motherhood

Childrearing can be the most gratifying, yet the most demanding, experience of a woman’s lifespan. Culturally, pleasant feelings and fulfillment are attributed to motherhood, which is considered one of the main purposes of every woman’s life. Motherhood is not supposed to be questioned or substituted by any other type of life goals, such as professional achievement, for example.

The importance of this primary role over others is socially assumed. An intensive motherhood model is predominant many societies, a model that assumes the centrality of the child and the prevalence of his/her interests over those of the mother. The mother is expected to nourish strong positive feelings for her child, condensed into the commonly termed “maternal love”.

Although motherhood is characterized as an emotional rollercoaster, the absence of positive feelings or the presence of different feelings, such as negative ones, toward motherhood or the child itself are considered unnatural and even pathological. Summing up, the ideal, socially prescribed mother is happy, emotionally adequate, follows experts’ advice, bonds well with children, and is self-confident. Deviance amplifies self-doubts, and feelings of guilt and shame are induced whenever women, in some way, “fail to live up to ideals of womanhood and motherhood, and transgress cultural expectations regarding feminine modesty”

Motherhood brings forth myriad of emotions, many positive, but some that are neutral or outright negative as well, depending on the circumstances and experiences. Anxiety happens to be present in first time mothers and in some, later too.