I want to read mom stories. I want to watch mom movies. I want to be so inundated with mom content that I can find a motherhood story for every emotion without having to dig for it in dusty archives.
Appreciate your thoughtful take. I’ve been writing online about motherhood since the earliest blogging days precisely because I didn’t see my experience reflected in the books or magazines (the main source of parenting info at the time). The exceptions were Brain, Child Magazine and Catherine Newman’s Babycenter blog, Waiting for Ben and Birdy. Now here I am, over two decades later, writing as the mother of adult children. I like to think we will find each other here and on whatever platforms of the future, because we *see* each other, you know? This personal literature of parenthood gets distributed hand to hand, and travels paths we can’t predict.
I LOVE that you're writing about adult children. The middle years and later years of motherhood are often bogged down by all the baby stuff, and I'm sure the identity shifts just continue into later eras. Excited to dive into your work. Always keep writing! 💌
Oh my. I had so many FEELS in this post. Your poetic take on the double standards and the opportunity ahead gave me so much energy.
"Motherhood is an add-on. And it deserves so much more." = YES
"Readers consume books on black holes and then peacock that the concept of a singularity is more relatable to their spaceless life and cooler than that of a human who created eyeballs from literally nothing." = SERIOUSLY
"Motherhood is quiet and loud. It is everything that can be written and read about. It is simultaneously seismic and still. It is everything I dreamed of and nothing that I expected." ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Shall we start the manifesto and pamphlet making?!
Ok WHAT. I don't pay much attention to stuff like this but that is wild that there's only "Parenting." There should *definitely* be a "hood." There should be "motherhood" and "fatherhood" both IMO. I am incensed. Yet not surprised. So much work to do.
YES, I would LOVE to see Motherhood and Fatherhood. Someone also recently said that "Relationships" is a missing category, which I didn't realize. (Also, "Poetry"). It's funny, Substack is a writing platform but so much of the current categorizations are on "data" stuff rather than "human" stuff. Glad to be connected, too! ❤️
“Motherhood — this thing that encompasses elements of love, loss, grief, body image, identity, family, survival, isolation, friendship, change, power, science, religion, magic, mental health, grit, strength, and softness is not relatable? These shared elements of the human condition that show up in nuanced complexity in just a singular motherhood experience are niche?”
The words I didn’t have myself have been written! 🔥 🙌🏻👏🏻
What a great piece! I find that when writing about motherhood, there’s always that secondary element that I eventually realize I am trying to explore - mortality, desire, self discovery, etc, and those are also the kinds of stories I’m drawn to reading. Really just stories about what it means to move as a human in connection with other humans through this complicated world. I need this category!
Absolutely. Every single time I sit down in front of my computer to write, I'm unravelling something about my identity. Motherhood is just the backdrop. Thank you for this comment and for reading! ❤️
I love this piece so much. It’s such a great manifesto for what so many of us want to write about - parenthood as a distinct subject focussing on identity, transformation, growth, creativity etc. Parenting is something else entirely and not at all what I want to write about. How you raise your kids is your business. Who you have become through the process of raising kids is what I’m here for - those stories are philosophical, mythological, spiritual, humorous… It’s truly disheartening that it is made to seem so two dimensional by people who think it’s of little interest. Thanks for writing so clearly on the subject.
"How you raise your kids is your business." YES!!! I would like to think that if we can infiltrate the "Parenting" market that's over-saturated with how-tos, our unique and shared stories will be taken more seriously. Thank you for these kind words and for reading ❤️
I am so happy to see you write an article on this! Yes- I have been pondering the impact of motherHOOD on my own life. What is my experience as a mother? It’s led to some great personal discoveries and extra ability to hold space for myself and observe my own experiences. Thank you for this fire under my butt on what is a great and wonderful writing topic!!
