Moncton — Being a parent is difficult. The meals, the laundry, the homework, the constant nagging and whining about everything can be exhausting. One New Brunswick mother of three, though, isn’t content with being forced to follow the typical rules of society, and is now identifying as not having children at all.
“That’s only who I was in the past,” she told our reporter. “But I never really identified as a mother, you know? And with the way the world is today, I don’t have to live by the constraints of what society thinks I am or assumes of me. I’m free to be who I identify as — and that’s not having any kids.”
Gabriella Manchester has been living with the children she gave birth to — she asked that we not refer to them as her children — for for the last nine years and says that she’s lost the person she once was.
“I used to be free, I used to be happy,” she continued while looking at apartments for rent on Kijiji. “Having those children around me constantly made me feel trapped. I never had any privacy or alone time. It was always about them and that’s not what I signed up for. I just wanted to have sex — I had no idea it could turn into this.”
Manchester’s husband doesn’t know what to think of his wife’s recent transition and is trying his best to be supportive.
“I think she’s still identifying as my wife,” he said with a tone of uncertainty. “I guess I didn’t realize it was this bad…she seemed pretty normal to me. We had great family vacations, went to all of the Pixar movies together, ate dinner together and we even have family game night every Saturday evening — I don’t know what else she wants.”
Our reporter asked Manchester what she’s looking forward to the most in her new life, post motherhood.
“I’m excited for so many things: not spending my nights watching stupid Netflix shows, staying up past 9:30 on a weeknight, sleeping past 6 a.m., not having to do French homework. But mostly, I’m excited to be able to not have to pretend to care about every little thing those little people say — that is so soul-wrenching.”
When asked if they are afraid about a future without a mother, one of the three children said they’d “probably be fine because mommy mostly just drank wine and cried all the time anyway. And she said we could still be friends.”