Guest blog by Not A Fictional Mum.
You’re about to become a mother, this is It! No more jagerbombs on a Wednesday. *still have the pass for a Saturday. You’re going to take up recycling, separating your darks from your lights on wash day (that’s right you’re also now upgrading to a designated wash day) and start using a lint roller because even though you’ve spent the last decade walking round with a cat hair arse, it somehow just doesn’t feel acceptable anymore.
You’ve also been given license to go on that guilt free mum to be shopping frenzy, except this time, you’re not the bag carrier. YOU are the chief spender. You’ve waited five years for this moment, had more lights shined up your parts then Pete Tong uses in his Ibiza classic set, maxed out your credit cards on fertility bills, survived a miscarriage, held onto your marriage and passed the adoption process.
You’re going to go shopping.
Nothing is more painful then surviving a war, stepping out of the other side only to realise; You’ve become invisible, you’ve become a part of a forgotten group of parents and I’m ashamed to say I too would never have opened my eyes to this fact unless I became a parent through adoption.
One of the most accessible Items on the high street, from both a price and variety point of view is, a greeting card. Of course, you could search online for an independent and I absolutely advocate for those business’s, but this isn’t just about a card. There’s a far bigger picture to my campaign. It’s about recognition and acceptance on a wider scale, it’s about friends and family being able to walk into a store of convenience and have the option to buy a card for their new family member like they can for any other, (then there’s the Mother-in-laws that just aren’t that internet savvy.)
The high street by definition; “A retail centre that serves the needs of the community”
As an adoptive parent does this mean I have to step out of society and remain within my own community of understanding? The last time I checked it was 2020 and by the way I can buy a birthday card for my dog *which he’s clearly extatic about.
I walked into three major high street card shops looking for a card that offers a nod to adoption. Not one was able to take my money. You can still catch my video sharing my experience from that day on my highlights ‘This is 2020’.
I set up my own independent business just two months ago offering clothing and accessories for all types of families and the infertility warriors out there still fighting their battles. with 10% of all sales profits going to Barnardo’s UK the charity that helped me fulfil my dream of becoming a mother. I’ve since launched a range of greeting cards, paid to have them produced and am offering them to any high street retailer at no cost so they can trial them in a flagship store.
I want someone to take them.
I want someone to take them so me and my son can walk in one day give each other a high five, twerk, mic drop, buy one and walk out.
‘It’s about recognition”
NFM
@notafictionalmum
