What they say about motherhood

« Even with the Internet, becoming a mother can isolate »

Paulina, mother of César, 3 years old, and Agathe, 8 months old

“My youngest is 8 months old and I recently returned to work. It did me good because I had felt a little isolated during my maternity leave. My friends live mainly in the provinces and their children are already a bit old. Me, I live in Paris, where you start life later. So I didn’t have many people to share this experience with. However, it is important to be able to meet other parents and discuss. So I signed up for parent groups on social media. During my first pregnancy, I made a real good friend on Facebook, as well as many supportive relationships. We discussed various topics such as nurseries, nannies, gift ideas, etc. It allowed me to widen my circle and helped me a lot. Especially since, since confinement, my company has adopted remote work. I rarely go back to the office. Between diapers and working from home, I might never leave my house again! My generation is experiencing this unprecedented change in the organization of work without anyone really noticing it. Many young parents appreciate being able to work from home, which allows them to pick up the children earlier from the crèche. However, there is also a real risk of cutting yourself off from everything when you go on maternity leave and never really come back to face-to-face afterwards. »

“I created a meeting place”

Elodie,mother of Léonie, 8 years old, and Octave, 4 years old, creator of the Rosechou moms café, in Issy-les-Moulineaux (Hauts-de-Seine)

“When I had my children, I discovered how much I loved mothering, being with them, taking care of them. But, at the same time, I needed to meet other adults, not lock myself into a one-on-one with them. I thought that I was probably not the only one and that’s how I created this moms’ café, which is a meeting place, made for getting out of the house. The idea is to really tell mothers: “Come as you are, no need to be perfect, make up, do your hair, to have the most irreproachable children. » There are so many fake images of motherhood circulating on social media. It seems very important to me to remember that it’s not worth it to be « instagramable » at this time of life which is already so demanding. On the other hand, nothing is worse than isolation. Social networks will never replace direct contact because, too often, they convey one-way messages. Here, there are women who are breastfeeding, others who are not, and none are judged. Moreover, in the workshops that we organize, I always invite qualified speakers who only deliver information, without ever telling the women what to do. The solutions that suit them best, the mothers who come here find them on their own, simply by chatting among themselves. »