LORNA SUBRITZKY & ZOE
For Coast radio host Lorna Subritzky, the idea of her children moving away from home is not an exciting idea. But with two of her three children now in their 20s, it’s a reality she’s had to face.
“I know some parents say they can’t wait for their children to leave home, but it’s different for me. My son’s already left and I miss him terribly.”
With her two oldest kids, Max, 22, a locksmith, and uni student Lucy, 20, making their way in the world, it is often just Lorna and her youngest Zoe, who she shares with husband Steve, 47, at home. The 11-year-old is known to spontaneously break out into TikTok dances in the middle of a conversation and has even managed to get Lorna to make a few videos with her.
“I have no coordination, so it’s a losing battle,” laughs Lorna. “Zoe is a very good dancer, which she gets from her dad. I’m terrible, so she tries – I’m becoming the butt of the joke, but that’s okay. That’s what mums are for, right?”
Their other favourite mother-daughter activity is curling up on the couch to watch a show together.
“In the evenings, when everyone else is off doing their own thing, we curl up on the couch. We’re watching Modern Family right through. And Zoe lies with her head in my lap and I tickle her back – it’s really nice.”
Zoe adds, “I really like when she tickles my back.”
Lorna can see a lot of her own traits in all three of her kids, adding that unfortunately, her stubbornness is one of them! But she is happiest to see that she has passed her optimism on to Zoe.
“She is one of those kids who’s always just woken up smiling and goes to bed smiling, and smiles in between. I love that. I hope that always continues for her.”
In her life Lorna, is surrounded by inspirational mums. None more so than her own mother, who moved her young family across the world from England to New Zealand to give them a better life when Lorna was six years old.
“She brought up four kids in extremely poor conditions in England. And then, to give us a bit of a life, she and Dad moved us out to New Zealand, where they’d never been and knew nobody. That’s a hell of a thing to do. I don’t know if I could do that.”
‘Zoe lies with her head in my lap and I tickle her back – it’s nice’