ANGELA BLOOMFIELD AND MAX & MAYA

As Angela Bloomfield listens while her children Max, 16, and Maya, 15, tell the Weekly what they love about their mum, the former Shortland Street star jokes the experience is akin to attending her own funeral because she doesn’t often hear them say such sweet things!

“Mum is really nice,” Max tells. “She’s a very empathetic and thoughtful person, and will do a lot for you, no matter what.”

But what surprises Angela the most is hearing that her teens think she’s funny, with both Max and Maya admitting they would love to inherit her sense of humour.

“I’m really dry, so it does surprise me that they say that I make them laugh. I think what they mean is that they like laughing at me.” Angela adds, “Max and Maya are funnier than I am.”

Getting to know Max and Maya’s personalities has been one of the biggest surprises of motherhood for 48-year-old Angela. Before becoming a mum, she never considered how they’d gel as a family.

“I didn’t overthink their individual personalities and how that would work with my personality. You just go, ‘Oh, we’re all a family and we’re all going to get along.’ And then as children get older, you start to see who they are. Especially with Maya, it was like, ‘You’re really different to me and the things that work for me in my life are not going to work for you.’”

When it comes to parenting, Angela, who now works as a real estate agent, says that it is important her children are able to challenge her.

“I tell them, ‘This is a discussion. It might feel really aggravated but it’s a discussion, so now you’re allowed to say something back. It’s not just about me telling you stuff,’” she explains. “And when they’re brave enough to turn around and challenge me and I say sorry, it makes me really proud. Maybe not at the time, but later on I’m really stoked!”

As her kids get older, Angela relishes any chance she has to do family activities. “It’s harder the older they get because everyone wants to do different things, but they’re pretty good at sucking it up.”

But for Maya and Max, it’s the simple things that they do with their mum that mean the most. For Maya, it’s sitting down together with some treats to watch an episode of Gilmore Girls. For Max, it’s a simple chat. He explains, “I like that at the end of the day, we’ll sit on my bed and talk about our days. That’s quite nice because she’s a good listener.”

‘At the end of the day, we’ll sit on my bed and talk about our days. She’s a good listener’