Whatever she's dressed in, she's always pleasant to listen to. I salute all those working mums who manage to look even remotely well presented after having a baby, unlike scruffy me who used to take all day to get anything other than babies and children up and running then went to bed exhausted. How Amanda, the Yorkshire Shepherdess, helps run a farm with 9 children is totally beyond me.
The same way women pre-80's have always managed. They had to.
I'm the youngest - a 'surprise' baby - so was brought up more by my siblings than my mum. She had to go out to work to help my father start his business.
There was no down-time for her. She worked all week then did batch cooking and washed for all of us with a twin tub and a washing line on the weekends.
Modern inventions like freezers, microwaves, washing machines and tumble-dryers that undoubtedly have made life easier have almost made up for the fact that most women now have to work (yet still have to do the majority of the housework). So, while women these days don't have to work as hard physically as they did in my mum's day, they're away from home longer. Access to contraception has made families (mostly) smaller so children without siblings (or only one) don't seem to have responsibility foisted on them as they did years ago.
I look at my daughter's friends and all I see are young women who only make an effort for Instagram or coffee with friends. I was stuck in front of the (black & white) telly but these days it's interactive toys or a tablet. One of the friend's children, in particular, is crying out for attention and someone to play with every time I see her (pre-Covid) which was usually in Costa. She'd be going from table to table looking for someone to play with her. My daughter tells me the mother only gets washed and dressed when she wants to post a pic of clothes she's ordered (and then returns) on Instagram. Otherwise, it's Costa a few times a week or friends round where she'll moan that she's so busy she has no time to do anything!
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Life has changed so much. It should be for the better yet it isn't. On one hand, there are all the 'mod cons' on the other social media sucks the time out of life. Then there's the 'dating scene' and the men. Where do I start?! My nephew has fathered four children with different women! He only sees them when my sister has them. He never wanted children but 'doesn't like' using condoms. He no longer whinges to me as he doesn't like the straight talk he gets. Stupid, selfish boy - he's 22. He's not alone with this attitude, though, and if the girlfriend wants a baby she just 'forgets' her pill.
I don't blame these girls. They're brought up with Disney princesses and romance and expect the bloke to stick with them but sadly, a lot don't. What I really don't like is seeing children being expected to play with tablets and phones instead of parents interacting with them. Or at least seeing them be able to play with other children - I live rurally where there are plenty of parks. Even pre-Covid they were virtually empty.
The digital age should make life easier for us, not make us too lazy to enjoy family life.