Welcome to Mother, Loading

Didn't realise parenting would be so hard? Don't worry, we've got you.

“How the hell do you parent a toddler when you both have norovirus?” Jess asked me over text one day. “There should be instructions for this! How do we survive?”

The best suggestion I could give her was “Bluey”.

Somehow they did survive (mums are amazing), but the predicament highlighted to both of us that there was a gap in the market for more practical content directed at mums of young kids who feel like they have absolutely no idea what they’re doing (so, all of us, then). Don’t get me wrong, there are loads of wonderful writers out there discussing motherhood; we are blessed by the content Gods that a cultural shift has occurred over the past few years, lifting the veil of secrecy around the real experiences of mums and allowing us all to be more truthful about the really tough stuff. But we also want articles and posts that appear in our inbox like a Whatsapp from a trusted mum friend telling you that one trick that made her kid stop crying in the car (that won’t work for yours, obvs).

And so together—Jess Commons, longtime lifestyle journalist and editor of major titles like Refinery29, The Debrief and Woo, and Rose Stokes, Metro columnist and freelance writer for a wide array of publications, such as Vice, Women’s Health, The Economist and The Guardian—we decided to start Mother, Loading.

As the title suggests, this newsletter is for anyone who feels like the software update they were expecting to receive upon having a child is still very much loading—months and years after the fact. And who, at the same time, is suffocating under The motherlode of expectations, stresses and daily challenges that parenting small humans throws up. Get it? Cool.

We want this to become a space to find content that speaks to the thoughts you have at 3am when your kid won’t go back to sleep, and to create a safe community for us all to feel held in this mad, transitional, sometimes frustrating but often bloody lovely phase of life. We’ll try to make you laugh, maybe cry, but mostly feel like everything you’re feeling is completely normal and that you’re never alone. 

So welcome to Mother, Loading. Please do subscribe and share this among your pals who might need it. We are so looking forward to landing in your inboxes each week with interesting features, fun content, practical ideas and actually helpful accounts to follow (that don’t make you feel like a crap mum). 

So please hit that subscribe button, and we’ll see you soon!