Empty Nest Mummy

As regular readers will know, I’ve recently become an Empty Nest Mummy. Well, the nest is empty from 9 until 3.30, Monday to Friday. Yep, my littlest one started at Big School a few months ago. A big change like this is bringing about big changes with me, including starting this blog. And it has changed my choice of bag. And what’s inside my bag.

With a little one, or a little one and slightly bigger one, in tow, I have gone through a number of bag options in the last few years. What unites them all is their load capacity. When you have kids with you all day, you need to be prepared for all sorts of eventualities. So you need a bag with plenty of room inside.

Generally, in the Little Kids At Home Era, I carried tote bags. A Reader’s Digest article online entitled ‘What Your Handbag Says About Your Personality’, said tote-carriers are goal-setters with a strong sense of initiative. We have”a lot to juggle in life and the tote fits just about everything ….to help accomplish your goals”.

…or perhaps, dear Reader’s Digest, just a few small kids to juggle and the tote fits all manner of crap. Just a thought.

Things you could find in my large tote bag as Mummy to Little Kids

• nappies
• spare pants
• spare clothes
• wipes
• a travel potty
• sippy cup
• a selection of fruits for snacks
• some half-eaten snacks in varying stages of decay
• some hair clips
• a few conkers
• a few furry, decaying conkers
• a selection of stones
• bit of sticks
• leaves of the season
• pine cones
• chestnuts
• some shells
• kids lotions/potions/bottom creams
• a couple of kids books
• some figurines
• a doll
• a soft toy
• a coat-stand

OK, so I made the last one up. Partly to see if you were concentrating. And partly because I often felt like Mary Poppins, rummaging deep into a cavernous bag. Who knows what might come out next!

The nest is empty and Mummy needs a new bag

Fast-forward a few years to my new-found Empty Nest, and I have ditched the big tote bags in favour of a small, cross-body one.

And it’s mine. All mine.

I ain’t carrying anybody else’s stuff. Goodbye* kids; hello me! (*from 9 to 3.30, Monday to Friday)

So, what does The Readers’ Digest make of my new bag?

Apparently, my “fun-ctional” cross-body bag, big enough just to carry the essentials, says ‘less is more’. According to the article, I’m “not weighed down” (by nappies, spare clothes, snacks and other toddler detritus).

So, let’s have a look at the essentials of an Empty Nest Mummy.

A rummage through the inside of the (small) bag of an Empty Nest Mummy

First off, it doesn’t take nearly as long to fish around inside my new, compact bag.

And its contents reveal a lot about the changes to my life since Littlest Angel joined Big Boy at school in September.

So, have a rummage, take a look, a peek into the life of a stay-at-home mummy with no kids all day.

• A small notebook
• A mechanical pencil
• A purse
• A packet of tissues
• Some handcream
• Carmex lip cream
• A Modigliani guide
• A bag containing 15 x old £1 coins
• A small one-eyed yellow Easter chick
• A tiny bouncy ball

You’ll see a much smaller quantity of things. And they’re mine. All mine.

(…well, apart from the small one-eyed yellow Easter chick and the tiny bouncy ball)

I hope, dear readers of very small children, that this will give you some hope. Hope that there is a future. A future beyond cavernous Mary-Poppins bags, filled with infant-related crud of all sizes, shapes and hues. And hope that, one day, you too will become just you again. Just you with a small, but perfectly formed, bag. A bag full of stuff just for you.

(Please note that, at pick-up time, you’ll be wishing for a large bag as you will have excess clothing, book bags, PE bags and a selection of construction crafts dumped on you at the school gates. But you can enjoy being you, just you, with your teeny little compact bag from 9 to 3.30, Monday to Friday)

(Anyone want to buy 15 x old £1 coins from me? They might be worth something one day)