Many Moons Birth Services

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In no other job have I felt the need to so routinely justify my productivity within a day. To myself. Because it is mostly myself that this pressure comes from. A silly deep-seated belief that because I'm not earning, because I'm not financially contributing to my household or the wider world, that I am somehow less.

I once had a temp job where I was paid to literally sit and read magazines, laugh at my bosses jokes, and look busy if anyone appeared. I felt no guilt about this because I was earning, I was contributing, right?

The thing about the work of motherhood is that it is so difficult to quantify. How do we measure a good day's work anyway? Number of nappies changed? Vegetables consumed? Dishes washed? Tantrums dissolved? What is my output? It's often invisible. Jobs get completed then swiftly undone again.

Spence has flippantly remarked before that I 'have it easy' being the one at home. Then, in the next instant has said he can't wait to get back to work for a break. So, which one is it?

When will we truly value the WORK of mothers? I guess it starts with me, when I am unapologetically proud of this job. When I can look back after three years and see not a huge gaping hole in my CV but rather my defining role, doing the most important work I'll ever do.

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Words: Karen McMillan (Mother Truths)
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