Like my Mum used to say: "Mother and Father are doing words", they are not merely nouns. It's simple to become a Mother and there's nothing magical or holy about it. It's a biological given - one just has to fail to bother with contraception. And that's just about as much 'Mothering' as a whole segment of society seems to achieve now.

Please don't preach at me either, I grew up in a single parent family with my Mum in areas where this style of 'Mothering' was the norm. And I still have family who live around the results of it every day. The kids are dumped outside and crave love and affection, but their *stay at home* Mums are too busy gassing with their mates and smoking fags to give any kind of shit.

'Parenting' however is another matter (whatever the gender), and takes a much greater investment of energy. Whether the parent goes to work *or* stays at home.