Laureen Sills is a busy lady. She has successfully raised three children to adulthood, including her youngest, now 18, who has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. She also worked on special needs programs at Our Lady of Malibu School, Point Dume Marine Science School and Malibu High School. So it’s fitting that Sills has been honored with the 2015 Mother of the Year Rosie Award, given to a deserving Malibu mother by The Malibu Times.
Sills is mother to Danny, 18, a freshman at CSUN; Hallie, 22, a student at Evergreen University in Olympia, Washington; and G.T., 24, who after graduating from Malibu High School went on to graduate from the University of San Francisco.
When asked what is the best part about being a mother, Sills replied, “That is a loaded question!”
She went on and explained, “Being a mother is a super hard job and certainly not one for which I was properly trained.”
But being mother of three, though challenging, is also rewarding.
“The best part is the lessons I have learned in acceptance,” Sills told of what her children have taught her. “For all the work taking kids to sports, after-school events, training them in manners — which I was dismal failure — homework, chores, tutoring, reading every book ever written about raising whatever kind of kid I was raising … they turn out like themselves. Accepting them, and everyone else around me … that is what they taught me.”
And the community, which has watched Sills raise her brood, thinks highly of her and the work she has done, in motherhood and beyond. In one nomination for Sills to receive the award, Jennifer Kurtz shared, “She is one of the most positive and loving people I have ever had the honor of knowing, and will always greet you with her smiling, positive energy. Laureen is the kind of friend who would drop everything for those she loves when they need her.”
In another nomination, Kim Ledoux spoke on Sills’ relationship with Danny.
“When he was diagnosed, Laureen immediately threw herself into anything and everything involving autism,” Ledoux shared. “She did it to become more informed, but also to see how she could be involved in helping others. I don’t think I know anyone with a bigger heart than Laureen.”
Sills spent Mother’s Day bonding with other Malibu mothers in Point Dume who walk their huskies together. After her walk, she went to the Malibu Farmers Market and finished with a dinner at Taverna Tony, which G.T. and Hallie attended. Hallie flew in from Washington to surprise Sills for the special day.
After 24 years of motherhood, Sills has a thing or two to share with new mothers.
“Throw out the books. Turn off the blogs and the parenting TV shows,” Sills said. “Don’t listen to the other parents, especially if they are critical of your child or others. My kids couldn’t be more different from what I expected and I ended up finding them so cool in their own different ways.”
In addition to the title, Sills won a certificate for lunch at Kaishin Malibu, books, a selection of wine from Malibu Family Wines, a scrapbook kit from At The Blue Barn, lunch at Duke’s Malibu and more.
To read more about Sills and her adventures in motherhood, visit her blog at getparentalsupervision.com.