Released On 09 November 2026
Linda's blog: The Great Leveller
"How even a “big cheese” is just another parent on the touchline."
My daughter has now reached the age where she can no longer play in a mixed rugby team and due to limited numbers of girls, she and the other girls have had to join a new club. As a result, both she and I are trying to get to know everyone and integrate.
Whereas the girls have been unreservedly friendly and welcoming, the parental reaction has been more varied, A few weeks in to the new season, I was still valiantly trying to learn children's and parents' names and linking the two. Not always straightforward given a child might be brought to training one week by their mother, the next by their father, and then by an older sibling, a step parent or grandparent, I have found myself feeling a little frazzled by the end of a training session, my little grey cells as exhausted from the mental workout as my daughter's body is from the physical game.
Last weekend, as I stood at the side of the pitch, I introduced myself to one of the mums I had seen on a number of occasions but never spoken to. I said hi, provided the standard parental introduction: "I'm Linda, Charlotte's mum" and waited for her to reciprocate. Unfortunately she simply nodded, said hello and proceeded to talk in general terms about how much she had on. It was clear that she assumed I knew who she was.
I didn't have a chance to ask another parent, so that evening I scrolled through the WhatsApp group trying to find her name. I was grateful to find her photo which led me to LinkedIn where I immediately discovered she is what can only be described as a "Big Cheese". Whilst not a household name in my house, her public profile is such that she had good reason to think that I would recognise her. I felt both rather silly and embarrassingly ignorant.
That evening, I happened to speak to both my sisters and I recounted my experience. The first simply guffawed at my naivety. But the second exclaimed in outrage on my behalf. She said that I should not feel stupid, because the other mother lacked basic manners by failing to introduce herself. Besides, my sister pointed out, whatever high-profile events and impressive achievements feature in this woman's public profile, on a Sunday morning she is still just another parent who had, no doubt, been searching for the right kit before leaving the house. She had probably shouted at her children to hurry up. She had almost certainly issued an ultimatum and said if anyone had forgotten something she was not going to turn around. And she would have returned home with a mountain of muddy clothes to be washed, a meal to prepare and a very long to-do list.
This thought cheered me enormously. Because however accomplished someone appears to be in their professional life, when not at work, none of that matters because we're all just doing our best as parents and the only names that matter are "mum" and "dad".
Linda is a lawyer who has two children aged 10 and 13. She and her husband work full time and juggle the school run and everything else between them.
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