To hate those “Mother” / “Mama” / “Mutha” sweatshirts / jumpers?!

[jaffacakemonster]

Those jumpers emblazoned with the words “Mother” / “Mama” / “Mutha” etc. that seem to have been around for a couple of years now – am I alone in finding them just beyond annoying? I find them just unbearably smug, contrived, attention-seeking, cringeworthy… especially as I am currently (desperately) TTC. I think they are kind of rubbing my nose in it a bit, I could be over-sensitive, but aside from that, I just think they are DEEPLY uncool anyway and I would not be seen dead in one! Just smacks of wanting to look like an instamum to me. ABIU?

I don’t think you are BU for disliking them but I think you’re being unreasonable, as are a lot of other posters for being so angry about them. And as for the sweeping generalisations, well some of them are absolutely ridiculous and some are downright offensive! THEY ARE JUST JUMPERS.

Yep they are just jumpers. So a thread here doesn’t even warrant the whole complaining post on IG on it does it. So ridiculous.

They're up there with 'baby on board' signs in rear windows.
Yeah cos i'm really less likely to crash into you because you have one of those signs.

As for forums, not everyone needs or wants to put up hundreds of family / children photos just to say something on SM. I can guarantee all that hoo har takes longer than a quick post on mn.

Ouuuh OP, how ya feeling now that your innocuous thread has unleashed the instagram WRATH of the mummy club?!

Tell you what I find a total lol-athon: the fact that the unmumsy mum markets "mum bod" sweaters when she's clearly a size 8. Just tooooo lol.

Why can’t she market “Mum Bod” jumpers if she’s a size 8? She’s had babies, and happens to be a size 8. I don’t see the issue.

‘Mum bods’ come in all shapes and sizes. Plus, just because you’re a ‘size 8’ doesn’t mean you aren’t covered in stretch marks or haven’t suffered from birth injurie. Size 8 does not automatically = happy with the way you look post pregnancy and birth or ‘perfect’ airbrushed body.

How ironic that SM sees a few posts on mumsnet discussing whether users would wear a slogan jumper costing £60 or not (instigated by a lady suffering from infertility who conceded she was probably being overly sensitive!) and uses that to say that all forums are a “hive of negativity”. Then all the insta mummies pile in. We’ve got G Fletcher , CH et al , saying we’re all jealous and don’t have lives. I feel like we’ve had the lions set on us just for making an inoffensive observation! All we did was briefly discuss with someone who has infertility what we think about these jumpers. Honestly! This harks back to when CH wrote a book and got one negative review and was devastated and posted the review on her page in order to garner sympathy. For goodness sake. Not everyone will love your book and give it five stars. Not everyone will love Mother jumpers. If no one is being especially rude about your product then why not just pencil this down to part and parcel of running a successful business? MG has really gone down in my estimation and I will never support her brand again now I’m afraid.

Really

If I was wanting one

But would avoid now on principal

Sorry, pals, I was joking. And inconsiderate.

Who is CH? Cherry Healey?

@misshenty she didn’t even look, she couldn’t lower herself to forum level of internet. She was sent some screenshots.

I see that unmummsy mum’s shop donates 10% of profit to Tommy’s and also uses sustainable materials such as organic cotton and all products are printed in the UK. That’s good. Is it the same with SM jumpers?

The first CH is a beauty blogger

The second CH I mentioned is a midwife

Not sure if I can say anymore - don’t want to breach any rules or get banned!

@misshenty I’ve followed unmumsy for a long time (probably several years) on instagram, I had no idea she had a shop? But great she’s got such good ethics. I really think she comes across as a nice person.

I like her too I was just being silly.

As far as I know unmummsy mum’s products are all for sale online. Sorry I probably shouldn’t have used the word “shop”. As far as I know she doesn’t have a physical shop in the way SM/MG does.

Yes unmummsy always comes across well and has also dealt with criticism of her products well. A few people complained about price on her Instagram from what I can remember and she was v polite, conceded they weren’t cheap and explained why the products were priced the way they were.

I have one of the SM jumpers (bought in the sales, I would never buy it full price) and the quality is really good. However, you will never see me wearing the "mother" one (or anything similar from other brands) and I would be worried about unintentionally hurting someone who is struggling to become one. I guess yes, I would feel smug. The SM post was distasteful and I won't buy again, for someone who now sells £100 a pop online business 'masterclasses' this was such a poor move.

I've bought a lot of stuff from unmumsy, I was just having a gripe at how good she looks. But, as pp have pointed out, she's still mum bod. Sorry, unmumsy!!! Hope she has another book out soon

I can guarantee all that hoo har takes longer than a quick post on mn.
Exactly. I have an acquaintance who is a minor Instamum. She posts a photo every day, heavily styled with a caption that must take a while to write. She gets up to 100 comments and replies to at least half of them. She also seems to know a lot of the commenters so I guess she spends a fair amount of time interacting with her followers’ accounts.
All of that must take much longer than a few posts on MN.

Might see if they can run me up

a MARTHA one

It’s a shame how cross and judgy everyone is. Why can’t we just be happy for a woman that’s doing well with her business? Yes maybe she only puts a small percentage of sales to charity, but what percentage of your earnings do you donate to charity? Why can’t we just live and let live? And if you don’t like the jumpers, don’t buy one! If you don’t like insta mums, don’t follow them.

I didn’t even know about this IG account and small business before seeing this. I know the type of jumper though and it’s not universally loved. So what? Who cares, just keep posting the IG stuff and forget about it

Although there are probably people on mn who do lbuy them so a bit silly to have a go at a whole forum because of a few posts

Everyone thinks what they do is superior to others. People on this thread judging people for using Instagram. People on Instagram judging for using Mumsnet. Maybe no one is more superior whether you wear Mama jumpers, school run dresses, Breton tops or whatever. Maybe it's just different which is fine.

Why can’t we just be happy for a woman that’s doing well with her business?

I don't think anyone was having a go at the woman behind the jumpers at any point until she made an Instagram post slagging off all forum users. They were just commenting on an item of clothing - many posters didn't even know where they came from. Even after the Instagram post, I think people have been quite reserved, to be honest, commenting mainly on whether it was wise to be so rude about people who almost certainly include quite a lot of your customers (including me!).