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Psst...cut down on that baby stuff talk

Parenting
 Photo: Courtesy

Psst...cut down on that baby stuff talk

Most mothers are obsessed with their kids myself included. Like the rest of my fellow mothers, I can talk about Troy and Tasha seven days a week and 24 hours a day. I mean we never run out of content. Babies are the one common denominator that bind even CEOs with the wash-room lady. If you find a group of mothers somewhere, one of the discussions that are bound to dominate the group is their babies.

But as we celebrated Mothers’ Day last week, a lady friend who is not yet a mother and does not aspire to be one (yes she is a full grown woman) brought to my attention something that never crossed my mind. “Why do you mothers always make us feel out of place with your baby talk?”

She went on: “Whether in the wash-room, office or cafeteria when I meet a bunch of mothers, it’s my baby this, my baby that...”

“Has it ever occurred to you that you make some of us feel guilty and out of place because we cannot contribute to that discussion?”

“Sorry love, but what else can a bunch of working moms talk about?” I asked her.

“How about topical issues,” she shot back.

And it does not have to be boring stuff like insecurity and ‘graft diaries’, it can be trendy stuff like what’s trending on Twitter, Facebook and other gossip sites, she told me.

Clearly she had a point. Not all women are all broody when it comes to children. Babies are angelic and all, but we have to be sensitive when we are near those who do not give a damn about kids.

And it does not make one less of a woman because they have no motherly instincts. There are some women who are fine just the way they are and they love their space. These angels maybe everything to us, but to some women, they are too much of a sacrifice. Selfish as their opinion may be, they deserve respect.

After my friend opened my eyes to that reality, I am learning to be more sensitive and toning down on “my-baby-this-my-baby that-talk” when I am in the presence of a woman who is not a mother.

I am now alive to the fact that there are colleagues and friends who may not want to hear that my son Troy made his first steps and do not care that my daughter recited a poem in school that earned her a standing ovation.

Rather than listening to my babies ‘milestones’, they would rather hear about how the price of fuel has gone up, or a sale at XY supermarket, or that the one-third gender rule has received support from the president or the Imara Daima drainage problem has been sorted.

That is more practical and relevant to them. I am learning slowly that not all women go “wow” when they spot a cute baby. And I respect that.

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