Welcome to The Non-Mum Network, Newbies!

Thank you for visiting the website – we’re so glad you found us!

If you’re anything like me, you may have found being a woman without children in a mum-centric world to be a lonely and challenging place at times, as everyone around you gradually drops off the radar to focus on family life. I remember feeling like I was the last woman standing, as one by one my mates all got picked off by Motherhood like a sniper. It’s like a global pandemic which only WE are immune from. And for some of us that’s a relief, like we dodged a bullet…and for others it’s a cruel blow.

I’m guessing you’ve seen my article in the Daily Mail last week, in which I explain how I quit my job because I was tired of constantly covering for mums at work? I thought it would get a reasonable amount of attention, but nothing could prepare me for what actually happened…

…it went viral!

The first inkling I had that it had gone live was a sudden flurry of activity on my Instagram account on Wednesday night, when my phone started pinging like mad with notifications! I gained around 400 new Instagram followers in about 20 minutes, and people I’d not spoken to for ages started getting in touch to say they’d seen it. My ears were burning – and so was my phone by the time I went to bed that night!

The next day, things got even crazier: the panel debated my article on Thursday morning’s Jeremy Vine Show on Channel 5, with parents and non-parents alike clamouring to share their views and the presenters keen to share their own individual stories too. I was invited onto Good Morning Britain to discuss the article in more detail and debate it with a mum the following morning. Annoyingly, the invite went straight to my junk folders on both my email account and socials, and I only discovered them much later when I was hunting for something else. Dammit! All attempts to get back in touch with them failed, and the debate went ahead without me on GMB on Friday morning.

I was gutted that I didn’t get to appear on the show, but I tuned in excitedly on Friday morning and was delighted to see the votes pouring in…and that we won! The final vote was 71% AGAINST parents getting priority for Christmas leave. Get in! (or should I say, get into work, Mums!)

Before I had time to mourn the missed opportunity, I was invited onto BBC4 Woman’s Hour as a guest on Monday’s show! I had to pinch myself as I walked up to the imposing building on Monday morning, talking a deep breath as I stepped over the threshold to be interviewed live on air in front of over 4 million listeners by Emma Barnett.

I’d been overwhelmed by the response from people all over the world and was blown away by the fact the majority were supporting me and agreeing with the points I’d raised in the article. The Daily Mail comments section can be a brutal place, but as I peered through my fingers at the screen, wincing as I clicked to read them (all 1000 of them!), I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people taking the time to voice their support, and the thousands of green arrows these supportive comments had garnered. Woah! I was NOT expecting that!

Even Mumsnet, the viper’s nest for some of the the most poisonous debates online, couldn’t bring themselves to TOTALLY hate me – almost half of voters there agreed that the (lovely!) mother who suggested that my gripe was ‘just a case of sour grapes’ at failing to become a mother was wrong to do so. Well I never!

The Woman’s Hour interview was quite possibly one of the most nerve-wracking moments of my life; my heart hammering loudly in my chest as I slid into the hotseat and gulped as I leaned into the mic. I had absolutely no idea what Emma was going to say, as a mum of two, or what the tone of the interview would take. Thankfully, she was very calm, fair and measured in her technique, and she and her lovely team of researchers and support staff did their best to put me at ease. The 15 minutes flew by, and whilst I kicked myself afterwards as I felt I could have said more, again the response was overwhelmingly supportive and positive. Phew!

The last week has been surreal to say the least; a veritable whirlwind of emotions, but I just want to leave you with this thought: If you have something you really feel you need to say to the world, something that’s been burning inside of you for years, don’t be afraid: say it. So many times during and after the interview for my Daily Mail piece before it was published I wondered if I’d done the right thing, but now I’m so glad I did it. If nothing changes, nothing changes, right? Sometimes you just have to put your head above the parapet and stand up for what you believe in.

If the front cover of the Daily Mail feels a step too far for you, come and join me on my socials and in The Non-Mum Network Private Facebook group, and let’s chat there.