Return of the mother

I sincerely apologize for the gap in blog-posts. Even the most reluctant of super-mum's get swamped with household-chores, in my case, time got taken over by my mother-in-law, visiting from Europe.

I also had to spend some time figuring out what direction I would like this blog to take. Do I want it to be a very personal account of my experiences as a wife and mother, or do I want it to be a social commentary on the state of affairs. Probably a bit of both, but in that case, I feel I risk making the blog feel a bit messy, a bit all over the place. Let me know what you think, feed-back and in-put is always, always great and helpful.

Meanwhile, I've come across this book which is absorbing me at the moment. It's Judith Warner's account on motherhood, called Perfect Madness, Motherhood in the Age of Anxiety (Riverhead Books, 2005).

Warner lived in France for a long time with her husband, and also as a mother to young children. She then had to move to Washington and found the contrast in motherhood and child-rearing unbearably stark, not only in the help and support a family with children could expect from the government in France but also in terms of attitudes amongst mothers themselves. She'd come to the conclusion that if American women feel exhausted and cheated they are, to a great extent, at their own fault. Where French mothers would take it for granted that no one can live in symbiosis with their children 24/7, and actually need me-time in order to be good mothers, American mothers seem to completely obliterate themselves to the point of no turning back, and also seem to think that this is the only way to live.

Warner's account of motherhood in France vs US, is not meant to be a scientific study but mere personal reflexions on a problem that is beginning to cripple more and more mothers around us, and I highly recommend this book. I have yet to finish it (only started reading it over the weekend) but it's looking good so far.