Are we being unfair to the ‘Yummy Mummies’?
As a relative newbie to social networking my experience of blogging and twitter so far has been really positive. Everyone has been friendly, supportive and welcoming. People are pretty careful to consider other’s feelings and point’s of view and seem happy to agree to disagree on contentious issues. I have noticed recently there is one group that doesn’t seem to be afforded this level of sensitivity, that school yard monster the ‘yummy mummy’.
I’m about as far from a yummy mummy as you can be without getting mistaken for a homeless person. My daily uniform consists off ancient yoga trousers and stretchy tops (almost all some shade of grey) as I’m still breast feeding. If I have to go out I’ll stick on the only pair of jeans I have that fit (£18 from Next four years ago) and a pair of black pumps. I have worn make up exactly three times since starting my maternity leave back in November.
There were a few occasions, back when I was working and only had E to get ready, that I dropped him at nursery looking smart and having both had a shower and applied make up. They were few and far between and these mini-miracles were generally only achieved by strapping him, kicking and screaming into a chair for most of the morning. The effect was also almost always ruined when, no matter careful I’d been, I inevitably walked into whatever important meeting had prompted this super human effort with some combination of jam, banana or snot wiped down the back of my suit.
E’s nursery is attached to a school and there are plenty of yummy mummies in evidence at the school gates. These women have somehow managed to get their kids fed and into their uniforms whilst also dressing themselves, not just in clothes mind you but an ‘outfit’, blowdrying their hair, applying make up and in some instances even, wait for it… donning accessories.
I admit to eyeing them with just a little suspicion and jealousy as I rush past in the mornings but seeing so many comments recently has made me question my behaviour. They’re intimidating certainly but are they really so bad? Obviously no one likes women who actually say or do mean things but have most of these yummies actually done anything worse than turn up looking nice and not bother to engage us in conversation? Can I really blame them if I feel a bit rubbish when I look a mess?
So I have a new approach. I’m going to assume that they are all perfectly nice and don’t care what I’m wearing. On my way past tomorrow I shall smile broadly and say ‘Morning, what a lovely skirt. Boden?’ I wonder what will happen.
Image: digitalart / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
[...] Are we being unfair to Yummy Mummies? – This was a bit of a throw away post because I was pondering about why we think the worst of Yummy Mummies but it got lots of comments from people sharing their own thoughts and experiences which I really appreciated. [...]
I stand in a group of mums at the school gates – some very glamorous, while others (like me) haven’t bothered to run a comb through their hair before they leave the house looking like Medusa. They’re all really nice. And it’s always been my experience that the best-looking women are riddled with insecurities about themselves – hence why they never leave the house without being made-up to the nines. It takes a bit of confidence, I think, to leave the house looking a mess like I do!
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