Here, the “relay” goes around among the region’s families with children, who have to answer a series of questions. The questions give parents the opportunity to reflect on both the practical and more emotional aspects of parenthood.
This time, Jeanne Sissel Thomsen, who is a partner and sales director in the fashion brand Sissel Edelbo, is participating.
Name: Jeanne Sissel Thomsen
Children: Max Emil (2014), Harriet (2017) and Coco Sofie (2021)
Cohabiting with: Chris Elmengaard, who works as CEO of Sissel Edelbo
Residence: Hasseris
Alder: 1983 (age 41)
Stilling: Partner and brand director in the fashion brand Sissel Edelbo
What are you busy with in your family life right now?
Right now we are focusing on landing well in our new everyday life. The children have new teachers and educators after the summer holidays, so we try to create a gentle transition by taking slightly shorter days and talking about the new routines and relationships.
At the same time, we are in full swing with a thorough renovation of our future home. So we try to distribute the work, the construction project and the many decisions with calmness and presence – and as evenly as possible.
How do you get your everyday life together as a family?
We are in the fortunate situation that we share both children and company, so we are often very much in agreement about the priorities that make the calendar go up.
In addition, we are blessed with some amazing grandparents who often step in and make the puzzle fit together, so we can also find time for ourselves as a couple and for business trips.
Photo: Henrik Bo
Our children are very active and each have three days a week of sports – gymnastics, karate and basketball – and here we have made driving arrangements with their good friends’ parents. It’s really worth its weight in gold and helps us make our everyday lives work together – a good example that it takes “a village to raise a child”.
How do you cope with the pressure that can come with both work and parenthood?
We prioritize taking a number of holidays together as a family, where we can really tune in to each other and get new experiences. It gives us a much-needed breather when everyday life rushes by and everyone is busy.
In the past year, I have also introduced a “Jeanne day”, where I work at home every Thursday. It gives me time for the things I normally don’t get to during a busy office day, where I often act as the glue between many of Sissel Edelbo’s processes and decisions.
It has made a huge difference to have that day as a breather in everyday life, where I can lower my shoulders a little. But as a self-employed person, you cannot avoid busy periods completely, and here it works really well for us to talk about our priorities.
Photo: Henrik Bo
We also make sure to have weekends without fixed plans, where we can just be together and take things as they come. No plans can sometimes be the best plans – for both big and small.
What do you do to create quality time together as a family?
Fridays are sacred to us – it’s our regular home evening. Unless we are invited to something very special, all five of us stay at home and enjoy ourselves. It is a tradition that the children look forward to every week.
We cook good but simple food and relax together and eat Friday sweets – simple, but something we really enjoy.
We have also hired a cleaning company that comes on Fridays and does both cleaning and laundry. It gives a great profit to come home to a clean house and just be able to go on weekends without having to think about practical chores.
Photo: Henrik Bo
It’s our little life hack, which gives more time to just be together as a family at the weekend.
How do you talk to your children about the challenges they may face as schoolchildren?
We always encourage dialogue and ask about their everyday life. We talk a lot about how the most important thing you can be is a good friend.
It is also important for me to tell my children that if someone is not good to them, then they did not deserve to be their friend – but that you still have to treat each other properly. Fortunately, they think going to school is fun and they love going to sports and having playdates.
But we also talk a lot about the importance of taking breaks and having time to just do nothing. I hope we can teach them to appreciate the calm and just be – so that the calm can become a friend.
What does it mean to you to be a North Jutland family in today’s Denmark?
The very best thing about North Jutland is that we have our family around us and that our children are allowed to grow up close to their grandparents. It gives so much closeness and togetherness in everyday life.
I also love living right by the fjord – my husband has bought a boat together with a friend, and we have really opened our eyes to what experiences a trip on the water with good friends can provide. A Saturday with crab fishing is one of the best.
We also enjoy going to places like Egholm, Kunsten, Vesterhavet, Store Økssø, Kornets Hus, Rebild Bakker and Frugthaven – I could go on!
