Magazine Envy

I am a complete magazine addict. Interior decorating, Fashion, Food, Art, Literature, Technology, Business, trashy gossip magazines – none are safe. I love the feel of a thick glossy magazine, the promises on the cover page fill me with anticipation and excitement. Rarely does a magazine live up to its glamorous cover, but I still go back for more. So when I was pregnant I of course devoured pregnancy magazines. I could tell you the “week by week look at your baby!” off by heart, as it seems this MUST be included in any pregnancy mag worth it’s Elevit. I loved reading the “real life” birth stories and cooing over the cute clothes (for bump and for baby). When Isaac was born I graduated to parenting magazines. And it is here that I have become quite disappointed. The tone of most of these magazines is incredibly judgemental. Articles admonish working mothers for even considering child care, much less leaving your child in a centre. And despite the fact that mothers that work are frowned upon, they are still encouraged to buy the $65 romper suit on page 45. They invariably feature a number of mums who have set up their own internet business and have been wildly successful. Even though those mums admit to working 14 hour days, they are seen as quite acceptable as they have nannies in their employ to look after their kids. As a new mum who counts a day when I manage to keep a clean house, blog and keep a baby happy as a quite an achievement, I don’t really want to read about the business a new mum grew from nothing because she saw a “niche in the market” and was handy with the Singer. Maybe one day there will be a parenting magazine which shows a house covered with toys, kids covered in goo and a mother looking less than glamorous but happy and at ease with the chaos around her.