The Death of the "Mom's Yearly Planner"

I was searching for my new 2014 Calendar a few days ago, and what was suppose to be a normal shopping goal triggered me into my feminist panic mode. Now you must all know that my yearly calendar is extremely important to me: it stands proud in the kitchen all year long, harboring our family's dates, important meetings, love notes, and so one. It is my second brain, and I enjoy filling days with sentences such as "Periods: buy tampax" or "Picking Daughter Up from Playdate 1 to bring her to Playdate 2". But I also write down other things, such as my work schedule, meetings, work lunches, names of books to buy, movies to watch, philosophical questions about life and death, and yes, non-children or reproductive health related information.

I found myself in the Calendar isle at a big bookstore, happy to notice what seemed to be a huge variety of calendars. Also, the big sign saying "Buy one, get second free" warmed my heart (even though there is only the ONE kitchen calendar in my life). Once i started looking, all i could find was calendars with puppies, cats, pinups or cars. Seriously. Puppies, cats, pinups and cars. Having spend 2013 with a Gender Activist Calendar, one can understand my disappointment. I then turned my attention to the organizers. Whereas my calendar is my second brain at home, my organizer is,well, my one and only brain the rest of time. I write everything in it. It is my bible (so much, that you can still find in my belongings organizers from the 20th century... yes). Once i started looking at those, all i could find was either PINK or... PINK. If you are a man in this time and age, you get a beautiful dark leather organizer (they were hidden on another isle, you know, the men isle), but all I had in front of me was pink. Then, my eyes fell on IT: MOM's PLANNER.

Now, don't get me wrong. Being a mom is HARD WORD. You need to be organized. Since I've had my kids, I have excelled the art of making lists. I write stuff down everywhere: kitchen roll, toilet paper, you name it. But the MOM's PLANNER isn't for real MOMs. It's for the FANTASY MOM whose existence' society still hopes it can protect and nurture. You know, the MOM who has 4 goals in life: household organizing, cooking (and by cooking i mean creating her own recipes and all), holiday planning and children ass-cleaning (they didn't put it quite that way but it's what it meant). In this organizer, there was room for only these 4 things. I looked through this book of evil and couldn't help but feel sad and defeated. Where was my PLANNER? The one that had blank pages where i could write whatever the F* I wanted, from recipes to car repair notes to the name of the newest japanese porn movie everybody is talking about? Why did my planner have to have big titles remembering me that all I had to do in my life was cook, clean, plan holidays and pick up my kids? Where is the PLANNER for amazing multi-tasking mums who work, cook, go out, volunteer, write blogs, plan holidays, plan drinking parties... or else, where was the SUPERDAD organizer without the pink themed pages?

I had a friend over today and we decided we would plan the perfect planner for next year. The one that allows you to not feel you are living in boxes. The one that doesn't simply define you by one aspect of your life.

In the end, I opted for a Victorian style kitchen calendar (to my 4 year old daughter's greatest delight) and well, yes.... my 2014 organizer is PINK.