Scotland's only female MEP Catherine Stihler is good at balancing acts: juggling work and family is not an easy task, but it's one she's managing with success.

Close to you: In Scotland

This morning I got up at quarter to six  to see to the baby.

Trying to change a nappy with a  one-year-old that doesn't want it changed

kind of gives you a perspective on things.

Scotswoman Catherine Stihler  has been an MEP for 13 years

Finding time for both is a tricky  juggling act between family and work,

especially when her titles don't end there.

I've served as Deputy Leader of the  European Parliamentary Labour Party,

as editor of the Parliament Magazine and  been Labour's European spokesperson

and more recently on the Internal Market  and Consumer Protection Committee.

It is her interest in consumer affairs  and health

that led to this meeting with  Dr Peter Rice, an expert in alcoholism.

Scotland wants a minimum price  for alcohol.

The EU has said this could contravene  its single market rules.

Catherine hopes to raise  some of Dr Rice's concerns in Brussels.

Every EU country has problems  with alcohol.

Europe is the heaviest-drinking part  of the world.

Our worry in Scotland was that  we saw big increases in rates of harm.

Since the early 1980s we've seen big  changes in the number of people dying.

Today Catherine has politician-in-training,  16-year-old Omar in tow.

A student at Dollar Academy, he's looking  to learn the political ropes from a pro.

She gave me an opportunity to follow her  for a day as work experience

to see what I could learn about  Members of the European Parliament.

And what better way to learn  than being thrown in at the deep end?

Scotland's top financial movers  and shakers

to hear Catherine talk about a subject  close to their hearts - money.

On the EP's Economic Committee,  she has the inside knowledge

on new regulations  that may affect their work.

Hoping to win over potential Eurosceptics  with a touch of patriotism,

she pays homage to Scotland's  patron saint on the national day.

I do have strong connections  to Saint Andrew.

I was married in the university chapel  in St Andrews,

and if I'd been a man,  I'd have been called Andrew.

Catherine is  the only female Scottish MEP.

Though the EP counts more women  politicians than most Member States,

the fight for gender equality continues.

I think generally we should have  more women in politics

and I think Catherine's a great example  of someone who can really make it work.

But it is a very challenging environment.

I think the men... That audience  this morning was largely made up of men.

It must have been well over 90% men.  -That's true.

In fact, I can't remember seeing  any other women in the audience.

There were three.  -Were there? That's still not good.

Not only concerned with finance,  consumer and gender issues,

in the European Parliament she's been  very active on the anti-smoking campaign

and in promoting  Scotland's internationalism.

Friday. The afternoon is reserved  for driving home to her children,

her two lives clearly separated  by the Firth of Forth.

Morning meetings in Edinburgh and the  evening with her family in Dunfermline.

Get your schoolbag, please,  and your homework folder.

Just now I always try and make sure  I can collect Andrew from nursery,

and Alex needs to be picked up  from school.

It's a thing I try to do  because you don't get it back.

Naming her son Andrew after Scotland's  patron saint may please patriots,

but nationalists don't share her opinions  on Scottish independence.

and I'll be campaigning  with Better Together,

which is showing that there are clear  advantages to us being part of the UK.

Scotland's independence would pose  a conundrum for EU membership.

Both the next European elections and  the referendum are coming up in 2014.

So Catherine will have her work  cut out for her.

But for now she can reap the benefits  of being a mother.

I'm very fortunate I can have the balance  between a family life and having...

It is a family that makes,  I think, life worthwhile.

I think sometimes people in politics  become so almost institutionalised

that it makes it hard to see  the wood for the trees.