Our standards for motherhood are so high that many of us harbor intense, secret guilt for every harsh word we speak to our children, every negative thought that enters our minds.
I lost my mom to breast cancer, and then I lost my father three years later. I thought, ‘What am I waiting for?’ Motherhood has been the greatest gift of my life.
Literature gives us a window into other people’s experiences in other places, in other times, so I thought it would be really interesting to investigate how different people had written about motherhood, and childhood.
Even prior to marriage and motherhood, it’s always been about prioritising and focusing on what you can commit to. That’s been my approach to every aspect of my life, be it my relationships or my professional commitments.
My favorite thing about motherhood is the outpouring of love that is non-judgmental and beautiful. My daughter just makes me happy, and she motivates me to be a kid again.
Women have full equality with men before the Lord. By nature, the roles of women differ from those of men. This knowledge has come to us with the Restoration of the gospel in the fullness of times, with an acknowledgment that women are endowed with the great responsibilities of motherhood and nurturing.
I was divorced when my children were young, so I was a single mother for a while. It’s so hard to have to do every little thing yourself and be forced to navigate the rocky emotions of motherhood alone.
Becoming a mother has been the best thing ever for me. It’s become my life’s work. Not just parenting, but sharing information and encouraging other women to be receptive to the basic nature of motherhood.
I feel awful for women who are trying to raise kids on their own, with zero income and no fathers present – that’s single motherhood.
I’ve seen many female comics that a lot of people haven’t heard of who are so funny, and I saw them come up, and they were working so hard, and then all of a sudden they had a baby, and they just got tied up in motherhood, and eventually, they kind of just stopped doing stand-up, and I thought it was such a shame.
In Hindu societies, especially overprotected patriarchal families like mine, daughters are not at all desirable. They are trouble. And a mother who, as mine did, has three daughters, no sons, is supposed to go and hang herself, kill herself, because it is such an unlucky kind of motherhood to have.
Satan has declared war on motherhood. He knows that those who rock the cradle can rock his earthly empire. And he knows that without righteous mothers loving and leading the next generation, the Kingdom of God will fail.
I don’t understand why women journalists always ask women about motherhood? It’s far more important and interesting for women to talk about their work, their thoughts, their creativity and their individual identity.
Motherhood has brought me many joys and insights, but the new perspective it granted me on the role I had inadvertently played in young women’s lives for the 2 decades I spent in the modeling industry was downright sobering.
I didn’t wander into motherhood or nonmotherhood unconsciously, recklessly. I gave it due consideration.
One thing I know for sure – this motherhood thing is not for sissies.
I’ve always tried to control everything and every aspect of my life, and this is maybe the biggest lesson I’ve learnt with motherhood – you just can’t control everything, and I’m much more relaxed now about unexpected changes and things that happen.
Motherhood is the ultimate call to sacrifice.
A lot of women wrote to me. Some wrote me long letters on the meaning of the circle and about mythology and about motherhood and the significance or the symbolism of the mermaid and the frogs and the turtles.
I grew up with that completely fictive idea of motherhood, where the mother never strayed from the kitchen. All the women in my books are very afraid that if they do anything with their minds they won’t be complete women. I don’t think my daughters’ generation has that feeling.
Sonic Youth, for better or worse, is/was a machine that carried me along through pregnancy, motherhood, and creative opportunities I never would have achieved on my own. I’m grateful and surprised that we were listened to, loved, ignored, and overrated.
Motherhood is a dream. It really is absolutely amazing.
I don’t think ‘Motherhood’ is a map for women. I would never say that it’s a template for every woman in response to her biology.
I am consumed, or I have been consumed, with these issues of motherhood and the way we act out societal expectations and roles. So both my nonfiction and my fiction have been pretty much exclusively about that.
Motherhood may be a ‘killer’ when it comes to becoming a Master of the Universe, but among middle-class mothers, even after that touch of baby’s lips to bosom, a big and growing number find themselves able – and often required – to bring home the family bacon.
I am a perfect case study for the transition from no maternal instinct to the love of motherhood.
Motherhood is wonderful, but it’s also hard work. It’s the logistics more than anything. You discover you have reserves of energy you didn’t know you had.
I just love motherhood.
Motherhood hasn’t changed me much but the only difference I feel is that I have become more patient.
One of the things that I share with most of the women in my circle is the gift of motherhood.
You know, motherhood is my favourite topic in my personal life and I won’t shut up about it, but it’s not something I want to discuss publicly just because of the amount of attention it draws to a small person who didn’t choose to be exposed.
I think that Sappho expresses the orphaned part of ourselves. The orphaned part of ourselves that reaches out to passion for completion. That reaches out to motherhood for completion.
I have no maternal instinct whatsoever. Motherhood holds no interest for me.
Is there nothing the prodigiously talented Ann Patchett can’t do? She’s channeled the world of opera, Boston politics, magic, unwed motherhood, and race relations, creating scenarios so indelible, you swear they are right outside your door.
A miracle is really the only way to describe motherhood and giving birth. It’s unbelievable how God has made us women and babies to endure and be able to do so much. A miracle, indeed. Such an incredible blessing.
Motherhood is filled with magical little moments that bring you immense joy.
Motherhood is the only thing in my life that I’ve really known for sure is something I wanted to do.
I love babies. I also have this very deep desire to become a mother. I always thought that motherhood was my highest calling.
I’m somebody who, if I went to the grocery store, and one of them wasn’t with me, I would feel guilty. I would be like, ‘I shouldn’t be doing anything without them, anytime, ever.’ A very codependent way of thinking. Also, motherhood is hugely about guilt.
Take motherhood: nobody ever thought of putting it on a moral pedestal until some brash feminists pointed out, about a century ago, that the pay is lousy and the career ladder nonexistent.
I believe that women should live for love, for motherhood and for intellect, and I believe we shouldn’t have to choose. And I believe that’s always been difficult for women, to express themselves intellectually, maternally, and passionately.
Motherhood to me is something that I always wanted, but never quite knew how it was going to happen.
Motherhood was the first instance in my life where I was asked to sacrifice anything for anyone.
Passion has always been important to me. That won’t change. What changes in a woman’s perspective. I mean, I have two kids now. I’m a single parent balancing motherhood and my career. That changes the equation.
I have made a choice to fully enjoy my kids and this particular season of my life. It’s a very conscious, powerful decision. In some ways, it takes more guts to buck the financial rewards and adulation that come from a professional career to pursue something so culturally undervalued as at-home motherhood.
Of course a woman who decides to work full time as a mother in the home can be happy and deserves full respect from us. Motherhood is one of the most challenging and creative jobs anyone can do. The goal is to remake the world so that our choices are not so stark.
Motherhood is the greatest thing and the hardest thing.
I had a career and I came to motherhood late and am not married and have never had such a trusting relationship with a man – and trust is where the real power of love comes from.
Beguiling voices in the world cry out for ‘alternative lifestyles’ for women. They maintain that some women are better suited for careers than for marriage and motherhood.
So much of my own life inspires what I write. Whether it’s work, family, friends, motherhood, I am a writer who tends to write what she knows. In ‘Revenge Wears Prada,’ a great deal of my own life finds its way into the book.
Motherhood changed me because it is so fundamental what you’re doing for another person. And you are able to do even though it takes a lot.
And (cue music swell) motherhood turned out to be the most meaningful thing I’ve ever done with my life. Really.
I never really wanted kids. I didn’t not want them, but motherhood just wasn’t something that pulled at me.
