The Upsides of Motherhood: Learning, Enrichment, and Empowerment

Motherhood is a journey that can be both fulfilling and challenging. Society, however, often focuses on the negative aspects of motherhood, neglecting the positive ones. A new parent’s worries are not unfounded, but motherhood can be empowering, create new opportunities, and lead to new relationships with people one would never have met if they hadn’t become a parent. Women who are often under tremendous pressure to breastfeed for the health of their children, women who work on factory floors, drive buses or work as caregivers for others, often don’t have the luxury of flexible schedules and time off when a child is sick. Society doesn’t give enough support to parents, particularly low-income parents who would benefit from free or subsidized day care, housing, and food assistance.

Data shows that the burdens of child care appear to be pushing more women out of the workforce. However, one way to support parents, particularly new parents who are anxious and uncertain about the job ahead, is to remind them that there are many upsides to parenting. It can feel like a challenging learning experience, and children can provide a new take on life experiences one once took for granted.

Amber Coleman-Mortley, a mother of three daughters and a gender equality and education advocate, said, “To me, it’s a very fun, challenging learning experience.” Angela Garbes, mother of two girls, said, “Mothering is an opportunity to shape the world we want. These children are the next generation of writers, politicians, neighbours’ and community leaders.” Conversations around motherhood rarely focus on the learning and enrichment that comes with parenting, and society hasn’t given mothers the space to zero in on and distill the actual annoyances.

While it’s true that women themselves have often been asked to solve the problems of motherhood, it’s a failure of structures. Society doesn’t give mothers enough space to focus on the real issues. Coleman-Mortley agrees that conversations around parenting often focus on the wrong things. The children themselves are not the problem, but the tediousness of daily tasks such as cooking, which society expects mothers to do everything.

Parenting can be a daily challenge, but it can also be a journey of learning, empowerment, and growth, where children can provide valuable insights, and new relationships can be formed. There’s more to motherhood than just the negatives, and it’s time for society to acknowledge this.

Re- reported from the story originally published in The Washington post