Renata Wiles

And I think that that's why so many people have kids and they're like...

I'm going to start my own business.

I'm going to be self-employed.

I'm going to have my own flexibility.

And then you do have that flexibility.

If you can make it successful, you know, you can work in the weekends or the evenings or nap times.

It's a different juggle, but you do have that flexibility to pick your own hours.

Yeah, I think in ways that you probably don't like first expect.

Me staying at home with a young child was actually like quite detrimental to my mental health.

And so getting out and about, whether that was just going to a playground, whether it was like going to a new cafe or doing something, you know, like the library or free activity.

There are so many amazing free activities that you can do with kids.

Like if we look at Auckland, for example, which is where I first started sharing places to go, there are so many free activities that you can do.

And if you don't know about them, you're more than likely going to pay for an activity that you do know about, you know?

So if you're thinking like, oh, I know there's a great indoor playground that we could go to and I have to pay to go there.

You don't know that actually like the Maritime Museum is free and has a free make day for kids or something.

Sometimes not knowing what's available where you can save money.

And for me, often it was the real frustration.

I'm sure other parents can relate to this of like wanting to go somewhere, paying to go, whether it's like a cafe and you're paying for, you know, for a coffee and a fluffy or something to eat or whatever, or you're paying to go to an activity with your kids and then the kids don't like it.

It's not what you expected.

The coffee is really terrible.