Motherhood

One of the most obvious answers to my query was motherhood. This woman is not only a mother but a grandmother as well. Our little girl is watching closely at the interactions and the dynamics of the family members as she stirs up her own batch of cookies.

I've often pondered on the fact that behind the doors of every house in my neighborhood something is going on very differently than what is happening in my own house: different routines, different menus, different traditions, different discipline styles. Each of these practices is being learned as normal by the children in the home. So what is normal? What is inappropriate? What is ideal? Who decides? What choices do the children have?

Personally I believe that being a mother is the most powerful and influential position in the world. What a tremendous responsibility we carry as mothers.

I had an interesting experience just last week. I picked up a notebook to make a list. When I opened it I saw a list I'd made earlier, except nothing on it seemed familiar. My handwriting looked a little different, but my handwriting changes with my moods so that didn't seem like what was wrong with the picture. I read over the list again and again and simply could not remember making it. Yet, everything on the list was typical. I began to thumb through the notebook. There were lists for each child in the house, only they weren't my children. Either I'm living two lives without know it, or I somehow acquired someone else's notebook. I prefer to believe in the latter. As I read through the notebook I felt as though I was stepping inside one of those other houses where things go on that are different from my own home. I found that while there were a few differences there were far more similarities. The children were obviously younger than mine and they had pets that we don't have. But other than that, it could have been my notebook, my lists, and my family. It was a very curious and disconcerting feeling. Are we really are so very different after all?