#motherhood

She had watched other women with infants and eventually understood what she craved: the boundless permission-no, the absolute necessity- to hold and kiss and stroke this tiny person. Cradling a swaddled infant in their arms, mothers would distractedly touch their lips to their babies' foreheads. Passing their toddlers in a hall, mothers would tousle their hair even sweep them up in their arms and kiss them hard along their chins and necks until the children squealed with glee. Where else in life, Mabel wondered, could a woman love so openly and with such abandon? ↗

— Eowyn Ivey

#motherhood #life

I don’t think the world should assume that we are all natural mothers. And it does. I don’t think it’s such a big thing anymore, but the idea that you sacrifice everything for your children—it’s a load of rubbish. It leads to very destructive living and thinking, and it has a much worse effect on children than if you go out and live your own life. You’re meant to adore your children at all times, and you’re not meant to have a bad thought about them. That’s facism, you know, and it’s elevating the child at the expense of the mother. It’s like your life is not valid except in fulfilling this child’s needs. What about all your needs, your desires, your wants, your problems? They’re going to come out anyway, so it’s better they’re acknowledged straight off. Having said that, I really do believe that children have to be protected. They have to be loved. Somewhere between the two, I think, something needs to be sorted out. The relationship between parent and child is so difficult and so complex. There’s every emotion there. We mostly only acknowledge the good ones. If we were allowed to talk about the other ones, maybe it would alleviate them in some way ↗

— Marina Carr

#life

Motherhood is the greatest thing and the hardest thing. ↗

— Ricki Lake

#greatest thing #hardest #motherhood #the hardest thing #thing

Ah, selfish. There’s that word again.” Sherry smirked. “It’s been hurled at me many a time, because being a mother and wife is all about selflessness, see?” She imitated a perky, syrupy-sweet voice. “Giving up every molecule of your soul. If you want anything for yourself, you’re accused of being selfish. Marriage and especially motherhood mean being condemned to play second fiddle your entire life. ↗

— Andrea Lochen

#repeat #selfish #selfless #women #year

my mother, poor fish, wanting to be happy, beaten two or three times a week, telling me to be happy: "Henry, smile! why don't you ever smile?" and then she would smile, to show me how, and it was the saddest smile I ever saw ↗

— Charles Bukowski

#facade #love #motherhood #pain #love

Motherhood is a nature, and fatherhood is a culture.. Motherhood is a certainty while fatherhood is an assumption.. Motherhood is original to the female whereas fatherhood is an acquired extension.. ↗

— Arabic saying

#nature

The Vatican won't prosecute pedophile priests but I decide I'm not ready for motherhood and it's condemnation for me? These are the same people that won't support national condom distribution that PREVENTS teenage pregnancy. ↗

— Sonya Renee Taylor

#catholic #feminism #feminist #motherhood #organized-religion

Having kids — the responsibility of rearing good, kind, ethical, responsible human beings — is the biggest job anyone can embark on ↗

— Maria Shriver

#ethics

guilt to motherhood is like grapes to wine ↗

— Fay Weldon

#motherhood #she-may-not-leave #guilt

A mother knows what her child's gone through, even if she didn't see it herself. ↗

— Pramoedya Ananta Toer

#motherhood