Jasmine Daya is the mother of three children and a practicing lawyer. She is passionate about her work, life and children but doing it all means that her day starts early and ends late. Jasmine decided to start a blog to share how she balances spending quality time with her children every day while accomplishing her career goals, enjoying time with friends and having a little time to herself in the hopes that aspiring young women can realize that they too can have it all.
Growing up, Jasmine had dinner with her family almost every night. As she got older, she was surprised to learn that all families didn’t have dinner together. Today, she follows the same routine that her parents instilled in her. She leaves the office at 5:30 p.m. almost daily so that she can cook dinner and enjoy a meal with her family. After dinner, she may go to a meeting, work from home, go back to the office, go to the gym or do anything else that needs to be done. Some are surprised to learn that Jasmine takes two to three hours out of the day for the family dinner ritual but to her, it’s important. This is the one time in the day that she spends together with her kids and husband. While this may not be the best schedule for everyone, it works for her!
At the dinner table, her three children share one thing about their day, what they ate for lunch (their schools provide lunch) and discuss any activities that are scheduled for the following day. Her children have learned conversational skills and Jasmine learns more about her children while keeping on top of school and scheduling details. It would be much easier for her to stay at work rather than take a break in the day and while this may sometimes sound enticing, she realizes that she would miss out on her kids’ lives and likely look back and regret the lost time that she could never get back.
Jasmine’s mother, Shan, is a creative and inspiring cook. Jasmine learned her way around the kitchen by looking over her mother’s shoulder. Jasmine has collaborated with Shan to create a series of cookbooks which will be published shortly. These cookbooks will reveal many family recipes. Shan was born in East Africa and moved to Canada in the 1970’s due to political turmoil. The recipes shared incorporate Indian cooking with African influences. Enjoy and get in the kitchen!