“Everything goes a little deeper with me,” I responded ambiguously.

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Sylvia (40) is single mother of Kerwin (9).

“I threw a glass of wine over my laptop and most of the keys stopped working. The repairman reluctantly accepted the ‘single mother discount’ that I negotiated, but added: ‘It may be that after the chemical cleaning things turn out to be more damaged and I have to replace the keyboard.’ ‘The story of my life‘, I responded ambiguously, ‘everything goes a little deeper with me.’ He then sent me out of the store and I received a bill for three hundred euros. Without a discount, single or not.”

There lies the limit

Romy (37) lives together and is the mother of Sepp (6) and Merel (2).

“My first glass of wine with a friend after breastfeeding was a bit heavier than usual. With eight-month-old Blackbird in the baby carrier, I let myself lean in as the waiter – of a respectable age but apparently no less interested in us young mothers – gave us a third drink and offered us that round of the house with a wink.

“’That’s a soft landing’, I grinned”

By the time our men were to pick us up, I parked Merel on my girlfriend’s lap, reported in a tipsy state that I was going to pay in advance and collided head-on with our waiter. He caught me understandingly. “That’s a soft landing,” I grinned, “I might as well have kissed the ground instead of you.” “Always happy to serve,” the waiter replied, “but I draw the line at a hug.” My husband still doesn’t understand why I tipped a tenner.”

Also read – ‘I thought I had sjans, so I didn’t’ >

Brain fog

Lesley (39) lives together and is the mother of Gijs (7), Jacob (4) and Lode (1).

“I rely on brain fog, I had only given birth about eight weeks. But it was embarrassing when I was sure that the mechanic was flirtingly giving me a discount on the overhaul of my very old car, and I – wink, wink – quasi-modestly declined.

‘Don’t be silly, and I’m already a mother,’ I emphasized. “Make it 850, really.” The mechanic looked at me with a grin. ‘No ma’am, I charge 935 euros’, he cut off my most graceful laugh. The madman, I thought. He also understood that a mother who had just given birth most likely had a partner?

“The madman, I thought”

Only then did the penny drop. Instead of tipping him $15, I was inadvertently haggling $85 with my hormonal head. With the blush of shame on my cheeks, I pinned the requested amount. Recently I had to go there again for a small repair. “Forty euros,” my mechanic asked. No discount, no tip. I counted it especially for you.’ I put the radiant wink he gave me in my pocket.”

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