Mum, the first word and the last

The first word

One day, a baby puts two syllables together: “ma-ma”. In many languages, the word for mother sounds like it: maman, mamma, mamá, mum. It is one of the first sounds a child’s mouth can make, and the child turns it towards her.

For a newborn, the world holds only a few things: a voice, a scent, a pair of arms. Before knowing who they are, a baby knows who comes when they cry.

The last word

They say “mum” is often the last word too. At the moment of leaving, many call for their mother, whatever their age.

What do we think of at that moment? We don’t think of a title, a salary or a promotion. We think of what made us small and safe. A short poem, shared thousands of times, puts it this way: we hope that dying is like those childhood nights when we fell asleep in the back of the car and someone carried us to bed.

A whole life fits between two “mums”.

In between, the job nobody counts

Between these two words lies the most beautiful job in the world, and the most demanding. Everyone knows it. And yet our times count it for so little.

This job has no salary. It appears on no CV. It has no hours and no holidays. A mother who has spent ten years raising her children gets asked at a dinner party, “And what do you do?”, as if she had done nothing. One who goes back to work often has to apologise for those years, or keep quiet about them.

We measure what gets paid, and what is given goes unseen. Sleepless nights, homework, doctor’s appointments, birthdays, the shopping list kept in her head: all of it keeps a family running, and none of it counts anywhere.

Not at Soft Paris

At Soft Paris, we recognise it. A mum learns to listen, to reassure, to organise, to build confidence and to take care of others. That is exactly what an advisor does.

Our work never comes before your children. It fits your pace, around your family: more some months, less others. It is a party one evening at a friend’s, or a Love Coaching on the phone when the house is quiet.

And each time, you do what you already do so well: help a woman feel good.

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Depuis 2006, Soft Paris est la Maison du Féminin Sacré.