LITCHFIELD - Julie Tieman is the first to tell you she is not a perfect mom. But after raising three kids and preparing to foster teenagers, her community agrees she is more than worthy of the Super Mom title.
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Tieman, a Litchfield resident, is competing in the Colossal Super Mom contest to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network. As voting continues, Tieman hopes to hold her own in the competition. But she is mostly proud of the kids she has raised, the opportunity she has to help others, and the experience of meeting more moms across North America who have done great work.
“I made some pretty incredible human beings, if I do say so myself, and I think that alone says why I'm a Super Mom,” she laughed. “My human beings turned out really good.”
Tieman raised three children “on the back of a motorcycle” as a single mother. Now that they are adults, she is still extremely close to them. The family is in the process of developing and pitching a TV show to Cartoon Network.
It wasn’t easy to get to this point. A Navy veteran, Tieman made ends meet as a police dispatcher, a certified physical trainer, and a Marilyn Monroe impersonator, among other jobs. She remembers “the circle” of missing work because a babysitter canceled, losing her job, and then having to find another job so she could pay another babysitter to watch her kids while she worked..
While it was stressful at times, these days, Tieman often speaks to mothers who talk about how overwhelming it is while their kids are young, and she encourages them to enjoy it while it lasts. Her philosophy is that you must focus on the children who matter over anything else.
“I would give anything to be back in that place again,” she said. “Time is so precious, and people tend to forget, especially mothers. At the end of the day, you're so overwhelmed. Kids are taking everything out of you, your boss is demanding, your husband needs something. And you're just like, ‘What else do I have to give anymore?’ And you'd be surprised. We are endless. Women and mothers are boundless. We have more energy and strength than you can even imagine, than we even know we do. I think we all surprise ourselves a lot.”
Tieman has spent the past several years babysitting her 6-year-old grandson. Now that he is in school, she has found that the house is “too quiet,” and she misses having kids around.
This, and her own adoption, encouraged her to connect with the Department of Children and Family Services to learn more about the foster care system. The Colossal Super Mom competition comes with a $20,000 prize. If she wins, she plans to put it toward expenses she’ll incur as a foster mom.
“There are so many older teens that are getting ready to transition out into the world. They don't have anyone to call home, no one to come to and say, ‘Can you pick me up? I'm stranded. Can you send me a dollar?’ Just a whole generation of people that they're going to do this on their own, and they're going to make more mistakes than they have to,” she explained. “I'd really rather have kids back in my home again, even if it's a teenager coming and screaming at me.”
Throughout her journey, it’s been important to Tieman to show her kids what matters. She was always honest with them when times were challenging because she wanted to show them that they came from resilience.
She has pushed through difficult circumstances to make sure her family had what they needed, and she is proud of the lives her kids have built with her support. Now, Tieman hopes she can be there for another generation of kids in need.
“I always thought that I don't want my kids to think I'm perfect, because I had to ask for help a lot, but if I could get it, then we got through,” she said. “I just thought being a mom was the most powerful feeling in the world, and I love it.”
The Super Mom competition is one way for her to give back. Tieman believes that the mothers in the competition are already winning because they are helping Children’s Miracle Network, but you can vote for Julie Tieman online.
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