The Sisterhood of Motherhood

I started off wanting my blog to have a different personality than it does right now, but I think it would have to be a part-time job to make it into what I really envisioned it being. So, I will just have to settle for having it be mostly fluff and every once and awhile coming up with something that is somewhat thought provoking. I'm hoping this is one of those times, so without further ado, here is my post for the week:

My friend Michelle at the Mama Chronicles did a post awhile back titled People Join the Sisterhood of Motherhood. She basically said that parenting is hard enough as it is, without feeling judged by other moms or like you are in competition against each other. Since then, a few small events have occurred that made me think about her post.

The first event happened at my children's co-op preschool. One mother brought her younger son to family day with the older one like usual, only the younger one had a bad cough. She explained that it was bronchitis and not contagious. Apparently, one of the other mothers didn't hear the explanation or didn't trust the other mom and made a big stink about it to the teacher. The teacher then made the mom with the sick child feel bad for bringing him. The situation was not handled very compassionately and the mom with the sick baby left feeling totally unsupported and told me later that she had doubts about coming back.

The second event is much more uplifting. If you read my blog regularly or know me in real life, you know that I have a daughter that has some special needs. A few days ago I got an e-mail from another co-op mom (not mentioned above) telling me what a great job I do dealing with my daughter's issues and what a great example I am to other mothers. This person has quietly given me support for some time, so this was just icing on the cake. Things like that tend to stick with me and give me strength when I really need it.

I have realized that we as mothers have the ability to make this job harder for one another or easier. We can be judgemental, or we can be accepting. We can can make each other feel isolated, or we can make each other feel supported. It doesn't matter if you are a stay-at-home mom, a working mom or somewhere in between, we are all doing our best as moms and we should be able to count on each other. So, on the eve of Mother's Day weekend, I would like to invite every mother who reads this, to join the Sisterhood of Motherhood. Besides just honoring your own mother, think about how you can reach out and let another mom know that you are there for her or make her load just a little bit easier to bear. I would like to end by sharing the acrostic poem that my friend, Michelle, wrote in her inspring post (I hope she doesn't mind):

Many different things in different homes
One sisterhood
Togetherness
Hugs
Empathy
Respect
Indebtedness
Nice words
Grace

Happy Mother's Day!

BTW, the hands are my great-grandmother's, grandmother's, mother's, mine and my daughter's.