News / Articles

I imagine a motherhood that begins with support through the entire journey, starting with preconception, pregnancy, birth, and baby’s first days. During those days when we are just figuring things out and our bodies are recovering, I picture a time when new mothers are cared for, cooked for, and cleaned for while they focus on taking care of baby. Friends come by to drop off nourishing food, not just to see the baby. Partners, who have been able to take a while off work, pick up extra household duties. Family members spend time with older children, taking them out for adventures and activities, when they are not bonding with their new sibling. Mom is allowed to heal and rest, while feeling the love, respect, and contributions of those around her. This support does not end after even a few weeks, but continues, if to a lesser extent, for much longer. 

I imagine mothers having the ability to comfortably take off at least one year from work, or more if desired, to raise baby during that precious, important time. Mom is able to slow way down and enjoy so many of the firsts in real life, not on camera secondhand. Breastfeeding and caring for an infant is treated like a full-time job, even if it is unpaid. During the early years, especially before school starts, moms check in on each other and friends check in on their mom friends to make sure that they are okay and to ask how they can help. What’s more, moms accept help and support with eagerness and gratitude, letting go of the idea of trying to do everything themselves. 

While mom settles into her new role and her new body, I imagine that self-care becomes a necessity instead of a luxury. Taking time to exercise is not viewed as or felt to be selfish or trivial, but is in fact demonstrating self-respect and self-love. It sets the foundation for becoming a healthy, happy role model for baby. In addition, a mother is not pressured to get her body back to what it was before; moms exercise and move their bodies to feel strong, to feel energized, and to feel like themselves. Similarly, a mother is not pressured to be the same person that she used to be, to have the same values that she used to have, or to go back to the life that she used to have, because she is transformed. 

Moms are not expected to do it all or to have it all together, especially in those early years. Everyone realizes the tremendous privilege and challenge of raising a human being and understands the weight that often falls heavily on mothers’ shoulders. Support for moms and families is passed down generation to generation and is integrated into society. I imagine that if all of these ideas were reality for mothers, we might experience motherhood with just a little bit more ease, more presence, more delight, and more gratitude for this incredible gift we have been given and for all the little, perfectly imperfect moments that add up to our lives.