Motherhood is a very complex, heated and complicated discussion. "A history of American Motherhood" gave a great overview of what has happened in the past and what is currently trending in our world right now. For most women, once she bears a child, her entire world shifts. There is no going back to being just you, now you have someone else very tiny and completely dependent on you. And although this can be very stressful and time-consuming, i believe it is one of the most fulfilling things a female can do with her life. Fathers too, i shouldn't leave them out. I have seen my husband get all teary eyed over our children many times when they melt your heart in a way that you never imagined would happen. Now, back to the point. The pod-cast by Backstory Radio was very interesting and educational. If you don't know much about how mothers have came to be who they are today, i highly recommend you listening, its only 55 minutes. At the beginning of the discussion Linda Kerber addresses a pivotal point in history, the 1795 commencement speech. It was stated that the future of our world was in the hands of the fair ones. Although this did have some negative connotation to it by acknowledging the "fair" ones, i think it was the beginning of a change in how womens roles were viewed. Women do shape the future by how they raise their children. It makes me think of the cheesy Michael Jackson song "I believe the children are our future"...haha. But in all seriousness, it is so true. Even if you are completely an egalitarian couple and do everything equally, there is no way to equally birth a child or breastfeed a child, and no matter how hard you fight the traditional roles, somehow they sneak into your daily life anyway, i personally believe it is inevitable.
Towards the end of the discussion the Guys decided to inform the public on how Mother's Day came to be. This story was so heartwarming and rather tragic in the end. Anna Maria Jarvis was a femminist, activist and socialist in her own time, before any of these words had definitions. She would go out rallying for women to come together, and she nursed both sides of the civil war back to health. She was truly an inspiration, especially to her daughter; Anna Marie Jarvis. The younger Anna loved her mother so much, she followed in her footsteps and continued her mothers cause until the day she died. In 1914, Jarvis finally had gotten Mother's Day to be a nationally recognized holiday in West Virginia. What an accomplishment of a woman at that time! She wanted mothers nationwide to be acknowledged for their hard work and dedication, but what happened was not what she intended. Within her lifetime, many females wrote to her thanking her for creating such a day to honor their mothers, and Jarvis; who never beared her own child, became furious. The whole point of the holiday had become commercialized and marketed and profited from. She didn't want people sending her stuff, she created the day to honor her own mother, not for people to honor her. In the end, she petitioned to remove the holiday she created, because the public did not respond the way she intended them to. By loving their own mothers and showing their gratitude and appreciation for them and their hard work. It was a very sad ending for the younger Jarvis, who's life ended in a state-run home.
Motherhood is a very complex, heated and complicated discussion. "A history of American Motherhood" gave a great overview of what has happened in the past and what is currently trending in our world right now. For most women, once she bears a child, her entire world shifts. There is no going back to being just you, now you have someone else very tiny and completely dependent on you. And although this can be very stressful and time-consuming, i believe it is one of the most fulfilling things a female can do with her life. Fathers too, i shouldn't leave them out. I have seen my husband get all teary eyed over our children many times when they melt your heart in a way that you never imagined would happen. Now, back to the point. The pod-cast by Backstory Radio was very interesting and educational. If you don't know much about how mothers have came to be who they are today, i highly recommend you listening, its only 55 minutes. At the beginning of the discussion Linda Kerber addresses a pivotal point in history, the 1795 commencement speech. It was stated that the future of our world was in the hands of the fair ones. Although this did have some negative connotation to it by acknowledging the "fair" ones, i think it was the beginning of a change in how womens roles were viewed. Women do shape the future by how they raise their children. It makes me think of the cheesy Michael Jackson song "I believe the children are our future"...haha. But in all seriousness, it is so true. Even if you are completely an egalitarian couple and do everything equally, there is no way to equally birth a child or breastfeed a child, and no matter how hard you fight the traditional roles, somehow they sneak into your daily life anyway, i personally believe it is inevitable.
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