When Gill Munro and husband Ian decided to leave London for a new life by the seaside, she wondered what she would do for work. She had a very London-based PR job and she wanted to carry on with something that was stimulating, but would fit around caring for her two children: four-year-old Lily and Innes, 18 months.
The ability to work online meant their lives could change. Gill took a course with a company called Digital Mums, which trains women in the growing area of social media management and then matches them up with small businesses and charities who need help – allowing mums to fit work around childcare. “It means my clients can be anywhere in the UK and if I Skype them, we can still have that sort of relationship where they know who I am, they can picture me and it doesn’t feel too remote.”
Ian, an accountant for a German firm, travels fairly regularly and the couple use Skype to keep in touch while he’s away, but it’s the video calls to her parents and sister, who live in Scotland, that have vastly enriched Gill’s life. A couple of times a week, Gill’s parents in Edinburgh use Skype to see and speak to their grandchildren. “It has become a sit-down family thing,” she says, “especially as Lily has become older and more chatty – she tells them what she’s been up to at nursery and about her friends and she’s at an age now where she will ask them about what is going on in their lives, so it’s proper interaction.” Innes is still a bit too young to relay his news, but he has his own way of communicating: “My mum pulls funny faces and he does them back,” says Gill. “It gets a bond going and my parents can see them growing up.” Gill’s sister lives in Inverness, and her daughter is the same age as Lily. They probably only see each other in person twice a year, “but they have a friendship, through Skyping all the time”.
Gill and Ian moved to the south coast, where Ian’s parents live, but Skype means the children see both sets of grandparents regularly. “For the kids it makes a huge difference because they feel familiar and they understand they are part of their family. It means the relationship is active and ongoing.”
Whether you’re talking to faraway family or sharing with friends and followers on social media, the Samsung Galaxy Tab A makes staying connected simple. Its 4:3 ratio screen and 5MP camera with autofocus bring video to life and it’s simple to connect to other devices. For more details visit the Samsung website.
