Let’s talk modern motherhood. Are today’s children living their parents’ childhood? I wouldn’t think so. A brief description of the millennial (also known as Generation Y) would mean anyone born between 1980 – 2000, give or take a couple of years on each side. According to a research article on WeberShandwick today about one in five mums is a Millennial Mum which represents a figure of about 9 million individuals.
Benefiting tremendously from advances in technology, most likely slightly overprotective, multiple gadgets owners, career women, highly educated and social media enthusiasts, these women are more powerful than ever. As I, too, seem to have ticked all the boxes millennial mums category has, I have to admit that writing this article feels more like sharing with you all a page of my own secret diary.
Yet here you have 12 signs you may be one of us…
1. Deliver pregnancy news via social media channels
You get the most exciting two bars news of your life and in a split second hundreds of online friends are witnessing one of the most personal moments of your life. Your choice, your freedom, your voice.
2. You’re a mum on the go. Busy mum though equals busy baby
Your baby didn’t manage to even say his/her first word yet and his/her schedule is busier than ever : baby swimming classes, mother and baby yoga sessions, monkey music, playgroups etc.
3. Ditching pregnancy and parenting books in favour of blogs and forums
You have a tendency in choosing materials which offer you raw emotions and real examples of what pregnancy and motherhood are all about, instead of checking pages of heavy books where the information is abundant but lacking this emotion, the real characters and sometimes humour and inspirational bits which let’s be honest, make us feel better about ourselves or brighten our day.
4. You’re a blogger, subscriber or follower. Motherhood is an app away.
You’re possibly at least three social media accounts owner, health blogs subscriber or following celeb or successfull mums. Either going on Pinterest, Facebook, Tumbler, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube or following blogs, you’re getting yourself informed and motherhood seems easier a click away.
5. Pregnancy selfies, baby bump month by month picture taking, maternity and family photography…
Pregnancy photoshoots, capturing your children’s best moments and our generation’s beloved selfies are now part of your lifestyle. As much as you enjoy taking a cuppa moment while browsing through your black and white snapshots of your childhood photo album, you cannot imagine your life without the smart phone and the thousands of photographs stored on tens of servers.
6. You show a real appreciation of own childhood toys and games
As grateful as you are to Steve Jobs for bringing cool gadgets and consols in your life, you’re as happy as a child when you see the toys from the 90s that you grew up with. And you try hard to make your child share the enthusiasm too…
7. Your baby is using your gadgets better than you
Surely you find it amazing when your toddler works your phone apps better than you. Living in this fast changing world, it’s hard to take a moment and think of how different his/her childhood is from your own.
8. Trends. Organic, glutten free, free range, bio etc are the new shopping key words
I’m sure even your own mum or her mum are raising an eyebrow when trying to listen to you carefully when you’re talking about the important difference between free range and organic. These are the concepts ruling your shopping as millenial mums want the healthiest and coolest options for their children and a good marketing for latest trends is always appealing to them.
9. Online deliveries tester & lover
Places like Etsy, Amazon, Ocado etc started to increasingly give credit to the millennial mum customer segment. And they should. Millennial mums are online shopping lovers as they understand the amount of precious time it saves which can be better used on the playgrounds. We test and if we like, we keep. If we don’t, we return.
10. Gender reveal excitement via social media and group parties
That’s pretty much like sharing the pregnancy news I mentioned above. From quick gatherings to fancy baby showers, most millenial mums loves making a big fuss when baby’s gender is revealed. Shopping in pink or blue tends to coloursplash your household and scan and nappy cakes photographs brighten your timeline.
11. You’re a reviewer. You like followers.
You order, you test, you use, you review. You take full advantage of tools like social media to make yourself heard and others start following as they trust your opinion. After 10 hours of hard work, you enjoy to sometimes blog about your life.
12. Your job is harder than your mum’s
You believe your job may be harder than your mum’s and chances are that you are right. You’re going for the short maternity leave option, you’re joggling career and full time mum with less help than your mum or other women from your family’s past generations used to have. Millenial mum is a multitasker.
13. You’re a seeker of creative ways to enjoy both motherhood and womanhood
Either you appreciate hand made websites or take your inspiration from Pinterest, you’re constantly seeking for creative ways to stand out and become a role model to your family’s new little ones. Motherhood is a cool job which needs to look effortless. Millenial mum is a cool mum.
Are you a millennial mum? Share your thoughts…
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Now I only live with the hope that we’ll raise them well while surviving the process…
But we are in this together…
x
