It's OK to Slack - The Lazy Mother's Guide to Parenting

By Danny Concannon

There’s a book currently storming the French bestseller lists. It’s called No Kid: Forty Reasons Not Having Children by Corinne Maier. Now you might expect this to be the rantings of a childless woman, but no, Ms Maier is a mother of two. Which makes it infinitely more appealing – not just to couples who’ve decided to bypass parenthood, but also to parents who feel ‘frustrated’ by child-rearing (ie as though their offspring is draining their very lifeblood).

The timing of Maier’s book couldn’t be more poignant given the current baby mania sweeping France. Government incentives are partly responsible for a reverse in the declining birth rate (French women have an average 1.94 children, compared with 1.78 in Britain). Maier says “In France, people go on too much about the glory of motherhood and you’re not allowed to talk about all the problems having kids causes. I thought it would be fun to take a dig at the myth that having a child is wonderful”.

She has a point. Let’s be honest, while we’re all delighted that Claudia Schiffer can slink back into her skinny jeans a mere 15 minutes after giving birth, the whole Yummy Mummy phenomenon is dull and frankly passé (a question mark over whether any Yummy Mummies actually existed in the first place?) And who wouldn’t rather read about Kate Moss and her legendary partying than how Apple Paltrow loves her humous and olives?

I’m a mother to a daughter aged 6 and a son aged 3 and I love my children with my heart. My children are also the reason that happy hour sometimes starts at 4pm in my house. Whilst I genuinely love spending time with my children I am also happy to admit that days spent cleaning felt tip off walls, poo off bottoms and spaghetti off floors I find marginally less than fulfilling. And is there really any shame in that?

Danny Concannon writes for Baby Says Hello a birth announcement website. They pride themselves on helping you to create high quality personalised baby cards
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