Questions, comments and ramblings on the term, the reality, the top of their game and social theories around the phenomenon.
Q: A yummy what?
A: A yummy mummy. That's a drop dead gorgeous, perfectly coiffed, toned, bronzed and glowing mum who fits back into her Prada LBD and Manolos within six weeks of giving birth.
Q: There'll be a lot of them about them, then, yeah?
A: Depends what paper you read. According to the glossy women's mags, especially that weekly one they sell in the UK all the actresses, pop stars, WAGs and however else they've achieved it female celebs are at it. They get their personal trainer, life coach and yoga guru to come up with the perfect way to shed weight. The au pair looks after the kids while she goes out to stock up on Alberta Ferretti frocks and Jimmy Choos so that later when she's out and about Hello! paparazzis can snap her and the newborn looking fit and well, if not better than she did before she got pregnant.
Q: Come on, then, name 'em.
A: Yes, yes, yes. Ok, so Victoria Beckham copped herself the top spot in this year's yummy mummy poll while last year's winner was Kate Winslet...
Q: Much more yummy if you ask me! But she's really quite curvy, not stick thin and anorexic looking like Posh?
A: It gets worse, Jordan came second last year. More realistically, Nigella Lawson, Gwyneth Paltrow and Madge got into the top ten. This year Britney got herself a top prize too, as top Slummy Mummy. Heh.
Q: So who decides who wins the prize?
A: It's organised by Avent, a baby food and product manufacturer in conjunction with kid's cancer charity, CLIC Sargent. Let's not pay too much attention to that, though, as Posh hardly meets the criteria they claim represents a yummy mummy
someone nurturing, hands-on, often seen out with the kid - and sexy - Avent spokesperson.
So, moving on... Other uses for the expression encompass the more general concept of a mother with enough money that she doesn't need to go out to work full time and is able to spend lots of time with her children. Active participants in their child's life and looking good with it is pretty much what we're talking about here.
It can be a slightly derogatory term, much like Nappy Valley, depending on context. Also worth a mention, while we're here, is the recent spate of articles suggesting that the yummy mummy phenomenon might put a brake on teenage pregnancies, which is reaching disastrous numbers in the UK.
Q: How so? If the celebs that young teenagers look up to are getting pregnant and making it look effortless, losing their pregnancy weight and looking groomed and gorgeous just weeks after the birth, well, you know, that's encouraging, isn't it?
A: I didn't say I agreed with the theory. But how it supposedly works is that young women realise they just don't have the dosh to have kids. Only the super rich get to have kids and still wear Gucci. The attraction of motherhood that's evolved over the past two decades, where a child is a must-have accessory, is giving way to a realisation that having a decent amount of money to fritter away on designer gear is vastly preferable to having to wear a Tesco's tracksuit, your roots showing, while you push a second-hand pram around a dodgy neighbourhood that you've downsized to and can still scarcely afford.
References and Resources:
http://www.yummymummy.org.uk/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=405718&in_page_id=1773
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/lookinggood/beauty/realvsyummy/
http://www.yummymummy.co.uk
http://www.yummymummy.net/