Why Mothering Matters
By Maryanne Pope
To have a mother’s sensibility, you don’t need to be female; you don’t even need to have children. You just need to have a soul that cares about the future more than you care about yourself. That’s what mothering is — laying down your life for the young so they can grow up into full people.
— Sally Field, in O Magazine
I’m not a mother in the traditional sense; I am not raising a child. Nor have I. But I struggled for decades over whether or not motherhood was a path I wished to travel. At forty-four, I have finally arrived at a place where I can honestly answer NO to the “To be or not to be…a mom?” question — at least in terms of me taking action to acquire a child in some capacity. If one were to land in my life, I’d have to reassess!
But for now, I am not a mother. I just feel very mother-like because I care deeply about the state of our planet, the many species inhabiting it — including the Homo Sapien variety — and the significant issues we collectively face.
I am a mother-at-large 🙂
During my journey of exploration through the pros and cons, challenges and responsibilities, options and choices surrounding the motherhood decision, I’ve come to realize that being a conventional mom — whether that is to a child one has given to birth to, is a step-parent to, has adopted, fostered or otherwise — is not only one of the toughest jobs on the planet, it’s by far one of the most important.
For at the end of the day, mothers are the ones who ultimately determine how the future — of a society and a species — unfolds.
In addition, mothers are not only responsible for raising the next generation, they also have a significant role to play in ensuring there is a safe and healthy environment for this generation to inhabit. In today’s insanely busy world, it’s easy to lose sight of this bigger picture – or hope someone else will take care of the second part of that equation.
However, as it is in the rest of nature, mothers have the greatest stake in ensuring that an environment is conducive to raising their young.
But I’m also realizing mothering isn’t just something mothers do. Nor is it exclusive to women. Mothering, in its truest sense, is an expression of the feminine qualities of nurturing, caring, concern, teaching, compassion and patience. Frankly, some of the most mother-like people I know are men.
Mothering not only matters, it is quite possibly what the world needs most right now, in terms of a different way of addressing the many issues we face – be that at an individual, relationship, family, community, societal, cultural, environmental or global level. For as nurturing and caring as mothers can be, the most effective ones are also firm but fair.
Purpose of Mothering Matters Blog Series
The purpose of the Mothering Matters blog series is to create a forum in which the challenges and responsibilities of motherhood and mothering are discussed, so we can learn from one another – whether we are raising children ourselves or not – as we move forward together to a healthier future for all.
Blog topics
A wide variety of mothering-related perspectives and issues will be explored by a myriad of writers. The blogs will be written from a personal perspective, short (max 750 words) and go out every second Monday via e-mail.
Sample topics include:
- To be or not to be…a mom?
- Infertility
- Dealing with our own mothers and mother-in-laws
- Keeping one’s sense of self as a mother
- Adoption
- Working while raising a family
- Overpopulation
- Losing a child
- Environmental concerns
- Impacts of children on marriage
- Bullying
- Teaching kids gratitude
- Being a single mom
- Nurturing ourselves
- Learning from mother nature
- Delayed parenting
- Post-partum depression
- Mother Goddess/Divine Mother
- Losing a mother
- Keeping kids safe
- Raising a child with disabilities
- Mothers around the world
- Choosing not to have children
- Childhood hunger
- Grandmothers as mothers
- Mothering in the community/broader sense
And much more!
Writers Wanted
If you are interested in writing a blog for the Mothering Matters series, please contact us for writer guidelines, terms & conditions and to discuss a suitable topic.
How to Subscribe to Mothering Matters
To sign up to receive the complimentary bi-weekly Mothering Matters blog series (via e-mail), please click here to subscribe.
Background
The Mothering Matters blog series is an extension of the Whatever Floats Your Boat…Perspectives on Motherhood documentary (53 min, 2005) and the subsequent filmed facilitated discussion (20 min, 2007), both produced by Pink Gazelle Productions Inc.
For further info or to view Whatever Floats Your Boat and the facilitated discussion, please click here.
About Pink Gazelle Productions Inc
Mothering Matters is an initiative of Pink Gazelle Productions Inc.
PGP is a collaborative company that creates entertaining and authentic works which inspire and challenge people to effect positive change in themselves and the world around them. The Founder & CEO of PGP is Maryanne Pope.
About Maryanne Pope
Maryanne Pope is the executive producer of the Whatever Floats Your Boat…Perspectives on Motherhood documentary, the author of A Widow’s Awakening and the upcoming book, Barrier Removed; A Tough Love Guide to Achieving Your Dreams. Maryanne is the Founder & CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions Inc and the Board Chair of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. Maryanne lives on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
For further information about Mothering Matters, please contact:
Maryanne Pope CEO & Founder Pink Gazelle Productions Inc maryanne@pinkgazelle.com (250) 654-0606 www.pinkgazelle.com