Mum says accept you're beautiful, grab opportunities

In the fourth of our week-long series of letters from Perth mothers to their children, Water Corporation chief executive Sue Murphy writes to daughters Elizabeth, 25, Catherine, 23, and Lexi, 19.

Dear girls. I give thanks every day for the healthy, independent, clever young women you have become. I am proud of each of you and thrilled to watch you find your own passions and paths.

Thrilled and relieved - because I always feared that my own passion and choice of path could have somehow deprived you of something.

At the time you were born, most mothers chose to cut back working hours or stop working altogether but that never felt right for me. I loved my job, loved construction, engineering and the satisfaction of actually building something. Of course I loved my babies, too, so the juggling was always frenetic. In my heart I worried - as all mums do.

They say it takes a village to raise a child and that was partly true in our family which expanded to include the wonderful carers and babysitters who are still part of your lives. I know that you were always surrounded by love - even if we used Microsoft Project to schedule everyone's day just like a major engineering project.

I have never been intimidated by anyone professionally but felt anxious that I was somehow not as good a mother as those I saw at school drop-offs who had cleaner houses and better-laundered school uniforms.

You never seemed to be particularly interested in cleaning or laundry though, so instead I hope you learnt to make decisions for yourselves, to organise your time, to believe in yourselves and to work hard.

I may not have done as many canteen duties, but you all knew how to help cook dinner and pack your own suitcase well very early in life.

I, in turn, learnt so much from you. You all showed me how easy it is to love and how much fun it is to rehash your day over dinner. Stories were shared and problems laughed over and it is amazing how wonderful it is to see life though a child's eyes. I loved the crowd of your friends in the house, the crazy dress-up parties, the home-produced plays performed on a trampoline and your advice on what I should wear.

So, as you head into your adult lives, my advice is to grab life with both hands. Know you are beautiful even when you feel otherwise. You can do whatever you truly want to but your relationships with the people around you matter more. Love your friends, fiercely support your sisters, find a partner you love who shares your goals and wants to be with you until the end, choose jobs where your efforts make a difference to others and say yes to every opportunity that comes along.

Oh - and remember to take shorter showers to save water, too!