AMANDA Owen hit back at mum-shamers and insisted she won’t change her ways after facing criticism over the years.
The Our Yorkshire Farm star spoke to Ben Fogle on an episode of Channel 5’s Return to the Wild, where she revealed the backlash she has faced about the way she brings up her children.
Amanda and husband Clive, 66, run Ravenseat Farm in the north Yorkshire Dales, and are parents to Raven, 20, Reuben, 17, Miles, 15, Edith, 12, Violet, ten, Sidney, nine, Annas, seven, Clemmie, five, and Nancy, four.
Amanda was outside playing with her children when Ben asked how the TV star balances her motherly instincts while allowing her kids to just “get on with it.”
“It’s about, I suppose, take a bit of a measured approach and looking at the possibilities, what are the possibilities of whatever they’re doing resulting in instant death,” Amanda explained.
“If the chances are that it’s all going to go fine and they’re going to gain more from the experience than they’re gonna lose then let them get on with it.”
She continued: “They have to learn from their own mistakes, Clemmie might get a foot trodden on, she might get her bottom bitten but apart from that, that’s as far as it goes.
“What they’re actually getting is valuable life lessons and the ability to build to do things and I mean that is what it’s all about.”
Ben then asked the Shepherdess if she had received disapproving comments about her parenting style, to which Amanda replied “Oh god yeah!”
She continued: “You can’t keep everyone happy no matter what you do.
“That is the absolute truth but as long as the children are happy, and I am convinced of the benefits of whatever it is they are doing and how they’re being brought up then I’m not going to change my ways.
“It’s not about being a smug parent, that’s another thing I should add you know, I’m not a parenting guru, I’m just making it up as I go along,” she added.
Last month, Amanda was forced to defend “breeding her own workforce”, as she faced a backlash from fans after revealing that all of her kids work on the farm.
The mum explained that she believed having various tasks and responsibilities on the farm are “really good life lessons” for her children
“To teach them washing and cooking — I don’t mean for one minute my kids are skivvies — but I want them to feel like an important part of what we do and that they’re valued,” she said.
Amanda added: “I think that responsibility holds the family together, especially with the older ones — it gives them independence.”
