Why is it that us mums feel, or are made to feel that taking a bit of time for ourselves is selfish or unmotherly? As soon as we announce to the world that we are (in the words of Bridget Jones) ’Mit Bebe’ , there seems to form an expectation both from ourselves and often others, that our entire purpose in life must now be dedicated to rearing the fruits of our loins! The life and hobbies we enjoyed pre-bump should be discarded and we are to
SelfishMother.com
2
transform into ’Mums’. My hubby, however was patted on the back and invited out to get pissed for a ’wetting of the baby’s head’. Now my hubby is actually awesome and does not not hold these views I am discussing but you cannot deny this is the recognised perception.
Date night with the hubmeister.
Yes…having my son Jack was the best thing that happened to me and has changed my life and heart for the better; BUT being a ’Mum’ hasn’t switched off my personality. I
SelfishMother.com
3
am still the same person I was before Jack or as I like to inappropriately nickname this period in my life ’BJ’ (giggling to myself). I still want to pursue my interests and have some semblance of a social life with the friends that I hold so dear. It often isn’t easy, but worth fighting for! Getting babysitters is bloody hard, especially if like us you don’t have nearby Grandparents or you are a single warrior mummy, but you need to fight for ’Me’ time. Reach out to other mummy’s and
My support system.
initiate shared babysitting groups, travel to Grandparents to discard your kids, bribe your hubby with kinky time so you can go out for girly shenanigans…what ever it takes. Whether it be the desire to start a new hobby like dancing, a workout at the gym, a date night with the hubmeister, a wine fueled shambles with your girlies or just a poo in peace for 15 minutes; fight for your ’me’ time! Ultimately a happy Mummy leads to happy kiddies.
Please share what ’me’ time you try and steal when you can.
SelfishMother.com
5
Mine is snatching a yoga session for 30 minutes in between school run and work, using my blog to rant or spending some quality time with my awesome girlies and drinking more than a mother probably should!
Why is it that us mums feel, or are made to feel that taking a bit of time for ourselves is selfish or unmotherly? As soon as we announce to the world that we are (in the words of Bridget Jones) ‘Mit Bebe’ , there seems to form an expectation both from ourselves and often others, that our entire purpose in life must now be dedicated to rearing the fruits of our loins! The life and hobbies we enjoyed pre-bump should be discarded and we are to transform into ‘Mums’. My hubby, however was patted on the back and invited out to get pissed for a ‘wetting of the baby’s head’. Now my hubby is actually awesome and does not not hold these views I am discussing but you cannot deny this is the recognised perception.
Yes…having my son Jack was the best thing that happened to me and has changed my life and heart for the better; BUT being a ‘Mum’ hasn’t switched off my personality. I am still the same person I was before Jack or as I like to inappropriately nickname this period in my life ‘BJ’ (giggling to myself). I still want to pursue my interests and have some semblance of a social life with the friends that I hold so dear. It often isn’t easy, but worth fighting for! Getting babysitters is bloody hard, especially if like us you don’t have nearby Grandparents or you are a single warrior mummy, but you need to fight for ‘Me’ time. Reach out to other mummy’s and
initiate shared babysitting groups, travel to Grandparents to discard your kids, bribe your hubby with kinky time so you can go out for girly shenanigans…what ever it takes. Whether it be the desire to start a new hobby like dancing, a workout at the gym, a date night with the hubmeister, a wine fueled shambles with your girlies or just a poo in peace for 15 minutes; fight for your ‘me’ time! Ultimately a happy Mummy leads to happy kiddies.
Please share what ‘me’ time you try and steal when you can. Mine is snatching a yoga session for 30 minutes in between school run and work, using my blog to rant or spending some quality time with my awesome girlies and drinking more than a mother probably should!
Did you enjoy this post? If so please support the writer: like, share and comment!
Why not join the SM CLUB, too? You can share posts & events immediately. It's free!
Keep up to date with Selfish Mother — Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social media
Selfish Mother blogzine is a platform for likeminded women created by journalist Molly Gunn in 2013. We have a clothing store called Selfish Mother Shop, which is where we sell our iconic tees and sweatshirts, eg MOTHER and WINGING IT 🙂 We’re inclusive, not exclusive and we’d love you to get involved. Writing for Selfish Mother is free and easy… it takes 1 minute to join! You’ll be able to share posts and events immediately… we can’t wait to hear what you have to say.