That was the question my daughter, Maisie, repeatedly asked every time I phoned to see how she was from my workplace. I can hear it in my head as clearly today as she said it 13 years ago. Oh, the pang of missing her and yet the need to earn a crust. It was painful. Dawn Leahey asked Mwaah's bloggers about their feelings on being a ‘working mum’.

When I started nursery my mum went back to working part-time at Barclays bank. This meant that my gran would pick me up every now and then and I’d go to her house for the afternoon. I remember how much I used to look forward to these days. Gran would let me bake or take me swimming and to the pond to feed the ducks. As far as I was concerned it didn’t matter that mum wasn’t picking me up from nursery. I think it made me more independent as a child. I never got homesick on school trips and loved staying at my friend’s houses.