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May 14, 2006
Happy Mother's Day 2006
Note: This is a reprint of my post of 2005. I'd like to revist the questions I ask at the conclusion. I do believe many women today are conflicted about being mothers and what that entails and what it should entail. Are we still stuck in "The Mommy Wars"? It might just be a factor behind such alarming news of falling birthrates in places like Germany.
It's a job that is celebrated and denigrated. It's a life choice venerated for its importance while its practioners are the butt of jokes.
It's the strange cultural schizophrenia of our time that demands mothers uphold strict ideals to raise healthy children and tells women if they are stay-at-home moms they are "cheating" themselves of being full human beings by not having a career outside of the home.
And all of this plays on the psyche of the woman who stands in the bathroom holding up a little tube with a window with a plus sign.
Mothers, moms, mommies. Planned, adopted or oopsey, when that first child comes into our lives, the world changes.
Forever.
What do I wish this Mother's Day? After all the cards, flowers, brunches, long distance phone calls and visits the children of all ages make to their moms, grandmas and nanas? I want it to last more than a day. I want women to try and come to grips with how they want motherhood to be viewed the other 364 days of the year.
It is the most important life choice a woman can make. Another human being's fate is in our hands. I remember when I got pregnant for the first time, I was scared and thrilled. I went diligently to the doctor, watched what I ate and couldn't wait to get into maternity clothes. However, it was when we took that tiny little being, Jennifer, home after three days and laid her in her crib and hovered over her, making sure she was breathing, that it hit me. I almost couldn't breathe with the realization that Jennifer was a little person completely separate from me and completely dependent on me. Food? She needed me. She couldn't anymore than lay in her crib and wave her arms and legs without me. And the fearsome, intense love I felt for this tiny being was overwhelming.
And as the years have rolled by, even after she has grown and moved from home, it doesn't end.
Indeed, it has expanded with the arrival of my grandsons. Though, I confess I'm enjoying a more relaxed relationship with them because I can play with them, spoil them a little, then send them home!
So sisters, where do you see the Career of Mom going over the next generation? There are a lot of women, women who spent years of education and career building that have decided to stay home full-time with their young children. Are such women doing the right thing? What should we teach our daughters and sons about motherhood and fatherhood? What values do we want see acknowleged and supported in the public square?
More than just a celebration of mothers, let today be one of open discussion about where we are and where we want to go in our American culture.
Technorati: Mothers Day, Mommy Wars,
Posted by Darleen at May 14, 2006 08:04 AM
Comments
Happy Mother's Day!
Posted by: Mieke at May 14, 2006 11:40 AM
A totally awesome post. I do think the Marxist project poisoned the well.
Posted by: Sissy Willis at May 16, 2006 02:53 PM
Also, why is it that the left is fine with single women staying home and getting welfare, but not with married women staying home and living on their husbands' salaries?
Posted by: Marian at May 19, 2006 08:04 AM