Mums! How are we levelling up and getting our pink back in 2026!

[166lady]

I have had 2 young children and I am 29, in 2026 I am returning back to my job I worked hard for part time, and I want to optimise my health.
I want to sort out my gut/ maintain my weight loss/ invest more time into self care and not feel guilty to have things done one off for just me (beauty appts etc).

How are you going to try and get your pink back this year? Xx

Christ almighty. Which brand of feminism involves sneering at and berating a young woman for using a fun analogy?

Not mine.

Yup!!

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻^This
They know exactly what OP means.
Women. 🫠

Nor mine

Probably the brand of feminism that isn’t all about women being nice and not speaking their minds?

“Getting your pink back” whatever spin you put on it, is unfortunate on more than one level. This is a predominantly female discussion forum. So women are going to share their opinions whether you/OP/painfully transparent male lurkers enjoy them or not.

Sorry a post you made about trying to improve your situation and health got shown to a bunch of miseries, OP.

Nah it’s just being obnoxious for the sake of it, isn’t it.

You can disagree without being sneering, arrogant and dismissive of a mum of young kids who’s clearly just asking for ways to feel a bit more themselves after having children.

Some people are definitely being awful.

I can't see where women were defined by the colour pink in this post.

The combination of 'we' (cheesy salesman pitch), 'levelling up' (with who?) and 'getting our pink back' (thought it was a euphemism for periods) sounds like you are trying to sell something.

Maybe OP doesn’t need you to infantilise her and ride to her rescue? She’s posting on a public forum for adults, I’m going to assume she’s robust enough to cope with other contributors expressing distaste at her thread title.

I think Mumsnet has traditionally never been the place where we speak in these silly terms. Many of us have been here since the year dot and this style of posting is very jarring.
So while it would have been nicer to ignore and move on that could mean that MN changes into something it never was. Is Nethuns still going? We used to send people there!

I’m not riding to anyone’s rescue, I just think it’s a bit embarrassing a bunch of (presumably) grown women taking umbrage at a fairly innocent turn of phrase and using it to tear down a woman on a thread designed for ideas to uplift women. It’s nasty, vindictive and so against why the OP posted in the first place.

But hey, who needs men when women can do such a fantastic job of bringing each other down.

I assumed that getting your pink back was like going into the red and overspending on traditionally feminine stuff like makeup, handbags and shoes. Not really sure why I'd want to do that. Also, I'm not a flamingo. 🦩

Thank you so much to all who corrected the nasty comments from people.
I am far from a journalist trying to get information, I’m just a young mum asking how other mums started to make time for themselves outside the trenches of their motherhood journeys.

It was an innocent question and it turned into a barrage of sarcastic comments when I explained what I said within the first 1-2 posts, so people were deliberately being vindictive.

Thank you also to the mums who genuinely replied to my original question.
The world would be a much better place if bitter people didn’t need to chime in when they don’t have anything decent to say.

If you find a light-hearted post on Mumsnet jarring then you might need to step away from the internet for a while.

And where on earth did you get the impression that you have the authority to "send people" away because they don't use the exact words you like?

Comparing women who have had babies to deprived areas of the UK that are struggling to prosper, isn't awfully uplifting.

Jesus Christ the phrase levelling up can have more than one meaning surely?! It’s a common phrase!

It is a phrase that always means something along those lines though.

Reading these comments reminded me of Millie Tant the “feminist” character in Viz. The comments are batshit crazy.

To answer you question op, I’m double your age but I still need to get my pink back at times. I like the phrase btw.

ill be making more regular appointments at the hairdressers, despite the cost.

I’ll be adding cardio to my gym routine

I”m going to be more consistent with my evening cleansing routine.

i think no matter what our stage in life we all need to take stock and get our pink back. Good thread Op.

OP, you sound lovely 😊 I hadn’t heard the phrase before but I love the analogy with the flamingoes! Makes perfect sense to me.

Anyway, I would start slow and “habit stack”, so introduce one habit at a time. For example, commit to drinking 2L of water a day, then after 2 weeks add supplements to your routine, then a couple of weeks later introduce another habit, etc. Slowly slowly you’ll build healthy habits and stick to them, rather than drastic changes that have a lower chance of sticking. Best of luck!

So are the long running “princessing” clique threads are ok to all you sneerers then?

Princesses aren’t very feminist are they, always needing a prince to rescue them? How many people on those threads are actual princesses? Isn’t being a princess very stereotypically female??!?!

Ah of course, the difference is they have real MNers on them right? People who’ve been here since it was all fields and are allowed to post what they like 🙄🙄.

This place will die a death if uptight middle aged women who probably don’t even have children at home any more don’t stop trying to fucking police everyone that posts anything they don’t like. There are thousands of threads on here; fuck off and read something that does suit you.

uptight middle aged women who probably don’t even have children at home any more

Here 🏆 is your award for the most internalised misogyny crammed into a single sentence 😂 and a special commendation for the ageism.

Oh piss off. I am a middle aged woman with no small kids. I don’t come on here pretending I’m so much better than young mothers though. That’s misogyny.

Hence the inclusion of the word “internalised”.

Couldn't agree more. These so-called 'feminists' just show themselves up for knowing nothing at all about the Sisterhood.

Thank you for your post, OP. I love it. 💗