On Motherhood.

Maternal Instinct

The motherhood of mammals has a divine quality to it. It’s the quality of an unconditional desire to protect our young. Elephants have it, bears have it, and even platypuses have it. It’s called a “maternal” instinct, which science is now busy trying to disprove, at least in human mothers. 

I’ve noticed in studying the animal kingdom that when a mother, such as an elephant, is traumatized, it can reject its young, but this is rare. Under normal healthy circumstances, the maternal instinct is alive and thriving. We will do anything in our power to protect our offspring.

There is an unforgettable scene in the Greek play Alcestis when the father and mother of Admetus refuse to give up their lives to save their son, even though they are old,

Admetus, in turn, states that they are not his birth parents. If they were, they would have forfeited their lives to save their child.

Yes, we will do even that.

Maternal Intuition

When we are intimately bound through our bodies to a child for nine months, a deep connection develops, and the maternal intuition arguably develops through that connection.

Most of us can sense when something is right or wrong, but as a mother, that intuitive sense extends to our babies. We feel their impending danger as if it were our own.

Any mother will tell you how many times she suddenly had the urge to immediately stop what she was doing and check on her child, who was just about to hurt himself.

A mother’s instinct is an inherent life preservation system for her offspring.

Compassion

What children develop when we care for them, especially breastfeeding and carrying our young, is compassion. 

Our legislators ask big questions today, such as, “Why are Americans so violent?” Well, has anybody in our government stopped to question our attitudes towards motherhood and our subsequent treatment of our children?

We hardly offer maternity leave for mothers who need to work, and we promote this idea that women only have a “life” if they work. Hence, too many mothers are under pressure to put their young ones into daycares and preschools, sometimes as early as two weeks old!

Who is showing these children compassion when their mother is absent? And this is no criticism on mothers; I was a working mother. It’s a criticism of a society that undervalues the importance of motherhood.

And besides, being a mother is having a life; it’s a beautiful and meaningful life. 

Dr. Stuart Brown, a play expert, said that he studied compassion and found that African people were more compassionate than Western people. He attributed this to African mothers carrying their babies on their backs until the babies could walk.

Elephants keep their offspring beside them for the first ten years. The more developed the brain, the longer the mammalian offspring will stay with its mother. 

We Are Raising the Next Generation

Is there a more important job than that of being a mother? Traditionally, we raise our young to grow up to lean either on the side of good or bad character.

Our children are with us more than anyone else during their early years. We are helping them form and develop their emotional foundation for life. We are teaching them how to become a civilized human being.

They love us, and they look up to us, and we have their attention. When we establish a healthy balance between love and authority, our children will learn to obey us.

When they obey us, we can teach them right from wrong and how to be polite, kind, considerate human being who cares about the well-being of others.

Of course, this is assuming we are all of these things!

No one is perfect, but we do our best to improve ourselves and to provide a good role model for our children knowing that in our children's eyes, we are God-like. 

It is we who are raising the next generation; and it is too critical of a role to leave it to anybody else. 

As you can see from the above, there are more than 3 reasons for why no one can replace you!

☞ Disclaimer: This is not a politically-correct blog.

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