Stories from the news: Rent a mum!

Something new for 2016, "Stories from the news "— things I find in the newspaper which I think you might fine interesting or worth chatting about.  

Todays story is called "‘Need a Mom’ founder Nina Keneally offers New Yorkers maternal services for $55 an hour" 

AN AMERICAN woman has launched a ‘rent-a-mum’ business to provide a ‘maternal touch’ to the lives of those who need it most — as long as they have the cash to pay for it.  She is available to rent — for about US$40 ($55) per hour dependent on the services — and offers motherly advice on everything from work-related matters and personal relationships to maintaining a home. 

“Some people just want some conversation, some feedback about what’s going on in their life,” Ms Keneally told People. “Some of them have lost their parents or are estranged from their parents. “I’ve been asked to help iron and clean out closets. “One mother called me because her daughter had surgery and she wants me to look in on her to make sure everything is progressing well.”

She lists her services to include ironing, laundry, baking and she’ll even watch movies with you “and bring the popcorn” and edit documents. (source)

There is a number of reasons why Nina Keneally is in demand — family structures and communities have changed and we no longer have the support groups that we once did.  Family breakdowns, smaller families and families that are spread out around the globe means that there is often not that "motherly" figure in peoples lives any more. Or our own mothers are just too busy doing other things that they don't have time to do their real job of being a mother. I was perplexed that a mother hired Nina to check in on her daughter in hospital — why wasn't she doing it herself — it seems odd that you would pay someone to do this, unless the mother was in another state perhaps. I find it sad that there are some people who need to pay for this sort of service and don't have older friends or family members to reach out too. But the fact is, we live in a society of out-sourcing and this is simply another form of out-sourcing. 

One of her clients, 34-year-old Natalie Chan, told the New York Post she paid Ms Keneally $US40 for coffee and counselling sessions after their Thursday yoga class each week.

“All the friends and people around me are the same age, and shrinks are just kinda impersonal,” she said. “She doesn’t judge. She just kinda, like, smiles and says, ‘Stop doing that.’ She’ll never say, ‘You’re stupid.’”

This is why the bible talks about the importances and necessarily of older wiser women in Titus chapter 2. 

The older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

Younger women need older women (they did back in biblical times and they still do today) — to provide advice and guidance, to set an example of how to live,  a shoulder to cry on, to give out hugs, to wipe away the tears, to share the laughter and joy and to keep the younger women on the right path. Older women have already experienced much in their lives — the early days of marriage, difficult husbands, financial problems, setting up a new home, babies, teenagers and all the other struggles that women face ... and through their journey have gathered bucketloads of knowledge and wisdom which many are more than happy to share with younger women (if younger women are willing to listen).  

As the younger woman in the quote above says, all her friends are the same age so she has no one to ask advice from — that is why we all need an older, wiser woman in our lives. Sadly they are in very short supply which is why a woman like Nina has been able to create a job as a "mum" which is rather sad as older women have always played an important role in society until recently. 

Without these older women, those motherly figures in our lives, younger women will struggle. We need older women to step up and take on the role given to them then no one would need to pay for a service like Nina's.