#motherhood

Our children want more than presents, that want our PRESENCE. ↗

— Heather Schuck

#motherhood #parental-love #parenting-children #parenting-tips #inspirational

Mother, you can still hold hold on but forgive, forgive and give for long as long as we both shall live, I forgive you, Mother. ↗

— Barbara Kingsolver

#love #motherhood #forgiveness

I wrote about the rush of love, the changing of a woman into a mother—a process that happened without conscious thought, as if the heart knew what the mind and body took time to learn. Love is the one thing that matters. That makes everything else matter. That makes everything worthwhile. ↗

— Lisa Wingate

#motherhood #change

No mother is ever, completely, a child's idea of what a mother should be, and I suppose it works the other way around as well. But despite everything, we didn't do too badly by one another, we did as well as most. ↗

— Margaret Atwood

#parents-and-children #motherhood

Each woman must realize that she is the final guardian of her unborn child. ↗

— Susan McCutcheon

#nature

The most difficult part of being a mother was to observe the mistakes of one's children: the foolish loves, the desperate solitude and alienation, the lack of will, the gullibility, the joyous and naive leaps into the unknown, the ignorance, the panicky choices and the utter determination. ↗

— David Bergen

#age

A mother has far greater influence on her children than anyone else, and she must realize that every word she speaks, every act, every response, her attitude, even her appearance and manner of dress affect the lives of her children and the whole family. It is while the child is in the home that he gains from his mother the attitudes, hopes, and beliefs that will determine the kind of life he will live and the contribution he will make to society. ↗

— N. Eldon Tanner

#attitude

Whatever life brings, we'll share," she says, and "I can do no more than the best I can. ↗

— Carol Emshwiller

#motherhood #attitude

In much the same way, motherhood has become the essential female experience, valued above all others: giving life is where it's at. "Pro-maternity" propaganda has rarely been so extreme. They must be joking, the modern equivalent of the double constraint: "Have babies, it's wonderful, you'll feel more fulfilled and feminine than ever," but do it in a society in freefall in which waged work is a condition of social survival but guaranteed to no one, and especially not to women. Give birth in cities where accommodation is precarious, schools have surrendered the fight and children are subject to the most vicious mental assault through advertising, TV, internet, fizzy drink manufacturers and so on. Without children you will never be fulfilled as a woman, but bringing up kids in decent conditions is almost impossible. ↗

— Virginie Despentes

#consumerism #female-authors #feminism #motherhood #politics

I'm beginning to perceive motherhood as a long, slow letting go, of which birth is just the first step. ↗

— Sandra Steingraber

#motherhood #parenting #faith