I Never Fancied Being A Mum

If I wanted children I’d have them already.
Women are afraid to say they don’t want children because they’ll get shunned.
( Cameron Diaz )

I like children, I have my wonderful niece, but I knew early on that my energies were meant to go somewhere else.
( Nancy Dell’olio )

I’m a woman of a certain age who doesn’t have kids and never really settled down.
I enjoy kids but not for long periods.
I think they’re adorable and funny and sweet, and then I have a headache.
( Kim Cattrall )

I assumed I’d have children, but I was always more excited by the job than the boyfriends.
And I never fancied being a mum, either.
( Judy Craymer )

I have deliberately chosen not to have it all.
I couldn’t do all of the exciting things that I do if I had children and I feel I have made that decision now.
I think it is important to validate it as a choice.
( Lucy Worsley )

I have not thought about motherhood.
Not now.
I don’t really think about that very much at present.
I’m 27 and feel work is my primary focus.
It’s not about having a family.
It would be nice to raise a couple of kids someday.
I don’t know how many I would like, a couple, somewhere in between one and 10.
( Scarlett Johansson )

I love being a mother more than anything that has ever happened to me.
( Emilia Fox )

Mothers don’t fear death.
A mother’s greatest fear is leaving their children in this world, knowing no one will love them like her.

My father taught me that when you start something, you finish it and never procrastinate.
He’s a workaholic, and so am I.
My mum has an amazing spark about her.
I’m like her too in that I’m very easy-going and not afraid to get out there and make conversation with anyone.
You don’t realise what you have growing up until you leave home, and then you think, ‘Wow – why did I leave so early?’
( Elisha Cuthbert )

My father never raised his voice to me – let alone his hand – but I could not have been more scared of making him mad.
Not so much because of what he would do to me, but because what he would think of me.
( Tony Parsons )

The lesson I learned from my parents is a simple one.
You are the company you keep.
As a result of surrounding myself with good people I have learnt from their successes and enriched my experience and knowledge.
( Lisa Tse )

My parents were not supportive of me at all, and my father always told me that I’d never amount to anything.
( Nelle Davy )

Each of us will have our own different ways of expressing love and care for the family.
But unless that is a high priority, we may find that we may gain the whole world and lose our own children.

A child completes you.
I just couldn’t imagine life without my daughter now.
( Charlie Brooks )

A child’s experience of mother-love is profound and long-lasting.
The care and attention, the protectiveness and concern, the responsiveness and admiration a mother is likely to provide imprint themselves within the very circuits of our brains, and we carry these with us through the ups and downs of day-to-day life.
Usually, a good-enough relationship with a mother provides us with an essential buffer against inevitable stresses and disappointments.
( Terri Apter, Psychologist )

‘Being there’ is one of the most important things a mother can do for her child, though this does not mean being constantly in a child’s presence.
‘Being there’ suggests a flow of access and interest.
It suggests capability – of focus and support.
The epitome of not being there for a child is not physical absence but emotional absence.
More nerve-racking than anger, emotional absence deprives a child of a basic sense of self.
There is no resonance, no responsiveness.
( Terri Apter, Psychologist )

I used to love sleep, but he has made me realise that I actually don’t need that much at all.
It’s amazing.
I sleep for maybe three hours, but there’s this excitement, energy and love in the house.
When I look into his little face I feel I’ve had 40 coffees and 20 hours of sleep.
I always knew I would adopt, even if I was in a relationship.
So it wasn’t like a last resort for me or anything like that.
The time just felt right.
It’s not something you can take lightly because there’s a lot of emotional time and effort goes into adoption.
It’s not as if you wake up one morning and by four in the afternoon you have a baby.
It doesn’t happen that way.
I knew it would take some time to get this slice of heaven on toast which is my little boy.
( Charlise Theron )

A cuddle.
One of the (many) small, rose-hued, helium-filled joys of having children.
( Mimi Spencer )

Women with children are always exhausted.
They take exhaustion as a normal state to be in.
( Sue Townsend

My mother said to me that there’s a point as a young woman when you don’t realise that men are looking at you – but you certainly realise when they’re no longer looking at you.
( Rosamund Pike )

It’s very easy to blame another person in a relationship.
I’ve done it myself.
All you need to do really is grow up a bit.
( Ayah Marar )

My mum is always around and it’s important to have a guardian there, caring.
She helps me pick the right path, to deal with issues like alcohol.
Mum drinks with me, a little wine cooler maybe, and it helps me get by.
But I slowed down a lot because I was becoming impotent and couldn’t get my thing on.
It was worrying.
Damn, I’m a stallion, not a pony.
( David Jude Jolicoeur )

Before you were conceived I wanted you.
Before you were born I loved you.
Before you were here I knew I would do anything for you.

I’ve only just recently started working again, because I’ve been wrapped up in looking after my three children.
It was an incredible experience, but children grow up and leave, you must have your own life – it’s important for me, spiritually.
After motherhood, I feel I am more qualified to understand characters’ lives than I did.
( Geraldine Somerville )

Being a parent isn’t easy.
Especially when you want to be a really good parent and let your caring and concern and pride show.
It’s hard to know how to help without interfering, protect without stifling, and guide without preaching.

She Always Listens.
She doesn’t care how much money I make, what car I drive or what job I have, as long as I’m happy.
She is my best friend and my soul mate.
I share every worry with her and every happiness with her.
She always listens to what I have to say and will try and help.
She sees the best in me and her pride in me never fades.
She is my mother, God bless her, I love her.

A ‘Natural And Ordinary’ Deed By A Special Mum.
Julie Jones, from Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire, won the Compassionate Mum prize for adopting five of her best friend’s orphaned children.
Since her friend Caroline Atkin died of a brain tumour two years ago, Ms Jones, a single mother, has raised the children – she is now their legal guardian – as well as caring for her own three sons and working a 40-hour week for the RAF.
She said her good deed was “natural and ordinary”.

A mother is someone who can take the place of all others.
But whose place no one else can take.

I wouldn’t change my children for the world.
But I wish I could change the world for my children

We talk so much about leaving a better world to our children.
Yet we don’t think about leaving better children to this world.

I think the best thing your parents can do for you is to let you be yourself.
( Jaime Winstone )

When you are young, your grandparents, and even your parents, try to tell you about their life and their history.
But at the time, probably because you were young, it didn’t interest you.
When you get older, you wish you had written down what they told you.

A fury of tests, targets, exams, and pressure on primary school kids.
Depriving them of carefree childhood years.
Schools are now graveyards for lost childhoods.

If I could go back I’d try to spend more time with my Dad.
I did spend a decent amount of time with him but he was out at work a lot.
( Barry McGuigan )