Dear all,

My long silence has been caused by many contributing factors, it was not, however, due to a lack of topics to be covered, a ‘writers impotence’ caused by a muse leaving my mental premises or any other kind of mental infertility caused by the lack of something that gives this certain state of mind which is very productive and helps you achieve what you’ve set out to achieve.

The silence was the effect of a sudden abundance of topics, events and people in my life and a sudden physical response to it that I tend to have when I don’t know what to prioritise – the stillness of extremities! The questions that cause this reaction are always the same… more or less. Is it the house and the spouse and the children that I focus on or is it the ever so important contacts with friends and other people that have become an important part of my life, or is the focus the work that bears more worries than fruit, or the writing that can never be nothing more than a hobby ( according to my low self esteem ), or a new challenge of a post graduate course that I have taken on hoping to gain some more knowledge, some more involvement, more answers for myself and others, more respect and more recognition? That’s right! I want all of these things! But I tend to focus on things that give me little pleasures and little respect or recognition, hardly any new knowledge and a lot of involvement… home, children and husband.

One could argue that the kind of service a mother provides at home requires many various skills and a need to perfect ones knowledge on many different topics and in many diverse areas. I haven’t noticed, however, headhunters offering jobs to  women who specialise in mediation between teenagers and their fathers. There are no agencies offering well paid jobs to female specialists with long life experience for giving advice on how to cook healthy meals for a family of four for less than £10 or where to go with your children for a weekend to ‘spend a little but live a lot’. No one tells a woman with a degree but who has never worked and wants to take on a job in her field after her children have left the nest, that she can start her career according to her age and experience ( as she has plenty from home ) because it’s irrelevant. But why?!

My family life and raising children have given me so much experience! My children have ‘pushed’ me to explore the paths that I would have never chosen if it hadn’t been for their interests and their life quests. My husband has opened my eyes to many things that I haven’t seen before because I was focused on my thoughts and ideas. They all have shown me a whole other world and have given me the experience that I wouldn’t have gained otherwise. A happy family is a reward in itself… or is it a phrase that men have come up with for us to feel bad if we want something more for our efforts. And would it be viewed the same if men were the majority of parents staying home with children, required to do what we do, sometimes even without as much as ‘thank you’ and far, so far away from getting a good job thanks to their exceptional experience as a father and a husband?

Who would like to start a Mothers of the World University with me?