I’m too old to be a mummyblogger. I could be a grannyblogger, but I don’t have grandkids.

Perhaps I could pretend I do, or live vicariously through my many friends who have numerous grandkids. Though I’m not sure, judging by the amount of work and time my friends spend with their grandkids, that I want that either.

A couple of my friends, who by the way are younger than I, spend an extraordinary amount of time caring for their grandkids. But what would I write about if I were a grannyblogger? Well, surely one of the big pluses is being able to hand the kids back at the end of the day.

As parents, we know that babies cry, and mothers walk the floor at 3am, or these days drive round the block in the 4WD at 3am. So having the grandkids from 8am – 5pm doesn’t seem so bad if you can sit down with glass of red at 7pm. You can even take a second glass of red and a book to bed! That’s got to be bliss as far as parenting is concerned.

A couple of years ago a colleague of mine (again younger than I) resigned when her first grandchild was born as she wanted to help her daughter and work would get in the way. Am I missing something?

We all lived through the 70s and 80s. We all ripped of our bras (well we women did) and proclaimed independence by wearing jackets with enormous shoulder pads, and having big hairstyles. We almost cracked the glass ceiling, and marched to reclaim the night—at least I think that what it was.

So now, when we’re older and back in support bras, are we giving up what we fought for and becoming second mothers, or are we encouraging our children to build their career while having children themselves? Something we found almost impossible to do, and certainly something our children couldn’t do without our assistance. The cost of childcare being what it is, and depending on the number of hours a young mother works, some womens’ weekly salary could easily disappear into carer costs.

I returned to work when my children were six and three respectively. Frankly, being at home was doing my head in, and childcare wasn’t the exorbitant cost it is today. I didn’t have parents to turn to, but I did have an excellent day carer for my youngest child, and we still keep in touch to this day.

Perhaps it’s all too much and I’ll forgo the grannyblogging, and go with petblogging instead.