What about motherSHOULD? My Substack is all about unpacking the shoulds of motherhood and this week’s post is all about matrescence — mothershould.substack.com 🫶
LOVE THIS SO MUCH I’M YELLING 👏🏻💯😅 Motherhood is so much more expansive and diverse than the tired mommy tropes we see portrayed if /when they are represented at all ( all experiences matter and are valid) but like you said are merely bookends. You are onto
Something here! The problem is bigger than the lack of a category for this content
And these stories but also representative of the problem. Why isn’t there another category besides “parenting” ? I would love to see parenthood/ motherhood 👏🏻💯 I need portions of this post printed and framed on my wall as a manifesto! Motherhood is not niche when …”Look around you. Every person you know was brought onto this planet by a mother” everyone is impacted whether they “mother” or not. Loved reading your thoughts here!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you so much for this comment! I ALSO LOVE YELLING!! 🫶🏻 Ugh — I was sick of the tired mommy tropes before I even had my daughter. “Stock up on sleep!!!” 🙄 I KNOW I WILL BE TIRED!!! I appreciate all of the stories, even the ones I don’t relate to — I just feel like we need so much more. One day I hope at least they can add us to the category tabs, doesn’t seem like a big ask! 🩵
I am actually floored by this. Poetry is also not a category. It's curious how many categories are "data-ish" rather than "human-ish" despite this being a WRITING platform. Le sigh.
Yes! I can't even count the amount of times I have checked the categories for something more aligned with what I'm looking for and am left only with parenting advice. Which has its place, but I want more than just a list of articles telling me how to fix what I'm doing wrong.
EXACTLY. I also just checked the Parenting section, two of the "Top" publications are...cooking publications with NO essence of parenthood AT ALL and general writings. It annoys me to the nth degree.
Appreciate your thoughtful take. I’ve been writing online about motherhood since the earliest blogging days precisely because I didn’t see my experience reflected in the books or magazines (the main source of parenting info at the time). The exceptions were Brain, Child Magazine and Catherine Newman’s Babycenter blog, Waiting for Ben and Birdy. Now here I am, over two decades later, writing as the mother of adult children. I like to think we will find each other here and on whatever platforms of the future, because we *see* each other, you know? This personal literature of parenthood gets distributed hand to hand, and travels paths we can’t predict.
I LOVE that you're writing about adult children. The middle years and later years of motherhood are often bogged down by all the baby stuff, and I'm sure the identity shifts just continue into later eras. Excited to dive into your work. Always keep writing! 💌
How lovely, thank you. So glad to meet you here.
My Substack is all about unpacking the SHOULDS of motherhood and this week I’m talking about exactly this!!!. mothershould.substack.com 🫶
Oh my. I had so many FEELS in this post. Your poetic take on the double standards and the opportunity ahead gave me so much energy.
"Motherhood is an add-on. And it deserves so much more." = YES
"Readers consume books on black holes and then peacock that the concept of a singularity is more relatable to their spaceless life and cooler than that of a human who created eyeballs from literally nothing." = SERIOUSLY
"Motherhood is quiet and loud. It is everything that can be written and read about. It is simultaneously seismic and still. It is everything I dreamed of and nothing that I expected." ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Shall we start the manifesto and pamphlet making?!
Thank you for sharing this post x
YES to the manifesto and pamphlet making!!! Thank you for this, I always feel aligned in your posts, too! ❤️
My Substack is all about unpacking the SHOULDS of motherhood. mothershould.substack.com 🫶
Ok WHAT. I don't pay much attention to stuff like this but that is wild that there's only "Parenting." There should *definitely* be a "hood." There should be "motherhood" and "fatherhood" both IMO. I am incensed. Yet not surprised. So much work to do.
Glad to be connected! xx
YES, I would LOVE to see Motherhood and Fatherhood. Someone also recently said that "Relationships" is a missing category, which I didn't realize. (Also, "Poetry"). It's funny, Substack is a writing platform but so much of the current categorizations are on "data" stuff rather than "human" stuff. Glad to be connected, too! ❤️
My Substack is all about unpacking the SHOULDS of motherhood. mothershould.substack.com 🫶
“Motherhood — this thing that encompasses elements of love, loss, grief, body image, identity, family, survival, isolation, friendship, change, power, science, religion, magic, mental health, grit, strength, and softness is not relatable? These shared elements of the human condition that show up in nuanced complexity in just a singular motherhood experience are niche?”
