Business Fit Magazine Special Editions Mother & Daughter Special Edition | Page 16

She also wants to start a YouTube blogging
account sharing her experiences as a young
teenager with anxiety and how this affects her
everyday life.
Leonie’s message to other teenager girls:
You are not alone, there are many others
who feel the same way because life is tough.
My biggest advice to you is to always try
to find somebody, anybody, who you feel
comfortable talking to. It’s difficult at first to
be honest about how you feel because you
might feel stupid or the only one but I can
honestly tell you, It really does help to
tell somebody how you feel. They can’t
magically change how you feel, but
by talking to someone, it can help
because it makes you realise,
you’re not so alone, which then
helps to change how you feel.
Also start to learn to have the
belief that you can create your
reality, and that all of these
challenges are what is going
to make us who we are.
For Aly home-schooling a child on top of being a
working mother of four is simply another thing to
add into the already busy mix. Feasible because
she works predominantly from home, she feels it
is important Leonie knows she has 100 per cent
support from her mother and for a child who
feels nobody understands her, it is vital to her
well-being.
Leonie strives for perfection, which Aly believes
is a product of today’s societal expectations.
She finds it difficult when faced with the tough
reality that perfection is not instantaneous or
even achievable and as her mother, Aly has to
be the bearer of this truth, sometimes leading to
clashes and arguments.
Despite this Aly says: “Ultimately, I hope she
truly believes that no matter what, I will always
be there for her! She is an amazing unique and
beautiful person and absolutely perfect as she is!
She is exactly as she is supposed to be, because
it’s all about the journey, not the destination.”
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Aly’s message to other mothers with teenage
daughters is to know that it’s good not to be the
‘perfect mum’. It’s ok to work and be a mum just
as much as it’s ok to be a stay at home mum.
What’s important is that you find time, even little
bits, with your daughter to: share moments,
encourage her new interests, listen to her,
inspire her to follow her dreams, take an interest
in her interests, do your best to understand her
even when you don’t, accept her exactly as she
is, laugh together, cry together and sometimes
even appreciate you must argue together.
Surprisingly, considering the challenges Leonie
faces, she would like to be an actor and a model.
She says:
“I would like to be an actor because you get to
play a different part of yourself that you don’t
show in real life. I have a keen interest in both
taking pictures and having pictures taken of me, I
really enjoy being in front of the camera and feel
that I can be myself and free.”
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