Non-Mum Time

In this pandemic, many people are looking for ways to get some form of income. For women, more than men, as always has been, will struggle to find a suitable job. Male parents don’t usually have to worry about their children education. They will leave the bulk of it to their female partners. Let’s face it: if they are not working the children’s education will be crippled and if they are working, they will rather pay and leave the education role to someone else – normally a woman.

So, there is a crucial point in all women’s lives (when we become mothers) where we face the ultimate dilemma: “Should I become a full-time mum?” In the old days, that was a given. We were expected to stay home and care for the nest. Some more emancipated found ways to meet their lady friends in very feminine get-togethers selling as Customer Reps for Tupperware.

Stay-At-Home Mums

Planned or not, when a woman becomes a mother, her freedom is indefinitely lost. The first two years of that woman’s life are then taken hostages by that, or those, little creatures that have just been created. Motherhood is the true end of the single life as we know it. No more good night sleeps, and no more relaxed nights out with friends either. No woman who is a mother goes out at night with friends without that constant worry, fuelling all her night dance with Jagger Bomb shots.That is over for quite a while. There’s a common Man pre-conception that stay-at-home mums don’t have much to do once the children reach their school-age. Well, let me tell you, that is definitely NOT TRUE.

Although many women choose to stay at home, many are forced to, either because they cannot afford to or because they don’t find it a very fulfilling “career”. Fair play to all. As a mum, I have been, when required, an on-and-off stay-at-home mum myself, and I know for a fact, because of our innate female nature (and maybe because I am a bit of an OCD-type of person), housework never ends. Every day we have things to do and time never seems to be enough to do it all. It is an endless list of repetitive tasks of keeping the house a liveable place and, equally important, a family welcoming nest. The one place where the rest of the family, who spend the day out working and studying, looks forward to returning to.

What most people don’t realize is that women have other interests and they have their own objectives too. They want to be independent and they’re always trying to find creative ways to keep busy with things that give them pleasure or fulfillment outside their motherly expected duties.

Because house chores are unpaid and very little recognized by society as a productive role, they are not as satisfying as you could think, despite the fact that we are nurturing and educating our future (hopefully) productive classes. Covid-19 has also pushed many women towards unemployment, leaving them to yet again, find creative ways to bring some money in, so they can still keep a decent way of life, without becoming fully dependent of their partners.

Mumpreneurs – The New Generation of Business Women

Unless you work from home for an Employer, childminding is probably the first option that comes to mind, as it allows you to work from home and get a reasonable steady income, but it can be time-consuming and it may require a considerable investment. Looking after other people’s children requires a little more official certification than just the fact that you look after your own children.

Some women may think a stay-at-home mother will diminish or even damage their professional image. They fear their business ethics will be regarded as partial or worse, that they may not be taken seriously because they choose to work around their life rather than fitting their life around their career. However, this seems to be far from the truth. As with all fashion, the Tupperware concept seems to have returned, but stronger. The party plan excuse for Direct Marketing has become a trend that seems to be here to stay. As a result of the latest events, in the past year or two, many women have chosen to take a step up to a whole refreshed level of business. Cosmetics, candles, fragrances and warmers, lingerie, home-made soaps and treats, there is a wide variety of choices. And if you can think of something else that can make other peoples’ lives more pleasant or easier, don’t hold back. This is our time.

Inspiring stories

#BREAKFREE From Mum Guilt With These Tips From The UK’s Leading Mumpreneurs

4 inspiring ‘mumpreneurs’ on how they got started – and managed to keep going

5 Brilliant Mumpreneurs: The Women Who Balance Motherhood With Entrepreneurship

‘Mumpreneurs’ are using the internet to set up their own businesses from home

‘Mumpreneurs’: an encouraging identity or belittling to businesswomen?


Discover more from Nostalgic Mumma

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Published by Nostalgic Mumma

Portuguese born & bred, UK settled resident since '04. Mum of 4 (2 teenagers, a dog and my handsome Brit geek). A 9 to 5er on a c'down to retirement: the carrot at the end of my stick

Leave a comment