Where in the world do you live? And, are you from there?

I live in Norway – and I was born and raised here.

What language(s) do you speak?

Norwegian and English (and can understand and make myself understood in Swedish and possibly Danish…)

When did you first become a mother?

At the age of 35…

Are you a stay-at-home mom or do you work?

I work full-time

Why do you blog/write?

Because Jennifer Burden asked me to. I had never considered blogging, I hardly knew what it was, but then I was asked, and I checked out some other blogging sites, and decided to give it a go. I think it is almost therapeutic – being able to write about things that are on my mind (about motherhood here on World Moms Blog, and about differences between English and Norwegian culture over on my own blog (http://quintessentiallyburrows.wordpress.com) – yes I admit it, I am becoming addicted to this whole blogging thing!)

How would you say that you are different from other mothers?

I don’t think I am any different – and after reading the stories of all the other mothers here I get this confirmed again and again. All though we are not all the same we seem to face the same challenges from time to time.

What do you view as the challenges of raising a child in today’s world?

I (of course) view my own childhood as being great, and I tend to compare with that. For instance telly – how much is OK? When I grew up we only had a couple of channels to choose from, and children’s TV was only on for half an hour every day – but now we have TV channels dedicated to children and DVDs and have to figure out how much telly is OK to watch. Also, the world seemed smaller and safer when I was young whereas now it is bigger, and more international (which is a great thing), but it also doesn’t feel quite so safe. Will I allow my wee lad to go cycling on his own for several hours a day without me knowing exactly where he is, or will I give him a mobile phone so that I can always get hold of him (and him of me)? And if so, what is the appropriate age? And how can we make sure he gets to play outside (the old-fashioned way) instead of sitting inside with our iPad, iPods, Mac, mobile phone, PS3 and so on and so on??? Oh dear… I feel another article coming on!

How did you find World Moms Blog?

The founder contacted me asking if I would like to contribute as she was thinking about starting WMB!

What do you like best about writing for World Moms Blog?

That I get to share my experiences and thoughts (it is therapeutic in a way to write it all down), and I get feedback from lots of other mums either with good ideas or just with supportive comments. It helps knowing that others are going through the same and that I am not alone in this huge task of being a mother.

The photo used in this post is attributed to the author.

Astrid Warren (Norway)

Astrid is a Norwegian thirty something, married, working mum to a wee lad who is almost three and a baby born in 2012! She grew up in Norway, but moved to London, England after she met her husband. After living there during her twenties, she has since returned to Norway and settled down in her nation's capital of Oslo to raise her family. She finds herself slowly turning into her own mother as her free time is spent reading, walking, knitting and meeting up with other mums for coffee. (Ok, she still secretly loves going to the pub, too!). However, there isn't much time for any of the above, as she now enjoys spending most of her time crawling around on the floor, while playing with her children! Check out her blog, Quintessentially Burrows. She's also on Twitter @MrsSWarren.

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