Being Modern: Mumpreneurs

Susie Mesure

It's every new parent's wet dream: coming up with the next pointless can't-live-without baby gadget or money-spinning scheme. That useless piece of digital detritus – yes, Gro-egg room temperature monitor, I mean you! – or superfluous stork-printed sling could be their meal ticket to a lifetime of maternity leave. So goes the thought process in the remaining brain cells in your average sleep-deprived mother. And I should know, because I've been one. Hell, I am one.

If you're really lucky, you'll wind up joining the mumpreneurs, the new shorthand for the ranks of enterprising baby incubators-cum-stay-at-home-money-makers that have been a singular feature of the recession.

Sometimes, you'd think that the best thing about being a new mum is all the endless free time you have to sit around devising ways to make that first million. As opposed to when you're actually, you know, working. It couldn't be easier, apparently. How else to explain the legions of mumpreneurs churning out such must-haves as the BuggyTug, "a strap that attaches to your wrist and your buggy handle, so that the two never become separated"; or the Mamascarf, a wrap that lets you nurse your baby discreetly. Not to be confused with an actual scarf, which does the same job at no extra cost, of course.

If I sound as though I'm mocking, perish the thought. I'm just jealous that my own musings haven't merited membership of mumsclub.co.uk – "the number one community site for mums in business since 2007" (What? Mums didn't need business support before then?) – or even mumpreneuruk.com. I refuse to believe it's because the world doesn't need another ergonomic baby carrier. After all, I own at least five. Or is it six?

What the world does need are women who can juggle work and home life, without feeling they need a special tag to justify what they're doing. Even better, it needs men who can do this as well. Just let's not call them dadpreneurs, OK?