What moms wear with Tash Poniatowski
“The emotional giving is a whole different level than the physical giving. But it is so important to take your kids feelings seriously:” A mom of 3 on raising growing kids
What do moms really wear is a series that captures to process of getting dressed for mothers with young kids. To revisit the last edition with Kyla Flax, click here.
Up today: Tash Poniatowski, the former fashion consultant and founder of Laroot World, a New York based meal-delivery service.
The morning routine
My day always starts at 6:30 a.m. but there are two types of days: when I do drop off or when my husband does. My kids have to be in school by 8, so [either of us] try to leave by 7:40. If I’m doing drop off, I have the first hour of the day for myself. But if I’m not doing drop off, I take the morning.
So, I wake them up, which is a task, get them ready, or really, I get my son, who is 5, ready; my girls are older (9, 11) and they dress themselves. Then I sit with them for breakfast. Before we’re out the door, I make sure they have their snacks, their homework, all the things and then ciao, I send them off. [Whether I’m taking them or not,] I get dressed first thing in the morning.
One of my daughters wakes up on her own, she’s an early bird, but the other two need to be woken up. I hate trying to be woken up so I am gentle with them. It’s a good 5 to 7 minute process — which if you think about it in the morning is a long time. But alarm clocks are banned in my home. It’s too rude an awakening for everyday.
For breakfast, I put out something different everyday. I’m obviously very passionate about food [I have a food delivery service called Laroot].
One day we’ll do the kefir-based patties, or eggplant and carrot patties with sour cream. Then we have kasha (oatmeal), or manne kasha some days and once a week, a bean-based crepe. Every day, there is a lot of fruit. Oh, and we have eggs sometimes too!
My kids won’t eat anything I put in front them, they’re picky in their own way, but these meals have been part of our ritual for a long time so they’re used to it. Most of the dishes are traditional Russian breakfasts.
I grew up in Moscow and immigrated with my grandparents when I was turning 12.
Originally I moved to Manhattan Beach (close to where Anora was filmed) where I lived and learned English and adapted to a new country until I went to Boston for 5 years for University. I think it helped that we moved to a Russian neighborhood. It made adapting to life in a new country less disruptive.
I got a degree in art history and international communications and then I came back to New York with the thought of going to Europe but I met my husband and stayed here and now I’m still here. It’s funny, actually, because when we first married, I really pushed on the idea of moving to Europe but he couldn’t leave and now it has totally switched where he would go but I could never imagine leaving. I think I got to a place where I started to feel like a real New Yorker. My life is here now. I function on the city’s pace and speed, this is my frequency.
For the rest of the day
I reserve all my appointments for Monday. If I have to go to the doctor, or do my hair, get the groceries. It’s a home and self-maintenance day. The rest of the day is Laroot-related. I work from home Mondays and Tuesdays and what I wear to drop off is really also what I wear to have my day.
Jewelry is definitely my thing. I don’t spend much time thinking about clothes, but jewelry is the thing I spend time putting on. I have a very emotional relationship to it. I know my jewelry.
I know what I want to wear when I want to wear it — it gives me strength, it feels spiritual to me. Like an energetic support. Stones carry energy. I know which pieces to wear when I need to calm down, when I need support, or when I need more strength.
There are pieces I’ll only wear on the weekend when I’m with my kids, or pieces I wear only to go out.
[My work day] entails a lot of calls, then I go to the test kitchen on Sundays but eating is also a big part of my work. Having the food and trying new foods and recipe development. Thinking about the ingredients, even considering medical papers because so much of Laroot is about holistic healing. A lot of our recipes are from the Ayurvedic tradition and the dishes are influenced by different cultures around the world.
Then the kids get home by 4 or 5 p.m. and I end up in this limbo — not here or there. The time is a question mark. I’m not really with my kids or with my work but I’m also with both. We reconnect at dinner, which we have together a few nights a week. But I do also like to go out during the week.
Friday to Sunday is when I don’t go out, it’s family time so by Tuesday night I really want to see my friends.
What to wear out
If I’m going somewhere nice, I will wear something like this.