The value of mum

When I was growing up I wasn’t at all aware of everything my mum did for my sister and I. My dad was in the Navy when I was born and as such was often away at sea for long stretches of time, leaving my mum effectively as a single-parent.

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When I speak to her now about it she tells me it was hard, tiring and she missed my dad. My grandparents lived up north while we were down south in Portsmouth so there was no help there either. But my mum never sounds resentful about it or angry. She just says it as it was. It was life, you got on with it.

When my my dad left the Navy my mum was able to go back to work. She’s a trained nurse and worked one night shift a week at a local nursing home and in the week would work in a school. I remember on Saturday mornings I had to be very quiet playing or watching television as my mum would have just got back from the nursing home and was sleeping. But she’d be up and about soon enough to look after us again. The mum’s job never ending.

It was important for my mum to go back to work as she loved nursing and had her qualifications that she’d worked hard for. Though I’m not saying being a stay at home mum is bad at all, but personally I’m glad my mum went back to work as it made her happy and set a great role model for me that I too could work and have a family.

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Don’t get me wrong, my dad was (and is) fantastic at being, well, a dad. But his work and commute meant he was out early and back late. My mum was the one who made the lunches, cleaned the house, made dinner, ferried us off to gymnastics, swimming or Brownies, washed and ironed our clothes and kept the peace between two squabbling little toe-rags.

Interestingly, Legal and General Insurance did some research on what is the true value, in monetary terms, of the value of a mum:

“…for unpaid child care and household tasks alone, Dads are worth £23,971, while Mums are worth £31,627”

Source

That’s incredible – if only that was the case, eh! But let’s be honest, a mum’s value can’t be denoted by a single monetary figure. Personally my mum is the person I go to when I need someone to comfort me and make things “better”. My dad always gives me a rational way of looking at things with sound advice, but my mum is the one who may not have the answers to my problems but has a way of calming me down and making sure I can see clearly again.

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She’s always been there for me, no matter how many mistakes I make or how many tears I cry. And she’ll always be my first choice for an afternoon tea date, or a quick coffee, or a meander around the shops.

OK we’re now dangerously encroaching into into vomit-inducing cheese world, but I do think it’s important to take stock of your mum and appreciate her for everything she’s done. Mums are made of some seriously strong stuff and I can only hope that if I have a baby one day that I’ll be like my mum and have a similar relationship to my offspring.

IMG_1286 Drinking a well deserved glass of wine 😉

Tell me something amazing about your mum! My mum loves posh handbags and when she’s “finished” with them I get her off-casts!

Did your mum work when you were growing up? I was lucky that my mum worked in a school for my younger years as it meant the hours and holidays worked perfectly.

What do you like doing with your mum? For me it’s all about gossiping with cake!

**Full disclosure: I was asked to write this post by Legal and General Insurance in return for a spa day with my mum. All opinions are my own.**

8 Replies to “The value of mum”

  1. What a lovely post 🙂
    When I was very little my mum was at home, but when I was about 10, she went to college so we were looked after neighbours after school because she would not be back until a bit after us. Then after getting her computing qualification she worked in a few schools as IT support so again, like you, perfect with the school holidays and things (plus my dad was a teacher so he had them too).
    I think my mum was brilliant at helping me to become independent- I don’t mean she didn’t do things, because she did loads, but actually making us have some responsibility has served me very well.
    I love going around to my parents house for lunch or breakfast or something- it’s chilled out, they normally have the papers, put coffee on (and make me tea, because I don’t like coffee) and just have a nice chat about things.
    Maria @ runningcupcake recently posted…Club parkrun outing!My Profile

    1. That’s lovely 🙂 Yes I agree about the independence thing. Having my mum at work made me become more confident cooking meals and sorting myself out.
      I love spending time with my parents too. We like doing the same things, like going for meals or nice walks so it’s always lovely to see them and do these things together.
      AnnaTheApple recently posted…Having a healthy workspaceMy Profile

  2. I really love this post!
    My Mum is my go-to-person when I am stressed out. Her and Dan are the only people that ever see me really stressed out, in tears or unable to think rationally and they both seem to have this knack for calming me right down again.
    My Mum didn’t work whilst my brother and I were at school, but when I started sixth form and Mark was in his last years at high school she began an evening job stacking shelves in a local supermarket which she loved and I finally realised how lonely it must have been staying at home alone all those years. It meant that there was always somebody to take us to school when we missed the bus though, or at home when we were sick.
    Mary recently posted…Colworth Marathon Challenge – Day 3My Profile

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