The S-Mum, Maria, discusses the media coverage surrounding Kate Middleton's pregnancy.
So the royal family is expecting another Baby.
Good for them.
I’m as happy for Kate as I would be to hear of ANY pregnancy, but Holy Gemima, if I see ONE more headline or comment about how she’s “completing her family” or she’s now got “the magic number”, I shall scream.
Now, of course as an international celebrity, she will have every moment of her pregnancy and birth and life scrutinized and spread over the interweb and newspapers. That’s part of the job she signed up to isn’t it? And I don’t mind the reports of her pregnancy.
It IS a matter of interest to our neighbours in the UK, and I’ll bet the Fashion bloggers and maternity shops are rubbing their hands in glee at the guaranteed content for the foreseeable future.
But like all things Mammy related, people are far too quick to jump to assumptions and conclusions, assuming to know inside information and writing anything to gain clicks and sales. To the journalists who wrote such rubbish as “Her family will be complete” and “Three is the magic number”, I ask some questions.
Will it really? Will her family REALLY be complete with 3 kids? Says who? How do you know that she will only have one more child? How can you guarantee that this little child will even be born? How do you know that she isn’t carrying twins? How will you cash in on this theory is suddenly her magic number is 4!? How do you know that she planned this one? For all you know, little Prince/Princess was a little heart attack for poor Willy and Lovely Kate.
Such statements and assumptions beg other questions too.
Why do people insist on telling you that you should “be going again” or “getting a move on”?
Why do people think it’s okay to assume that everyone wants to have more Babies? Or actually, even A baby for that matter?
Why, oh WHY, do people think that it’s okay to ASK why a couple isn’t “going for number 3, or 4, or 8?
Here are 6 reasons to NOT comment on a couple’s NON-pregnant state:
- It’s none of your business.
- You don’t know their situation. You don’t know if they’ve had a miscarriage recently. People don’t generally go around announcing that do they? In fact, we good Irish still fall into the trap of thinking that we aren’t allowed to tell anyone until the sacred 12-week mark, and so when things go wrong, couples often have no one to share their grief or help them through it.
- 1 in 6 Irish couples currently struggle with fertility. How do you know if the person you are innocently teasing about “going for another one” or “getting a move on” isn’t one of those couples? You don’t know if they’re trying everything and being constantly heartbroken. You don’t know if she’s injecting herself to try to help matters. You don’t know if he’s struggling with the fact that his sperm count is low. You don’t know if they’ve put every penny they have (and don’t have) into rounds of treatment, over and over again.
- Not EVERY couple WANTS to have a baby, or another Baby. For their own reasons. That they don’t have to explain to you.
- Maybe that couple is in the process of adoption, or surrogacy. Maybe that couple is at breaking point, physically and emotionally and maybe…
- …it’s NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!
Of course people mean no harm when we joke about “filling that big house” or “getting them a wee brother”, but like all things Parent related, innocent comments and harmless questions can cut through people like a bolt of lightning. We shouldn’t comment. End of.
So when the headlines tell us that because the Princess, (or Duchess or whatever she is), is now perfect because she’s having another child, we should try not to let them convince us that what they think is perfect, is right.
Because it’s not. YOU know what is right for YOUR family.
I like Kate’s style and her hair and her shoes… but will I be following suit and having number 3 to make my family “perfect” or “complete”?
Eh, no. We’re “practically perfect in every way” already thank you very much, not that it’s anyone’s business!
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