Motherhood Without Guilt

The work-family conflict that mothers experience today is a national crisis. Women struggle to balance breadwinning with the bulk of parenting, and social policies aren't helping. Of all Western industrialized countries, the United States ranks dead last for supportive work-family policies. Can American women look to Europe for solutions? Making Motherhood Work draws on interviews that Caitlyn Collins conducted over five years with 135 middle-class working mothers in Sweden, Germany, Italy, and the United States. She explores how women navigate work and family given the different policy supports available in each country. Taking readers into women's homes, neighborhoods, and workplaces, Collins shows that mothers' expectations depend on context and that policies alone cannot solve women's struggles. With women held to unrealistic standards, the best solutions demand that we redefine motherhood, work, and family.

Moms feel guilty about everything... They think they're not doing enough for themselves, for their children and for their spouses. They question their decisions about working vs. staying at home. They agonize over keeping up with housework, struggle in their relationship with their husband, wrestle with negative feelings about their children from time to time and worry that they don't measure up to their own or others' expectations. In short, feeling guilty is pervasive among mothers; it just seems to come with the territory. Motherhood without Guilt uses a question-and-answer format to address all the issues that cause a mother to feel bad about her mothering, and shows how to: --Reconcile working vs. staying at home --Be emotionally available to your kids in just the right way --Take good care of yourself, too --Create partnership in parenting with your husband --Nurture friendships and get support from others Related title: The New Mom's Companion 1-4022-0014-5

An interior designer and lifestyle coach helps modern moms design lives they love with less stress, less guilt, and more time to pursue their dreams. Balancing the demands of modern motherhood is a tough job. Between kids, work obligations, social commitments, and household duties, trying to fit in a little me time (let alone a date night) can seem practically impossible. For many moms, doing well at work makes them feel like they’re failing at home, and when they focus on their family, they feel like they’re falling behind at work. It’s a vicious cycle that all too often lead to burnout—but there really is another way. The Possibility Mom provides practical solutions for keeping the balance of a modern mother’s life with less stress, less guilt, and more satisfaction. Here, you’ll learn smart ways to trim your to-do list, clarify your priorities, get more done in less time, and live the life you love―one that you design.

A bracing, hilarious manifesto for motherhood as it ought to be: spontaneous, loving, and just a little bit selfish Pre-chewing toddler food. Flash cards for two-year-olds. Endless hours of school gatherings to sit through in smiling silence. How did motherhood—which even under the best circumstances comes with a million small costs and compromises—become a venue for female martyrdom, verging on a sort of socially approved mass masochism? How did the great natural force of maternal love get channeled into a simpering, slavish adherence to an inflexible social norm, a repressive sentimentality festooned with hideous pastel baby accessories? How did the bar to good motherhood get set so high that it's impossible for modern mothers not to feel like they're failing? It doesn't have to be this way—and Daisy Waugh is here to tell us how to opt out of the masochism cycle. Part feminist manifesto, part hilarious rant, The Kids Will Be Fine asks modern mothers to stop confusing love with subjugation. This is a book for moms everywhere who are fed up with the constant stream of unsolicited, impractical, guilt-inducing advice directed their way; for moms who have always secretly suspected that children would turn out okay even without handmade organic snacks or protective toddler headgear. With biting wit and lancing observations, Waugh gives women permission to slough off the judgments, order in some pizza, and remember that motherhood is also about the mother.

Becoming a mother is a joyful rite of passage, but it can also bring overwhelming emotional upheaval, exhaustion, and self-doubt. And is it any wonder? Motherhood changes everything, right down to a woman's brain chemistry. No one understands "mom brain" better than psychologist Ilyse Dobrow DiMarco, a mother of two herself who specializes in treating women with young children. In this compassionate guide, Dr. Dobrow DiMarco shares science-based psychological strategies to help moms cope with common challenges and make peace with their transformed identity. Candid, witty stories from her own life and the lives of women she has worked with illustrate ways to tame self-critical thoughts; navigate the "new normal" of work, marriage, and friendships; and mindfully accept the highs and lows of parenting--even in the toughest moments.

A refreshing new "blueprint for motherhood" based on the wisdom of Scripture combined with the expertise of a psychologist and mother of three. No mother has experienced the joys of parenting without also feeling the nagging doubt that she is inadequate for the task of raising her children. With every imperfection and every small failure, guilt is her accuser. Dr. Slattery argues that this guilt is the natural product of a mother's God-given influence over her children-a blessed reminder of her stewardship. While this is a tremendous responsibility, God would not let mothers face it alone. Using the wisdom of the Bible and her own experience as a psychologist and mother, Slattery shows how this guilt can be turned to positive parenting. Mothers are shown how to create a personal "blueprint for motherhood." This is both a broad understanding of their own personal approaches and beliefs and a daily action plan for dealing with common obstacles-from being too busy, to saying the wrong thing, to helping children through the inevitable rough patches in their lives.

Women who opt not to be mothers are frequently warned that they will regret their decision later in life, yet we rarely talk about the possibility that the opposite might also be true—that women who have children might regret it. Drawing on years of research interviewing women from a variety of socioeconomic, educational, and professional backgrounds, sociologist Orna Donath treats regret as a feminist issue: as regret marks the road not taken, we need to consider whether alternative paths for women currently are blocked off. She asks that we pay attention to what is forbidden by rules governing motherhood, time, and emotion, including the cultural assumption that motherhood is a “natural” role for women—for the sake of all women, not just those who regret becoming mothers. If we are disturbed by the idea that a woman might regret becoming a mother, Donath says, our response should not be to silence and shame these women; rather, we need to ask honest and difficult questions about how society pushes women into motherhood and why those who reconsider it are still seen as a danger to the status quo. Groundbreaking, thoughtful, and provocative, this is an especially needed book in our current political climate, as women's reproductive rights continue to be at the forefront of national debates.

The first three trimesters (and the fourth—those blurry newborn days) are for the baby, but the Fifth Trimester is when the working mom is born. A funny, tells-it-like-it-is guide for new mothers coping with the demands of returning to the real world after giving birth, The Fifth Trimester is packed with honest, funny, and comforting advice from 800 moms, including: •The boss-approved way to ask for flextime (and more money!) •How to know if it’s more than “just the baby blues” •How to pump breastmilk on an airplane (or, if you must, in a bathroom) •What military science knows about working through sleep deprivation •Your new sixty-second get-out-of-the-house beauty routine •How to turn your commute into a mini–therapy session •Your daycare tour or nanny interview, totally decoded