Letter Goes Viral: "I'm a mother, not a slave!"

Despite their obligations at home, women can and should take time to do things that they enjoy.

Written and verified by psychologist Valeria Sabater.

Last update: 27 May, 2022

“Being a mother does not make me a slave to the chores around the house”. This statement recently went viral following an interesting letter posted by a 32-year-old Australian woman on her Facebook profile.

Constance Hall is a young woman who is active on social networking sites and has her own blog, where she discusses living an active lifestyle with children, stressing the importance of maintaining social ties, interests, and passions.

A letter was published a few weeks ago which was more than an opinion. Tt was like a call to all women to claim their place in society and continue caring for their personal growth, while integrating the responsibilities of parenting.

Today on our page, we’d like to invite you to reflect on this.

“I’m a mother, I’m a woman”

Constance Hall is one of those women who’s unafraid to bring her children with her almost anywhere she goes. She loads them up in her arms and spends hours at the beach, in meetings with other children and their friends, or going out shopping.

She didn’t want to sacrifice anything. Therefore, she had to establish a few firm priorities in her life: her children and herself.

Tired of many of her friends defining themselves as “homemakers” rather than “mothers” with some of them falling into a state of depression or helplessness when feeling alone, Constance decided to publish these interesting lines that we’d like to share with you.

Constance’s letter

“I’m writing to the women in the park, looking at your phones without paying a whole lot of attention to your children.

Yes, I’m talking to you. Instead of being engrossed in your smartphone, you should connect with the world and your children and not these groups of mothers that only talk through social networking sites.

Because remember, it absolutely does not matter what this “little group of mothers” thinks. Get up and play with your kids.

The woman with the mountain of unwashed dishes in the kitchen sink is still able to walk out the door with her children and go out for a coffee with her friends.

I’m talking to you. Being a good mother, wife, or human being doesn’t mean spending an eternity cleaning the house. If you obsess too much over it, your friends are going to start living their lives without you.

To the woman with the antidepressant prescription from her doctor after giving birth, I’m talking to you. You may not believe it, but you’ll still be fighting your depression when your children grow up. Don’t confuse depression with giving up. You’re still the ruler of your life and you can overcome anything.

This is the best time of your life, enjoy it while you can.

Sometimes, we confuse strength and weakness, but remember that you are much stronger than you think. You’re not weak if you need to ask for help. It’s worth it!

Keep in mind that a lot of women are going through the same thing as you, they just might not talk about it.

I’m writing now to the woman who hasn’t lost all of her weight after pregnancy. Don’t worry, it’s not important because being a mother is a new job that requires your attention 24 hours a day, but doesn’t pay.

In fact, it’s a never ending job. So, don’t hesitate to eat that piece of cake if you want it. Your body after birth is no one’s business, so forget what anyone has to say: it’s not important to any one.”

The importance of establishing priorities in your life

Each one of us will either relate to Constance’s words or not. You can have the house clean and the dishes washed while having all the time in the world for your children.

However, the ideas she put forth go much further than this.

• Being a mother doesn’t mean you have to give up the life, dreams, friendships or careers that you had before.
• We realize that our daily lives will no longer be the same. We’ll face challenges, complications and we’ll lose hope at some point. However, living, learning and being a mother means being strong, flexible and fighting for what we love every day.
• Establishing priorities is a must: remember that if you’re not happy, you’ll be unable to help your little ones be happy.

If at some point you start to lose hope, don’t hesitate to get out of the house with your children, take in the sun, talk with other mothers; surround yourself with others who will remind you of the wonders of life and raising children.