In her blog, Lucia writes about her “life has a housewife, struggling with scheduled times, tidiness, hundreds of unfinished projects but always looking for the bright side… and the good side.” Enter and discover her world, her recipes and her taste for life.

To understand what a welcoming, cheerful and positive person she is, just read her very special advice on serene motherhood. Treasure this advice – it is really precious. If you don’t understand it now, come back here in a few years’ time and you will

1. Do not underestimate: them, your children. True, they are full of energy. But they are discovering one thing after the other. Learning is so easy for them, something we have long forgotten. They are looking at us even when we don’t realize. We educate them with the way we act because, like sponges, they absorb everything around them.

2. Do not overestimate: other people’s judgment. The people who love you know that, after quietly and politely expressing their opinion on a subject (be it the children’s education, how to feed them, choosing a pediatrician, the best kind of shoes), they must step aside and let you get on with it. You – with your children’s father – play the starring role. Together you can go on this great adventure.

3. If you need help: don’t hold back. Real “wonder women” are the ones who understand they can’t make it alone. We know perfectly well how to ask for help: your mother can iron the shirts, your mother-in-law can cook some sauce and bring it round, a friend can pick up your child from nursery, your husband can come back from work and pick up the screaming baby, giving you the chance to take a shower or cook the dinner in peace. We are lucky to be surrounded by people who are just waiting for us to ask them to help us.
Sometimes we get cross thinking we shouldn’t have to ask – our partner, our mother should understand when we have had enough. Waiting for other people to make the first move doesn’t usually help. It is much better to make things simple and just ask. It will be easier for everybody! (I experienced this first-hand…)

4. You won’t manage without: affection. A gentle touch from your mother, reassuring you that you are a good mother even when the baby is screaming so much you feel your heart will break. A romantic dinner with your partner in which you can finally talk. The look of your baby when your feed him or your child waving when you pick her up from school, as if there were nothing better in the world. Your friends’ smiles, the friends you know you can always count upon. These moments are the fuel that keeps us going because we feel loved.

5. My motto for when you are desperate: think of what you have and never of what you are missing. This is more of an exercise than a motto. It is a way of finding something good in everything and every situation, even the less (apparently) attractive ones. You can always start again from there – from the positive present.