Michelle Obama Quotes

My mother worked when I was growing up, so I was under the impression I'd find it easy to be a working mum. But I found it very hard to be away from my family, even for short periods of time.

When I was working a lot, I felt guilty as a parent. I couldn't pick up my son every day from school, bake him cookies and that kind of thing.

I'm very conscious of the fact that when I'm working, my daughter is not with one of her parents.

I tried taking a year off when Pedro was a toddler because I really wanted to be around, but it wasn't good for any of us.

It definitely puts a strain on family life - I miss them like mad. Being a working mother I've been juggling house and career from day one. I want to hold out for telly for the second half of the year.

I want to be more successful as a mother than I am in show business.

Being a mom is hard, I think a lot of working moms feel that way.

Because my business life is so busy, my home is really my sanctuary. That is where I reflect and spend quality time with my girls.

I've always said that kids should enhance your life, not hinder your life, so I just try to make the most out of being with my kids. You have to have a life for yourself somewhere in the mix of being a wife and mum.

The best situation is being a single parent. The best part about is that you get time off, too, because the kids are with their mom, so it's the best of both worlds. There's a lot to be said for it.

My kids always say to me, 'Can we watch TV?' I say, 'Absolutely!' because then I can get something done. But then they say, and I wait for it, 'But can you watch with us?' My moment of freedom vanishes. So not only do I not think TV's that great and I hate sitting in front of it, but I have to with them.

After filming I like to go home and lie down with my daughter and have a glass of wine so I don't really socialize with the other actors.

When I was growing up, my mother worked, and in the evenings, the whole family would sit around the dinner table and recount the day.

With the kids around, this is a different world to me. I spend a lot of time with them till they go to their playschool. I wake up early, have breakfast with them. I come back from work and am with them again till they go to bed by 10 P.M. Touch wood, this is what I wanted always.

If both parents must work, I think it is more important that the mother has proximity to the child to therefore establish a childcare situation at the big corporations not once a day, but many times a day.

Is it harder having kids and working? It definitely is, but the payoff is you get to go home to your kids, and it all balances out. And I know I'm a better mother when I'm engaged in something outside of the house.

I took a long period off to be a mom.

My day rotates around my family. I am very lucky.

When you're working from home and you've got children, a big night out is going to Pizza Express down the road.

I take my kids to school. And if I go to work, I go to work, and they visit me on set. I come home. I have dinner with my family. I have breakfast with my family. I have a very solid, very warm home.

I rarely get a moment to myself, but I love the way that my agenda is dictated by the children, not my work.

Well, I took a sabbatical. I walked away from shooting movies because I couldn't handle the travel. I'm a single parent. I had young kids, and I found that keeping in touch with them from hotel rooms and airports wasn't working for me. So I stopped.

I've never been a hands-on dad. I'm not ashamed to admit it, but you can't run a restaurant and be home for tea at 4:30 and bath and change nappies.

I like this job - most days I have a chance to make breakfast and take the kids to school or to read 'em a bedtime story. It's almost like a normal life.

I am a total loser, in every aspect of my life. I rarely go out. I have a great family and we spend all our time together. I work hard and play hard with them.