming. Over these 20 years, they have had seven children; the eldest, Raven, is 13, and the youngest, Annas, is still an infant. Because they live in such a remote area, about a two-hour drive from the city, two of their children were born on the way to the hospital.
When it comes to farm work and childcare, the couple has gained significant experience. Amanda wakes up at 4:00 AM every day to tend to the livestock. Her daily routine includes helping ewes give birth, feeding the sheep, herding them from the grassy slopes back to the farm, and maintaining various farm equipment. The work is heavy and exhausting, but she does not feel that her work prevents her from taking care of her children. On the contrary, she says, "I can take good care of both, and I still have time to think about many things." She brings her three youngest children with her when she starts work so she can look after them at any time, and the other children have been helping their parents with simple tasks on the farm since they learned to walk.
Overall, Amanda believes that work and children provide all women with an opportunity to better learn how to allocate their time reasonably and do everything as well as possible.