On being a ‘good mother’

By Stephania Silveira Hines

You know that safety announcement on the plane, that reminds us to put on our oxygen mask first before putting on our children's?

It's funny how us mothers forget to do this in everyday life.

Recently, marketing research asked a thousand women what being a ‘good mother’ means. Only 21% of them said that 'looking after yourself' is important.

Things like 'having well-behaved children' and 'making sure the family eats meals together' became a lot more important than looking after their health and pursuing their own interests and hobbies.

The lack of time when you're trying to keep a baby alive during the first few months is one of the main reasons for this behaviour. But also, the cult of the perfect motherhood by the media and the pressure from the friends and family members leaves less space for women to find inside themselves their own ways to cope with the demands of parenthood.

It's suddenly all about the baby.

Fair enough, they are cute little things that need a lot of love and effort to become healthy and educated adults.

What we can't forget about is that having time to breath - exercising, seeing our besties, going on a 'mum-cation' or even just having a manicure - will make us better mothers.

If we give too much of ourselves, soon we won't have anything to give anymore.

So here's a friendly safety announcement: mums, put on your own mask first!