I love that we always have nature close by and that our children are allowed to grow up in a place where we ourselves have our roots.
It provides a sense of connection and calm, which we value very much.
What values are you trying to pass on to your children?
We want to give our children an understanding of the importance of community – to take responsibility, be helpful and support each other.
It means a lot to us that they learn that we all have a responsibility for our world and each other, especially in a time of great challenges such as climate change, where it requires a joint effort to make a difference.
It can be a lot to put on children, so we try to make responsibility a natural and fun part of everyday life, where taking care of our resources becomes a matter of course.
For example, we have made it a habit for the children to use the last water in their glass or water carafe to water our plants after each meal.
In this way, they learn to think in terms of recycling and take care of the little things, instead of just throwing them away.
It’s a small thing, but we hope that it will become a natural part of their everyday life and perhaps inspire them to think about how they can make a difference – both for the environment and for other people.
In addition, I try to give my children creativity and culture.
It gives them a free space to express themselves and be themselves, and it can form the basis for important conversations about everything – from small everyday experiences to big questions about life.
When something is difficult, we have a phrase we always return to: “I can, I want, I must”. The coming generations will grow up in a complex world, so it is important to us that they have faith in themselves and dare to act based on their knowledge and intuition.
We want to give them the courage to stand firm and take responsibility for what they believe in.
What worries you most about being a parent today?
What I worry about the most is whether I am present enough for my children.
Ever since they came into the world, Sissel Edelbo has grown bigger and bigger, and my head has often been in two places at once.
Photo: Henrik Bo
I am deeply dedicated to both my “working child” and my three lovely children, and I really try to find the right balance between the two.
But I can’t help but have a little fear that my children are growing up too fast – maybe before I’m ready to let go myself.
Hug them an extra time tonight.
How do you deal with screen use and technology in your family?
I have to admit that I have a bit of a double standard on that point, because in many ways I have been very analog in my child-rearing.
For example, we didn’t have a television until we had our third child, and neither child has had an iPad. There have also always been restrictions on screen time.
But at the same time, I myself am dependent on my mobile. 80 percent of my work takes place online, and I often communicate with suppliers and business partners outside of normal working hours. So it’s a bit of a sore spot for me.
I love social media myself and try to introduce my kids to it in a positive way. For example, we sometimes watch funny animal videos together before bed and we can laugh out loud together. I do not deny that there is a lot of good in technology.
But I also know that screen use will always be a temptation, so I try to give them books – and lots of them – so that they have other options than the screen when they want to be entertained or immerse themselves in something.
How do you find time for yourselves as a couple or individuals when family life is full?
It can be difficult to find the time, but we do what we can. A couple of times a year we go on a trip without the kids, and it’s really nice to have time to just be the two of us.
Often we visit a city, go out to eat and have some good drinks.
We are also from the generations where 40th birthdays are in full swing, so this summer we have been to many wonderful parties – without children.
It has been fun and has given us time to be social and just enjoy each other. We also have room to go out separately, and it gets easier as the children get older.
But I also believe that everything has its time, and right now we are living our best toddler parenting lives – with all that that entails. And that is exactly as it should be.
What do you dream of for your family’s future?
I dream that we all stay healthy and fit, and that we maintain our curiosity – both about each other and about the world around us. That we keep the joy of the little things, always support each other and stick to our presence, no matter what the future brings.
Who should take the parenting baton next?
It should be Mads Jeppesen, commercial film director. He is my good friend and freelance collaborator. Mads is always curious about my work and a great sparring partner. He is full of good ideas. And then Mads is a feminist.
Mads is super talented and makes the most aesthetic films. We have also produced fire films together.
I know Mads through my beautiful friend Luisa, who is married to him. I met Luisa in my first mothers’ group, and we still hold on to each other and our children, another thing I love about North Jutland: Good friends.
Mads is a cool father who always pulls out a piece of paper and a pencil and enchants all the children with his dinosaur and princess drawings.
Bonus info: Mads bakes the best tarte tatin.
2024-10-18 17:13:00
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