I am the very model of a modern major mother

On the weekend I went on an adventure to a ghost town with Hubby, Tricky and my Dad - the brochure we read (and we double checked it when we got home) said "free gas BBQs" but when we got there the only thing they had were concrete pits to light a fire in and a cast iron griddle on a pivot. So for the first time in my life (after accosting some passing tourists for some matches) I built a fire with my Dad. It was pretty exciting for a city slicker like me - foraging for sticks and branches that were dry enough, getting that first leaf to catch alight then watching it really take hold (my inner pyromaniac thought it was fab). Because I like my fingers where they are, burning them off while shoving new sticks in to keep the fire going long enough to cook our sausages wasn't quite as fun. My foray in to being a Girl Scout got me thinking. We have it so easy compared to only a few generations ago.

In the kitchen

I don't have to light a fire (even with the latest technological advancement - the cigarette lighter) every time I want to cook something. All I do is turn a switch and my electric oven heats up to the temperature I tell it to then stays there without needing half a tree shoved in to it. And the veges I put in there come from a fridge so sometimes they're not even very mouldy.

In the bathroom

I don't have to go chopping firewood every time I want to bathe Tricky, I just turn the tap and a little plastic tortoise's bum goes white if I make the water too hot. And whilst I do sometimes lament choosing white tiles for our bathroom, I have access to powerful environment destroying cleaners to keep them blindingly shiny with barely any effort.

In the nursery

Oh the joys of a vibrating bouncer! My 21st century knee is too snobby to bounce children, instead I have a machine do it for me. And don't even think about having to carry your child on your hip when Baby Bjorn's and Hug-a-Bub's are here to lighten the load. Even going down the cloth nappy path is easier today - they're shaped to fit and have press studs instead of being a giant square needing pins (just quietly, if my record of injuring Tricky with sharp objects is anything to go by, can you imagine how bad I'd be at pinning a nappy?).

In the laundry

Do I stand there with soap flakes and washing board and rub our family's clothes against it day after day? No. I throw them in to a machine and it does it for me while I go and do something much more exotic like lay by the pool sipping cocktails (OK so I don't even have a pool and am more than likely changing/feeding/rocking Tricky, but at least it makes for a nice mental image). Plus if it's been really cold I schlep down to the shed and throw them in the dryer - those nappies can go from dirty to clean and dry in two hours even in the middle of winter.

So take a minute to think about how easy we all have it now compared to our grandparents and great grandparents. But if you don't mind, could you conveniently forget I've said any of this the next time I complain that I've had a hard day full of washing, cooking and cleaning? Thanks!

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