What Mothers Do: especially when it looks like nothing

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They’re the ones who brought us into this world and they’re the ones who are going to see us through all the unforgiving calamities that life has to throw at us.

What Mothers Do: Especially When It Looks Like Nothing What Mothers Do: Especially When It Looks Like Nothing

To the sneaky skill of playing Candyland and hiding that card where you have to go back to the beginning. She brags about how little Timmy always gets straight As and how her darling Stacy is the prettiest little girl in town. Good mothers breastfeed—for six days, six weeks, six months, or six years—because they know it’s “best,” because it’s natural, because they have support, because it works, because they made it work, because it’s easier, because it’s really nobody’s business why.

And deep down moms know that they’re doing something right – setting limits – and that someday those kids will remember that mom fought for them. This 'making sense' of foreign and at times frightening experiences is, for many, far more empowering than yet another list of things we should be doing (and invariably end up failing to do, because our babies never read the same books as us). They’ll always be there to nurse our wounds and carry us until we’re strong enough to be on our own again.

Things Good Mothers Do | Motherhood and More Things Good Mothers Do | Motherhood and More

In this unique and perceptive look at mothering, Naomi Stadlen draws on many years’ work with hundreds of other mothers of a wide variety of ages and backgrounds. She develops the capacity to accept her children exactly as they are; because contrary to being alien to her, they belong to her, they’re the fruit of her womb. Like that day when she had to take no-pay leave so she could take you to the doctor or attend your graduation. She might teach her daughters and sons that a woman derives value from her body and her ability to please men sexually.

instead the book is all about the things mothers do that frequently do not even have an adequate vocabulary to describe them.

What Mothers Do: especially when it looks like nothing by What Mothers Do: especially when it looks like nothing by

It knows no law, no pity, it dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path. It takes you an hour to walk around the block as you are explaining drains, sewers and fire hydrants. One of the most prevalent mothering styles, me-firsts are unable to view their children as separate individuals and tend to be self-absorbed and insecure. But no, it’s all been done by a mother–the same one who turns off the light at bedtime and who welcomes you first thing the next morning with breakfast on the table.The word economy comes from the Greek “oikos” which means household and from “nomos”, administration. It's not a how-to book at all, but an observation of what we're already doing, much of which doesn't have language associated with it yet. He grows and gets mobile, you worry about him jamming forks into electric outlets, putting god-awful things into his mouth, and knocking over furniture onto himself.

What Mothers Do: especially when it looks like nothing What Mothers Do: especially when it looks like nothing

This can leave her feeling belittled or embarrassed instead of feeling proud that she has taken such care over something that she notices affects her baby.

the book wraps up with chapters on a new mom's relationship with her husband and another about her relationship with her own mother. By understanding your mother type (or, perhaps what type your own mother is), you can take healthy, positive steps to heal or strengthen your family relationships. She teaches them, as the best of educators, so that her children learn to walk a path that will be complicated, full of obstacles; along which they’ll have to live numerous setbacks.