The words I didn’t have myself have been written! 🔥 🙌🏻👏🏻
If I wrote the whole list, the post would be a 30 minute read!! ❤️
My Substack is all about unpacking the SHOULDS of motherhood and the topic this week is exactly this!!! Matrescence! mothershould.substack.com 🫶
What a great piece! I find that when writing about motherhood, there’s always that secondary element that I eventually realize I am trying to explore - mortality, desire, self discovery, etc, and those are also the kinds of stories I’m drawn to reading. Really just stories about what it means to move as a human in connection with other humans through this complicated world. I need this category!
Absolutely. Every single time I sit down in front of my computer to write, I'm unravelling something about my identity. Motherhood is just the backdrop. Thank you for this comment and for reading! ❤️
I love this piece so much. It’s such a great manifesto for what so many of us want to write about - parenthood as a distinct subject focussing on identity, transformation, growth, creativity etc. Parenting is something else entirely and not at all what I want to write about. How you raise your kids is your business. Who you have become through the process of raising kids is what I’m here for - those stories are philosophical, mythological, spiritual, humorous… It’s truly disheartening that it is made to seem so two dimensional by people who think it’s of little interest. Thanks for writing so clearly on the subject.
"How you raise your kids is your business." YES!!! I would like to think that if we can infiltrate the "Parenting" market that's over-saturated with how-tos, our unique and shared stories will be taken more seriously. Thank you for these kind words and for reading ❤️
I am so happy to see you write an article on this! Yes- I have been pondering the impact of motherHOOD on my own life. What is my experience as a mother? It’s led to some great personal discoveries and extra ability to hold space for myself and observe my own experiences. Thank you for this fire under my butt on what is a great and wonderful writing topic!!
Thank you so much for this sweet comment! Motherhood is so much more than bottles and diapers. So glad we're all here to connect about it all ❤️
What about motherSHOULD? My Substack is all about unpacking the shoulds of motherhood and this week’s post is all about matrescence — mothershould.substack.com 🫶
LOVE THIS SO MUCH I’M YELLING 👏🏻💯😅 Motherhood is so much more expansive and diverse than the tired mommy tropes we see portrayed if /when they are represented at all ( all experiences matter and are valid) but like you said are merely bookends. You are onto
Something here! The problem is bigger than the lack of a category for this content
And these stories but also representative of the problem. Why isn’t there another category besides “parenting” ? I would love to see parenthood/ motherhood 👏🏻💯 I need portions of this post printed and framed on my wall as a manifesto! Motherhood is not niche when …”Look around you. Every person you know was brought onto this planet by a mother” everyone is impacted whether they “mother” or not. Loved reading your thoughts here!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Thank you so much for this comment! I ALSO LOVE YELLING!! 🫶🏻 Ugh — I was sick of the tired mommy tropes before I even had my daughter. “Stock up on sleep!!!” 🙄 I KNOW I WILL BE TIRED!!! I appreciate all of the stories, even the ones I don’t relate to — I just feel like we need so much more. One day I hope at least they can add us to the category tabs, doesn’t seem like a big ask! 🩵
Hell yes. I had posted a Note encouraging a relationships category back in the fall and I am still bothered there’s nothing of the sort.
I am actually floored by this. Poetry is also not a category. It's curious how many categories are "data-ish" rather than "human-ish" despite this being a WRITING platform. Le sigh.
Yes! I can't even count the amount of times I have checked the categories for something more aligned with what I'm looking for and am left only with parenting advice. Which has its place, but I want more than just a list of articles telling me how to fix what I'm doing wrong.
EXACTLY. I also just checked the Parenting section, two of the "Top" publications are...cooking publications with NO essence of parenthood AT ALL and general writings. It annoys me to the nth degree.
Yes, yes, and more yes! Can we team up soon to write something?
Yes PLEASE!! I would love that 🫶🏻