Gwyneth Paltrow Gives Advice To Working Moms

Gwyneth Paltrow shares tips on balancing work and motherhood in the latest GOOP newsletter. To give a picture of what it's like for "extremely busy working mothers" Gwyneth consults her friends Juliet de Baubigny, partner at a venture capital firm, and the fashion designer Stella McCartney. The three women each give a detailed day in the life and share time-saving strategies such as "get a weekly blow out." Excerpts from Gwyneth's day follow.

November 4th, 2010 begins with cuddling and flax:

Got Apple all fed and dressed in her uniform and ready to go but no sign nor sight of Moses at 8 am and we have to be out of the house by 8:20. I went up to arouse the little man from slumber and he quite happily got up and crawled into my arms. We got downstairs and I made him a quick breakfast of eggs and toast followed by a spoonful of lemon flavored flax oil that I try to remember to give them both every morning.

After dropping the kids off at school, Gwyneth hurries to her workout:

Did dance aerobics for 45 minutes then all of the butt lifts and the like. Rushed upstairs to have a shower, doing my post workout stretch while the conditioner was doing its magic on my hair to combine activities/save time. Dressed quickly and rushed downstairs.

Gwyneth's workday comprised a CMAs rehearsal, a "kind of a big interview on the phone," checking email and a fitting for an upcoming Nashville trip ("We tried on a myriad of dresses and outfits, and I had b.o. by the end of it from wrestling with all of those dresses.") Then phone interviews and a Tracy Anderson Method conference call. The kids are dropped off at home and it's time for a group bath and dinner:

At 6:30 pm we all get in the bath and it's hair washing night for the kids (every other night - never popular). Then back downstairs to check on cupcakes and have a visit from an auntie and uncle. The kids indulge in a super sugary cupcake before bed but I don't feel too bad because they had a brown rice stir fry for dinner with baked sweet potato on the side.

The day's not over as it is "girls night" which involves a blazer, blush and great conversation.

Read the whole thing here.

Comments

[LaurieAnn]

04:27 PM on 02/03/2011

Gwyneth may have a stressful life at times but she that is because of the activities she in which she chooses to involve herself.  Her life isn't stressful because her child is sick and she can't afford to take her to the doctor, she just lost her job and her landlord is raising the rent.

[Turtleposer]

06:55 PM on 02/03/2011

Yeah, well, a mother who lost her job & can't afford rent or health care also can't afford Gwyneth's aerobic workouts. She should be thankful that she can't afford that.

[supertamsf]

01:58 PM on 02/03/2011

I'm going to just say it. Gweneth Paltrow looks like she smells of B.O.

[Turtleposer]

09:36 PM on 01/31/2011

I love her advice.

As someone who woke up at 5 am. when my daughter was a tot and drove my husband downtown to his job, then dropped my daughter off, then drove to work in a completely different just to do that again in reverse at 7 pm, Gwyneth's advice could've saved me a lot of trouble.

[LaurieAnn]

04:28 PM on 02/03/2011

It must be the flaxseed.  That must be what makes all the difference.  :-)

[Turtleposer]

06:53 PM on 02/03/2011

Who knows? She makes it too simple for us.

[dannyshiba]

07:55 PM on 01/19/2011

She "arouse"d her son out of bed. Uh oh.

[Spkheller]

09:54 AM on 01/19/2011

An actresses in the show Naked in a Fishbowl had an awesome response to this! http://feelingtempy.blogspot.com/2011/01/gwyneths-advice.html

[carmachu2]

12:31 PM on 01/16/2011

I like gwen as an actress, but she has zero advice to give working moms.

[mistajefferson]

10:56 AM on 01/16/2011

Life is rough keeping up with the Ciccone's.

[americaisracist]

08:49 PM on 01/15/2011

LEAVE GWENETH ALONE! WAAAAH

[JohnFBliss]

04:26 PM on 01/15/2011

Gwen, there are a couple difinations to "Working Mother": there is whatever you do with all of your staff, other help...then in thecase of say my Mother. She gave birth to 7 children,(that lived-another 7 that didn't), over a span of 20 years. All the time working full-time in a factory, at one time, for our troops during WW2. By the time I came around, in the 50's, she was taking care of us, Dad..who worked, and drank, a 25 room house (really), while she worked graveyard shift at a factory AND drove two different School Bus routes! She averaged, 1-2 hours sleep a day. She did this for years, as we grew out of the house. She died of Bone Cancer at 64. You are clueless to what a working mother really does....BY HERSELF!

[Badgirl]

02:02 PM on 01/15/2011

okaay, but where's the advice? I got up at 6 am, showered & dried, got kids up, dressed, fed, out to bus stop, walked 15 min to commuter train, waited in cold w/ hundred or so others, 8:15 am train pulls in at 8:37 am thanks to snowstorm, boarded train, called office, explained lateness, stood for 40 min train ride while reading & responding to emails, exited train walked to office, arrived at 9:40, have 8 to 10 hours of office work before heading home, hope to be past over for layoffs not promotion... And, that's only the first 3.5 hours!

[JakeMontero]

08:10 AM on 01/15/2011

advice... how to make it in Hollywood with very little talent? thanks Gwyn

[justjojo]

04:11 AM on 01/15/2011

LOL. She went upstairs to "arouse" her son from slumber. I think you meant, "rouse" him from slumber, Gwyneth. At least, I hope so.

[RVU]

02:51 AM on 01/15/2011

What advice? Grow up rich with a dad producer? Act like an insufferable and unobtainable WASP in every single role? Saddle your children with odd names that are guaranteed to subject them to local and international humiliation until they change their names like Woody Allen's son did? Think you are a sex symbol past your prime?

[Janis Moorhouse]

11:59 PM on 01/14/2011

Because she stopped eating 10 years ago she has no seratonin in her brain, the mouth goes on long after the brain has died.

[Janis Moorhouse]

12:33 AM on 01/15/2011

Hey Gwennie, if we give you another Oscar (this one for being skinny and blond), and everyone in the US gives you say 100 bucks, could you go away?

[Aelfgifu]

04:40 PM on 01/31/2011

You must be very insecure.

[deborahlquinn]

11:11 PM on 01/14/2011

Um, hello, if I gave my kids brown rice stir fry for dinner with a baked sweet potato on the side they'd run away and live with moles. I read her entire write-up, searching & searching for a gasp of irony, a wisp of self-reflection. Not to be found. Guess she lost her sense of humor in that mad dash from the personal trainer to the wardrobe fittings to the gals din-din with Stella. And perhaps Madge, that queen of all the down-to-earth working moms?

[Janis Moorhouse]

11:55 PM on 01/14/2011

That what happens when you get 20 mil in the bank before you're 23...