Apparently, Elizabeth Banks who is an actress in the Hunger Games (I admit I haven't seen this film and I don't really have any idea who Elizabeth Banks is) thinks that she is only officially a mom now she has two children. What was she doing before that - just pretending?
In an interview with People Banks said:
“Two is very different from one. When you have one kid, you feel like you can jet set around and you can throw him on the hip and you get your life done. You don’t realise how easy one is until you have two. Now I’m really a mom. Oh, I am a mom now! This is for serious — I am responsible for two people now.”
Now like Julie Ryan Evans who wrote the post on The Stir, I'm sure that Banks' life has changed since having her second child and she is probably right that it is easier to do things with just one, but suggesting that you aren't a real mom until you have more than one child is just insulting.
I have an only child by choice, but many people don't. For some women there is only one chance and that is that even if they would like more children and no matter how many times they try. To suggest that they aren't real moms is a terrible thing. Maybe the quote was taken out of context, maybe it wasn't and I'm sure Banks probably didn't mean to offend, but I wish people and celebrities in particular would sometimes think before they open their mouths.
Banks did little to redeem herself later in the interview when she decided to talk about how difficult it was to survive looking after her children without a nanny - for 10 days! I was about to give her some credit back or doing it herself until I realised it was just over the holiday period. Oh for the life of a Hollywood starlet!
I'm going to take a deep breath and let it go now but I'd be interested to know what you think. Did your feelings about being a mom change when you had a second child? As a mother of just one do you feel like a real mom?
Liked This? Try These:
- How It All Began - The Power of 3
- Hunger Games Star Angers Parents - Huffington Post
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ChristinaJcurtin · 644 weeks ago
thefreelanceelf 14p · 644 weeks ago
I'm pretty sure Banks didn't actually mean to offend anyone, but it reminds me that if you are putting comments in the public domain you really should think the through, especially if you are a celebrity and lots of people might be listening.
Enjoy being a mom! The stage you are entering with you son is one of the ones I found most rewarding and entertaining with my boy because it was a stage of such rapid development.
Sandy · 644 weeks ago
I am also the parent of an only child, by choice, and I feel plenty motherly. If I had more than one, I'd be stark raving mad, but that doesn't imply that I think all mothers of multiple children are crazy. (Ooops, wait, I secretly do.)
thefreelanceelf 14p · 644 weeks ago
Glad to hear from another parent of an only child by choice. I'd go mad with more than one child too. I don't think mothers of multiple children are crazy either (or maybe I secretly do too!).
pmoppins 42p · 643 weeks ago
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thefreelanceelf 14p · 643 weeks ago
Natasha · 643 weeks ago
Dina · 643 weeks ago
Personally I'm a little insulted but not too much. I'm taking it with a grain of salt, because Ms. Banks lives a lifestyle I would never choose even if my husband became a famous musician. I'd still choose to raise my son without the help of a nanny!
It is shocking to me that she would say it's easy to even raise one child. I am married and even with just our one little boy it can be the toughest days in the world. I'd never say I can just strap my son on my hip and go where ever I please. I have to plan well in advance to get anywhere with attributes to why I'm constantly running behind all the time.
I do not feel less a mother because I have only one child right now. I don't think the comment was taken out of context. I think she just didn't think about what she was saying. I knew I was a Mother the second I heard that high pitched scream and was wheeled down to the NICU to see my son for the first time.
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Myra · 643 weeks ago
Being a parent definetly has it's challenges whether you have one child or ten, you have support or lack support. I have worked as a nanny for a few different families in the past. All different, all with their own challenges. Every parent's experience is different and that's what we (even the starlites) need to remember. No one is any less or more of a parent because of the amount of children they have.