I think it’s very easy for people to undervalue, under appreciate and under estimate what a full time mum is & does. Including myself, I definitely did this when I was younger, having said that I am not talking about a mother child relationship as important as that is, I’m referring to age mates, workmates, friends, family, people you have relationships with and maybe people you don’t, anyone really- I have assumed that in this day and age people are well aware that being a full time mum is a very hefty task, it’s just as tiring as having a full time job, and I’m talking from experience, even though I’m a freelance photographer and don’t have to be in the office every single day, I have done that before working 8-5 and even in photography at the beginning I used to work my ass off every single day for practically no pay which was extremely tiring. Anyway getting back to being a full time mum, recently I was taken a back by a comment someone made that made light of being a mother, suggesting that what they do is much more tiring than what I do because they work a full time job so basically they suggested that “OBVIOUSLY” after a long day I should be the one taking care of Olive (which I do) but the way it came out was that of course I should be, I don’t really do anything in my day so why wouldn’t I be the one taking care of Olive? And to be honest guys, this has completely infuriated me. Yes I may have days where I’m not actually at work, or maybe I’ve had work for only 2/3 hours that day, but that does not mean that taking care of Olive the entire day is not a tiring task in itself! My day basically consists of me on my feet the whole day, I’m waking up early because Im on Olives schedule, feeding and changing her, tidying up the house a little every morning with Olive, playing with Olive as much as possible every day as I also have to make sure she is learning and developing so I’ll do this with her and read to her or whatever it is during the day, taking care of Olive in the sense of feeding (now cooking meals for her) & changing, going to work with Olive (granted there is a nanny who comes with us to work and will hold her during that time but I take her right back every break I have and when it’s over), trying to edit on my computer while taking care of Olive, just generally being on call if she needs anything, waking up in the middle of the night to feed Olive, cook my meals, I mean honestly I’ve actually made it sound easy but it’s a full on full time job with an actual photography job as well as that so for someone to tell me something like that just makes me want to punch them in the face. Like how dare you?
Anyway, I just want you all to understand that of course I’m not trying to suggest that what I do is more important or tiring then what anyone else does.
But we all have our life struggles and in that way we are all similar. People should not try and downplay other people’s reality.
This picture is from Mama Journals on Instagram, it literally came at the right time because I was thinking of making a blog post on this topic and I scrolled down and saw this which made my mind up 🙈
Mama Olive 