Middle class. That is one word; a week will not pass by without it being floated around.
Everybody is talking about the middle class and everybody thinks they are middle class.
"Oh middle class this, middle class that...," is common lingua that is floated by media personalities and the so-called experts.
The taxman knows this group has money to waste, house developers are on a building spree to feed the appetite of this special group for tasteful homes, everybody wants a piece of MC. Malls are coming up left right centre to give them an experience like Paris shoppers.
But pray, who the hell is this middle class?
My nine-year-old daughter Tasha recently asked me this same question after watching a news clip on how middle class families are also feeling the pinch of inflation.
Her question got me thinking. Just who constitutes middle class? And why are we all pretending to be middle class yet we are not?
Middle class means different things to different people, but according to experts, its true meaning is pegged on income, lifestyle, and a combination of demographics like age and education.
But because this is not the 'Ask The Economist' column and I am just a regular mum, I will not bore you with the off-putting text book definitions of middle class.
I have heard some people call themselves middle class and wonder; really what are they pegging their conclusion on. I have also been wrongfully labeled as MC, yet I am just an ordinary mum trying to ensure my kids still enjoy a decent breakfast even after milk has shot up to Sh65.
Mine is to show you what, based on our Kenyan context, is not middle class. Just because you can do or have the following does not make you middle class.
You have a car: Yes you have that car that you bought through a Sacco loan and use it to get to work; good for you. But just because you own a car and drive to work does not make you middle class. Be polite as you drive through the muddy waters, because you are just like the rest of us who sometimes struggle to fuel it, and are forced to walk to work.
Visit malls every weekend: Just because you shop at that posh mall on Thika Road and Westy does not guarantee you a slot in that special class. You need just milk? Just buy at the kiosk and save that fuel.
Rent matters: You live in a three bed-roomed rented house with WIFI and all. As you pay that 40K rent in South C, we all can see you are living above your means just to impress the Jonesses. Be real.
Visit the top tier hospitals: Who does not know that if it was not your employer's solid medical cover, you would be queuing with the rest of us at Mama Lucy Hospital.
Estate academy: So baby Tess and Tony attend Posh Academy and speak only English and French and you think you have arrived. Spare us. But continue faking it till you make it.
The writer is a married working mother of a toddler boy and a preschooler daughter. She shares her day to day life experience of juggling between career, family and social life