Move over helicopter parenting, there’s apparently a new type of mum on the block – the 'beta mum’. It’s a term used to describe a push back against overly supervised parenting, and instead advocates that children make their own decisions and, naturally, mistakes (within reasonable grounds, of course).
Rejecting the pressure to constantly optimise to be the perfect parent, the beta mum is unapologetically a bit messy and sees joy in the chaos of having kids, reducing burnout in the process.
Are you a proud beta mum? Let us know in the comments.
Congratulations to Sienna Miller and Oli Green, who have welcomed their second child together!
The new arrival will be Miller’s third - she also has a teenage daughter Marlowe from a previous relationship. The actress and all-around Grazia fave confirmed the news in an interview this week. ‘I have a tiny baby next door,’ she said. ‘It feels like stringing sentences together is a bit challenging. I’m on very little sleep but I’m madly in love with my baby.’
According to new research from Plan International UK, most parents now fear their daughter will grow up unsafe in public, with 40% believing this will happen at an earlier age than it did for them
‘Many women feel progress is going backwards, and their everyday experiences show why,’ warns the charity. Nearly two-thirds of women say they have felt unsafe in public, with over half experiencing unwanted physical or sexual harassment.
In January, the government unveiled its strategy to halve violence against women and girls within a decade, which Sir Keir Starmer describes as a ‘responsibility we owe to the next generation.’ Now more than ever, it's a necessity. 'Together we can change the conditions girls are born into,' says Rose Caldwell from Plan International UK.
Grace Victory has made a career of sharing her life online, but when it came to her abortion, she couldn’t bring herself to speak publicly.
‘As a mum and plus-sized mixed race woman, I already receive judgment from the public,’ she writes for Grazia. ‘I knew I wasn’t ready to face negative comments, so decided to only tell the people that I trusted most. Even then, I received criticism from family members who didn’t agree with my decision.'
At the link in the bio, @gracefvictory opens up for the first time about terminating a pregnancy and why, despite recent decriminalisation, there’s still work to be done around dismantling abortion stigma.
And that's good for all of us!
Last week, thousands of parents gathered in cities across London calling for better paternity leave. ‘Dads want to be equal parents, they want to be involved parents today more than ever before,’ Parenting Out Loud founder Elliot Rae explained. ‘The blame is on the system - one that tells dads to provide and mums to care, rather than supporting the family to share the care in a way that works for them. At the moment, it’s not working for anyone, and it’s no surprise that working parents are at their wits' end, relationships are strained and more young people are deciding not to have children at all.’
Hi guys, and happy Amandaland Day to all who celebrate! Our favourite influencer is back for series 2, which hits BBC One and iPlayer tonight – we’re hoping for more co-labs, more TikTok dance routines and as little self-awareness as ever from the Queen of SoHa.
Zoe Saldana has opened up about the difficulties of raising boys in today’s society.
‘There’s so much noise out there, and that noise is very pervasive and very persuasive.’ she explained. ‘I want them to just be absolute human beings. We’re not used to describing men as flowers, and I do believe men are delicate flowers that can be really resilient but they’re so gentle, so I’m literally just preserving that for them.’
Joeli Brearley’s six-year campaign - to demand better paternity leave rights for men - is now at critical status, with the Government’s parental leave review creating a real chance to change parental leave for good.
‘When I had my first baby 12 years ago, I didn’t fully grasp the scale of what I was stepping into. I don’t regret my children, of course, but had I fully understood what motherhood would demand of me, I might have chosen differently,’ she writes for Grazia. ‘We know that increasing paternity leave to six weeks at 90% of salary would reduce the motherhood penalty. It would give men the chance to be there properly. Not as a helper, not as a visitor, but as a parent.’
This Saturday, there will be marches across the UK demanding better parental leave for parents. Want to join? TAP the link in the bio to read more.
About 1 in 4 pregnancies end in miscarriage – UK charity Tommy’s is calling to change with a campaign to lift the NHS three-miscarriage rule, which means that, currently, women only start to receive specialised support after they miscarry three consecutive times.
The baby loss and pregnancy charity trialled a “graded model of miscarriage care” in which women are given support after every miscarriage, including the first. They say that this could prevent 10,000 pregnancy losses annually if implemented.
“Our pilot study indicates that providing support after a first miscarriage, with escalating care after further losses, is not only effective but achievable without significant additional workload for NHS teams who are already working extremely hard to deliver good care,” says Kath Abraham, chief executive of Tommy’s. “Put simply: it is the right thing to do.”
Let us know what you think of this campaign in the comments ⬇️
This Equal Parenting Week, Parenting Out Loud is calling for change. ‘Dads want to be equal parents, they want to be involved parents today more than ever before,’ says founder Elliot Rae. ‘But this data shows a glaring difference between perceptions and reality of equal parenting in the UK. The blame is on the system - one that tells dads to provide and mums to care, rather than supporting the family to share the care in a way that works for them. At the moment, it’s not working for anyone, and it’s no surprise that working parents are at their wits' end, relationships are strained and more young people are deciding not to have children at all.’
This weekend, Rae will join Joeli Brearley’s new organisation, Growth Spurt, to lead a march calling for better paternity leave to level expectations on both parents in caregiving.
‘When I tell people I live with my parents, there’s a look I can’t quite place: equal parts horror and fascination, as well as the unspoken question: why would you do that to yourself?’
When Alison Taylor realised that her parents were going to need increasing amounts of help, she and her husband Si decided to build them an annexe at the end of their garden - moving the couple into their home alongside their three primary school-aged children while it was being built. But what’s it really like living with your parents again in your 40s?
From boundaries to bathroom schedules, tap the link in bio for Alison’s experience of intergenerational living.
