We know Allison best for her work in the world of media, where she hosts A Current Affair and docuseries Parental Guidance.
But outside of her busy career, she’s also a devoted mum to two young kids.
WATCH BELOW: Allison Langdon reveals how she met her husband
Interestingly, it seems it’s Allison’s work that’s had the biggest influence on both her decision to become a mum, and how she parents today.
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And at the very beginning, she wasn’t too sure if she wanted to be a mum at all.
Allison met her husband Mike Willesee Jr. in the good old days before app-dating, where walking into a bar might have led to meeting the love of your life.
She had a lot going for her when she tied the knot, as she was about to begin working for the Australian journalism mainstay 60 Minutes.
“I landed my dream gig: 60 Minutes is all I ever wanted, that was it. My husband and I got married when I was 29, and a year later, I was appointed to 60 Minutes,” she told Future Women in 2019.
“And the reality of 60 is we spend six/seven months of the year on the road, often overseas, so that didn’t really fit in with having a baby. For a long time, I sort of thought it was something that we wouldn’t do,” she reflected.
“I didn’t think I was missing out on anything. And then something just came over me when I was 36, and I thought, hang on, I need to start thinking about this – am I okay if we don’t have children? And I kinda thought, I want to give this a crack.”
Luckily for Allison, she seemed to fall pregnant with some ease, and gave birth to her son, Mack, in 2017.
She would later jokingly refer to him as ‘the child from hell’, in reference to his issues with sleeping.
Allison and Mike had both returned to work by the time Mack was four months old, meaning his aversion to rest would cause major issues for the new parents.
“It’s really hard. I remember going to work one morning with Mack and I was trying to say to Mike, ‘Pass me the spoon’, but I couldn’t remember the word for spoon and I was getting really upset and crying, ‘My job is words and I’m about to do a 60 Minutes interview and I’m a terrible mum and I’m terrible at my job’. It can get so overwhelming,” she shared with Bounty Parents in 2020.
“Being a new parent is hard and you think you are the only parents in the world who have a baby who doesn’t sleep and the only mum in the world who can’t settle a baby.”
Despite their issues getting Mack to rest, they were rewarded for their hard work when they had their second baby, Scout, born in 2019, who was an excellent sleeper.
“Then I had a second baby who is an amazing sleeper and I know I’m only allowed to say that because I had a child from hell,” Allison joked.
However, Scout was still very much a newborn when the pandemic kicked off, leading Allison to reflect on the experience of parenting during lockdown.
“There’s so much about it which isolating anyway,” she said.
“I’ve had friends who have had their first baby during this time and they didn’t get to have a baby shower and most of them haven’t had mother’s groups during this time. It’s another layer of isolation.”
However, amid the pandemic, two young kids, and a busy role, the Langdon-Willesee clan have managed to make it work, and they’re now at a new stage of parenting: school.
Allison commemorated Mack’s big moment, sharing photos of herself and Mike cuddling their eldest, with Mack wearing a hat and backpack both bigger than he is.
Allison and Mack have been guided to this moment partly by Allison’s work, with the TV host admitting that her work on Parental Guidance inspired her to evaluate her own approach to parenting.
“We’ve talked about our parenting style a lot since shooting the show, and I think we are a little bit like [helicopter parents].
“I think that’s because we’ve got little kids in the city and we find ourselves often saying ‘be careful’ and ‘watch out’. But since the show, we’ve actually changed how we parent. I took away a bit from all of the styles.”
In wake of the show’s second season, she opened up about the lessons she’s learnt as her kids grow up. While she says her parenting style has “evolved over the years”, she admitted to 9Entertainment that it’s currently “as inconsistent as ever”.
“One day you get the on the ball, a bit strict mum, and then the next day there’s a lot going on at work… I’m like, ‘You know what? You guys sort it out,'” she told the outlet.
Just one month later, Allison admitted that she did have work to do to improve her parenting.
“I’m so inconsistent. Thankfully, the children have my husband who is a little bit more consistent than me,” she told TV Tonight.
“I grew up in the country so I was very much raised as a ‘free range’ style. I have two little kids and I live in the city, so while I’d like to be a little bit more relaxed, the kids are small, there are busy roads, and traffic everywhere. You’ve got to keep a closer eye on them.”
“But I reckon my style will change as they get a little bit older. I believe in a routine. I think maybe working with 60 Minutes and then certainly doing the mornings for three years the kids have a set bedtime, have their vegetables every night.”
“That’s considered maybe a bit old school in some ways. There are definitely rules but you also try and make sure there’s a heck of a lot of fun in there.”
As Mack and Scout continue to grow, we’re certain we’ll catch more gorgeous pictures on social media, with their dedicated parents guiding their kids through their paces.
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