The working mum guilt tax
As I went through my emails on the train to London on Friday, one sent a wave of panic through me:
Cake Sale on Friday!
Evening All,
I hope that you have had a relaxing week away from school! Need to set the alarm for the morning – argh! Just to remind everyone that it is our cake sale on Friday, so any donations of your lovely home baking and any help for the frenzied sale would be fantastic!!!
Thanks
Mrs H
What fabulous timing. I had back-to-back meetings set for the day, with just enough time to arrive back at the school gate and pick up the girls. There was no way I could fit in baking a few cakes.
I made it back to the train station with seven minutes to spare and rushed into M&S and grabbed the first thing I could see resembling cakes: three packages of posh chocolate flapjacks. I also got two margarita pizzas for dinner and a Spanish tapas salad for lunch.
I looked up and was surpised to see another mum from school. We both started at each other, in that out of context sort of way. She mouthed "We'll talk on the train" as she grabbed some pink fairy cakes and took off for the till.
It wasn't until I tucked into my tapas salad on the train (it was a bit smelly, apologies to those near me) that I realised the economics of my purchase. The flapjacks cost £6 and the PTA would sell for them 25p each, netting a £4 loss.
Oh well, I guess that is the working mum guilt tax.
Tracey | 6th Jul 11
You are doing the tax thingy for the cause. You have gotta make the sacrifices for the PTA. At least you donated, lots of parents do nada!
Tracey
abby | 20th Jun 11
I literally lol on the bus to you last sentence. thanks. I am now the nutter on the bus, but totally worth it. thanks for making me smile.
MummyMummyMum | 19th Jun 11
I bet the people who bought the flapjacks were impressed though! I usually try to bake something then it all goes wrong and I have to buy something anyway! x
Home Office Mum | 17th Jun 11
I have a confession to make: I am one of those mothers who does actually bake, actually enjoys it and the things I bake are edible. What’s more I secretly relish it when my cakes are eaten first at the cake sale (obviously this doesn’t always happen which is why I relish it when it does). What can I say: I’m a cake whore.
Metropolitan Mum | 17th Jun 11
Learnings from this post and its comments so far: get a stepmother, stock up on Rioja, if you must, buy from Tesco not from M&S.
PS: What about snack-sized Smarties tubes? Would that be a step too far?
nappyvalleygirl | 16th Jun 11
I never bake either – the only times I have, it’s all gone horribly wrong anyway. Funnily enough the teachers here all really approve of bought cupcakes – they always ask where you got them and look really impressed.
Jennifer Howze | 16th Jun 11
I’ve given up even putting my hand up for baking. I’ll do that next decade…
Muddling Along | 15th Jun 11
That and the other tax from having to dry clean snot and other toddler stuff from your suits
Still better than having to try and shoehorn baking into an already crammed day
Jody Brettkelly | 15th Jun 11
Yes I’ve been in this position so many times – and I don’t even work!!! You could always do what the “I don’t know How she does it” heroine did – and hammer it up a bit to make it look home-made! Ha!
Rosie Scribble | 15th Jun 11
I work from home and have never once baked cakes for school. I have in fact bought them from Tesco. See? No need for you to feel guilty at all.
Lou | 15th Jun 11
Oh I aspire to be you, glam and on the train instead of trailing around in wellies, hunting eggs and trying to finish a novel before the suummer hols kick in and my brain falls out. Breathe.
I work at home and am therefore forced to bake. I have no excuse. Quite frankly my kids are embarrassed by some of the culinary efforts I insist they take to school and would LOVE me to buy posh stuff from M&S….. However I fear this would be a far greater net loss and consequently more guilt taxes as the nearest M&S is 25 miles away!
Pinchypants | 15th Jun 11
Ha! I think I’m going to have to do the same for the school summer fair next week – it’s the day before we go on holiday and I’ve already volunteered to man a stall, so there’s no way I’m going to have time to bake unless I do it at midnight. Do you know what, though, by the time you’ve bought butter, eggs, chocolate etc, homemade cakes don’t work out any cheaper than shop bought ones, so there’s no need to feel guilty!
working london mummy | 15th Jun 11
haha! working mother life heh?
I have learned even if I do make anything I must keep it simple. In my first attempt for a local event I enthusiastically made the most divine chocolate ganache cupcakes using green and blacks chocolate, double cream, gold dragees…. am sure they cost more to make (not even counting my time) than the 50p each they were sold at…!
Knackered Mother | 14th Jun 11
OK, don’t tell but last time I got this type of note I asked my stepmother to make something and paid her in wine. She’s a sucker for Rioja and makes a much better Victoria sponge than I ever could.