‘For the first time in my life, I’m being regularly prompted to think seriously about the prospect of me as a mother’

Dr Belle Tindall unpacks our society’s confused response to motherhood

I’ve been thinking about motherhood a lot recently. Not necessarily the reality of it, more the institution, you know? The idea, the concept, the identity-marker. 

I think the reason that it’s been occupying so much brain-space is twofold. Firstly, I’m getting married in two months, which means that I get asked about becoming a mum a lot. It tends to be the second or third question that comes my way, straight after an enquiry about how the wedding planning’s going and where we’re off on honeymoon.