So another story about a mother, having a go at another mother, very publicly because obviously the Daily Mail loves that sort of thing. Sally Bercow decided to slag off Kirstie Allsopp for being out of touch and middle class. So I’m going to have a rant.
For a start when are women going to understand that until we start to stand together we are going to be cutting off our noses and constantly degrading our social power? It’s perfectly OK to have different interest and different beliefs and still stand together for goodness sake.
Sally criticises Kirstie for having too much time to waste on doing crafty stuff. But she herself clearly has too much time to waste if she spends it slagging off another mother.
Apparently it is also a crime to be ‘middle class’, but I’m pretty sure that it’s been proved that ‘the middle class’ is now the majority of everyone in the UK, so that would be at least 3/4’s of the british public then Sally?
She also says that Kirstie is out of touch. But that is totally untrue as I have learnt since becoming a ‘Mummy Blogger’, because the blogging world is full of Mums making stuff with their children.
Personally I love doing creative stuff with the kids, and I’m well aware of how important it is for their emotional and mental well being to keep their creative juices flowing somewhere other than the Wii. But I’m totally undomesticated and have no ability to make clever craft stuff myself. In fact my son goes to sewing school club because he said it was a good idea as I’m so hopeless! So I’m not the type of person that you would expect to watch Kirstie’s craft program, but I LOVE IT.
It took me ages to work out why I love it, but I did. She has passion for what she’s doing and I find it infectious.
Passion is what we need right now. Plus in a time of financial strife, ideas on things to do that don’t cost hundreds of pounds are also a very good plan.
Now in my blogger/blagger post I got loads of responses when I said that I have a plan for Mums for 2012 to create a movement to change the way we behave towards each other, and give us more power in society. My plan is to build on top of the wheels already in motion, not to create new ones, so I’m not looking to create a new community or forum, it’s more a ‘movement’ that connects all the existing ones together as a recognised set of shared values.
Step 1 is to start in the mummy blogger world. The campaign needs a name, badge, and ‘manifesto’. I have a rough plans for them all, but I’m only the ‘founder’ of this movement, I’m not planning on being the ‘boss’ of it. So I’m going to set up a Facebook group and let anyone who is interested help out with the final choices and polishing of this step. I’ll also share some of my other ideas for the next steps, and look for people and communities to put their hands up to be involved.
The message is going to be empowering, not about victims. It’s about what we are aiming to create, not what we don’t want. It’s about declaring that we are going to try our best to give other Mums the benefit of the doubt and try standing in their shoes for a moment. It’s a reminder to us to do it when we get stressed or upset my another Mums behaviour. We can still disagree, it’s not about mindlessly agreeing with each other, its just the method of disagreement that’s all!
So are you up for it? If you didn’t comment on my previous post about the blogger/blagger issue to say that you were keen, pop a comment below and I’ll be in touch!!! I’ve got loads of ideas on how to make this work, we just need Mums to get involved and decide it’s time for a change. Come on guys, let’s make 2012 the year that we start to be the people making changes in our society!
Hell yes! It’s bad enough we give ourselves such a hard time without turning on each other.
Yay – I know – it’s kind of crazy, I think it comes from judging ourselves harshly sometimes, and then passing the blame onto other mums.
I agree. I hate the way women verbally attack one another and I think Sally Bercow is out of order. Ccraft is still important to many people. I often visit Hobbycraft and its amazing to see how busy it is in there. I just wish I had more time to make things but I cook so that’s a start. Deb
It’s good for the soul I reckon!
I’m commenting again because this is too important to ignore. As women we do ourselves an incredible disservice by sniping at each other when we should be supporting each other. While we’re busy judging and bitching, men sit back smugly laughing at us.
I’ll put you in twice as a mega member then!
What lovely sentiment, I am up for giving it a go. Not sure if this is a good place to admit it, but I’m always wary around large groups of women, so the thought that we could create something so positive really appeals to me!
It’s probably wise to be wary around a large group of women. It might take some time, but if it becomes the behaviour that’s expected, then I think it can be done – I’ve got some bigger plans to get it ‘out there’!
I’ve always been a crafty person and I’m way off from being middle class.My kids love doing crafts together and having lessons regularly (their sewing Christmas decorations at the momment).My 9 year old son loves watching Kirstie’s craft programmes together with me and sees her as an insipiration shame Sally can’t either.Look forawrd to hearing more.
I really looked forward to Sally’s program each week – it would be even better with my kids by my side, that’s lovely!
Yay I am up for it! I think we should most definitely be supporting each other (and each others blogs) rather than secretly boycotting or complaining about what others are or are not doing… Yay you.
I’m thinking that the secret boycotters and complainers will either get with the program and change their way of thinking, or go and hide in a corner somewhere ;o)
I agree with everything you say. Have no clue to how to use Fb, but do count me in, please! Well done you, as ever. Brill stuff.
Thank you lovely – have sent you a link to the fb group
I LOVE crafting and I spend far too much in Hobbycraft when I go. But sadly I have very little time for any crafting so most of my supplies just pile up in a well intioned heap waiting for retirement I suppose. I think my daughter would enjoy it so I really should make more time to get back into it.
Anyway, what’s the big deal if someone is middle class and has time to craft? Not sure I understand the complaint against Kirsty. Sally is unhappy that Kirsty has too much time to waste on crafting? In this case, Kirsty is actually using her crafting as a job–she has created a TV show around it. And middle class or not, she probably needs the money like most of us. It’s not like some secret cameras have descended upon poor Kirsty’s house and caught her crafting when she should be, I don’t know, at work??
My guess: The paper has just said, ‘find something to really rile our readers and do it by yesterday’ so Sally has come up with a poorly judged (or not–it has us riled!) article.
By the way, I love your idea for creating a movement of like minded bloggers, etc!
LoL I too have a MASSIVE load of craft supplies just in case – I’ve often wondered how people survive!
I agree, I think Sally wasted her time massively by writing the article, but it has gotten us all irritated enough to atlast do something about it!
Hello! Quick question that’s totally off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My website looks weird when viewing from my apple iphone. I’m trying to find a theme or plugin that might be able to fix this problem. If you have any recommendations, please share. Cheers!