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Original poster

What am I ???????????????

40 replies

tatcity · 18/04/2004 22:39

When you are a full time mum - bringing up kids - what is the modern way to describe yourself?

Whenever people ask me - I just can't find the right word and normally blurt out "housewife"!!!!

It sounds so ridiculous doesn't it?

Any good ones anybody?

OP posts:
WideWebWitch · 18/04/2004 22:42

Well, SAHM (Stay At Home Mum) seems to be the one used here but I agree, there isn't a great expression. I used to say 'I'm at home bringing up children' god, watch people's faces glaze over at that one though. There ought to be a new word invented didn't there? Housewife is soooo fifties. Home maker is euughh.

Davros · 18/04/2004 22:44

A very patronising (David Brent) man I used to work for used to write on forms "domestic engineer" when he had been an insurance salesman. He genuinley thought that made the little woman happy!

Original poster
tatcity · 18/04/2004 22:46

Faces glaze over and then they start backing off!!

Shit shoveller, child physchologist, chef, cleaner, social secretary, accountant, gardener, interior designer, story teller, careers counsellor, activity organiser, peace keeper, - need I go on?

OP posts:
mummytojames · 18/04/2004 22:46

i useualy say cook cleaner pot washer interior decorator full time nanny shrink and a few others then ask them to take there pick to which i used to get your a very busy person arent you to which i'd say yes dont you have children and laugh

prettycandles · 19/04/2004 09:46

An Unwaged Worker.

Freckle · 19/04/2004 09:51

Just say "I'm raising the people who will be paying your pension".

twiglett · 19/04/2004 09:54

message withdrawn

SoupDragon · 19/04/2004 10:01

I always tick "management" on forms.

fairyfly · 19/04/2004 10:03

Bitter

prettycandles · 19/04/2004 10:23

I don't like SAHM. It makes it seem that all I do is stay at home. I don't! But I'm not allowed to call myself a Full Time Mother, which is what I would prefer, because apparently that offends working mums.

iota · 19/04/2004 10:34

I was a "Domestic Goddess" for a while, but have now decided to be "A Lady of Leisure"

It still has novelty value for me after 11 months.

prettycandles · 19/04/2004 10:41

Leisure? What leisure?

Oh yes, Mumsnet of course!

CountessDracula · 19/04/2004 10:44

well pc I'm a working mum and I don't mind at all if you call yourself a full time mum!

I would say that I run a small business (baby farm lol!)

Codswallop · 19/04/2004 10:45

i refute "stay at home" as that is the last thing I do
I am a mum I say and thats it

Codswallop · 19/04/2004 10:46

oh yes I am a full time mUm as I do that full time; much as I respect womens right ot work when thsey are at work they are nt being a mum they are working !

otherwise, on that basis I could be a teacher/d ctpr and whatever I chose

its pc shite

Galaxy · 19/04/2004 10:48

message withdrawn

Codswallop · 19/04/2004 10:49

OOH galaxy you wait!
I not that people who oppose it would say they are dentists or whatever and not a part time mum on a form!

CountessDracula · 19/04/2004 10:50

Coddy what about the 4 hours of my working day that I spend on mumsnet discussing my dd's developmental need, poo, sleep etc? Am I not being a mum then?

Codswallop · 19/04/2004 10:50

LOl cd

prettycandles · 19/04/2004 15:34

Then I can be a ! Down with pc (except when I agree with it)!

prettycandles · 19/04/2004 15:37

Freudian...that was meant to be 'FTM'.

And CD, no, you're not being a mum during those 4 hours, you're being a PTM...Part-Time Mumsnetter.

marthamoo · 19/04/2004 15:50

A consultant at the hosspital asked me this a couple of weeks ago and I said "er...housewife" and then felt pathetic. I didn't marry a house! I think SAHM is better than housewife. "Home-maker" makes me sound like Martha Stewart (but without the dodgy insider trading).

eddm · 19/04/2004 15:54

Another vote for full-time mum from a working mum here - seems like an accurate description to me. After all, you are being mummy 24 hours a day, I get 10 hours a day (inc. commute) being something else and paying someone else for childcare.

prettycandles · 19/04/2004 16:03

|But just because you're doing soething else at that moment you don't sstop being a mother while yyou're doing it...after all Jasper is still a dentist while she's putting her kids to bed, isn't she.

marthamoo · 19/04/2004 16:17

Well then Jasper can say, when asked (sorry Jasper, using you as an example) "I'm a full-time Mum. And a dentist."

It would just be nice to have a recognisable label, job desciption if you like, for being a Mum who doesn't have a job outside of being a Mum. Now that's awkward to say!