Feeling not good enough: New mothers may set for themselves the goal of being perfect. The unreality of that may lead to exhaustion and feelings of guilt Crafting a vision for the kind of mother you want to be requires thoughtful planning. Woodcox Bolden suggests creating a family mission statement to define your family's goals and values. This exercise is especially helpful for couples, considering research shows that relationship satisfaction declines after a child comes into the picture. I read your book, or more accurately devoured it! Loved it . . . It will be the new classic text in Motherhood Studies.” -Andrea O’Reilly, founder, Motherhood Studies

Matrescence - Amy Taylor-Kabbaz What is Matrescence - Amy Taylor-Kabbaz

It talks about the rawness of emotions that being a mother brings, the infinite joy and the helplessness, the initial isolation and the power of healing a community brings, the reshaping of a mother's brain (literally) and the way of looking at life expands and contracts at the same time. We must give a nod to Dr. Raphael. She coined the term “matrescence” and by doing so gave us the word to imagine a new, unexplored territory. Motherhood, like adolescence, is a stage of human physical, psychological, social, and spiritual development. Unfortunately, women’s experiences of this transition remain one of most under-developed areas of scholarship and training. Each year I revive “matrescence” in my classroom to awaken students and enlarge their scope of understanding from a simple focus on the child. Mothers may form the cornerstone of our most precious theories, yet the process of becoming a mother has not been examined sufficiently despite the fact that we all, every living being, are brought forth by one. There also remains a stronghold of maternal psychopathology and crisis as the core area of interest, with fewer formulations mapping out both the costs and benefits of the psychological work that is undergone. Understanding the birth of a mother can hopefully allow a more holistic view of this adaptation and with it new fields of study can be born. The creation of more research laboratories and coursework such as my own on Maternal Psychology and Reproductive Mental Health and Wellbeing, while at their infancy, can help the next generation of scholars and practitioners to get started. - NEW YORK TIMES, COMMENTS (2017)The best book I’ve ever read about motherhood. Matrescence is essential reading, bloody and alive, roaring and ready to change conversations.”–Jude Rogers, The Observer (UK)

to Raise Adventurous and Nurturing Kids The Nature Seed: How to Raise Adventurous and Nurturing Kids

Matrescence took me on a journey of reminescence through my own pregnancies and early years of motherhood, eliciting wry recognition, surprise at new evidence and insight, and gratitude for a work that really sees what it is to mother Clare Chambers When they know the milestones and markers of Matrescence, they can navigate this time of their lives powerfully – without overwhelm, perfectionism and shame. Athan & Reel argue that there is little interest or up-take of research in the psychology of mothers or maternal development per se. They call for a study of ‘matrescence’, to explore women’s lived experience of becoming and being mothers, to challenge the pathologisation of women’s ‘mixed feelings’ about mothering, and to normalise more complex and varied experiences of motherhood than just fulfilment or illness narratives enable. - JANE CALAGHAN, FEMINISM & PSYCHOLOGY (2015)

If you are a mom. If you want to be a mom. If you have a mom. If you want to support a mom. If you don’t mind a little non-fiction. Give this book some of your time. I could go on and on about this book but I really just think you should read it. New and aspiring moms should read it to supplement their NCT classes and round out their expectations of the next few years. All men should read it to give them an understanding of what their wives, mothers, sisters, co-workers, the woman serving him in a shop, are going through or have gone through, and the part they can play on a practical level to redress some of the societal imbalances that have crept into being. I think we might all become just a little more compassionate after reading it. According to these authors, matrescence may start as soon as a woman is trying to conceive and may continue through pregnancy, well into the postpartum stage. It is the ups and downs of pregnancy, the good and the not so good; it is a transition, a healthy change. It is important to distinguish the natural experiences of matrescence from postpartum depression, which is considered as a psychiatric ailment.

There will be blood - New Statesman

The fox has for centuries been held as the incarnation of such unlovely traits as deviousness, cunning and cruelty. ... However, the characteristic that emerges most strongly from the nature writer Lucy Jones's book about Vulpes vulpes is its ambiguity. ... [An] intriguing compendium of fox lore - Michael Prodger, The Times Jones sheds a fascinating light on the plethora of issues surrounding how childbirth and mothering fits (or fails to fit) into the current social and economic systems of the modern, western world. A sympathetic interviewer and scrupulous journalist…a thorough, well-balanced report - The Spectator A beautiful contemplation of the extraordinary yet ordinary metamorphosis that adult humans undergo as they become mothers. I was entranced. Jones's lyrical, compassionate exploration of the ever-shifting boundaries of selfhood that evolved within our interconnected biosphere, confronts today's societal demands for individual autonomy, culminating in a passionate and powerful maternal roar for change. Wonderful - Gaia VinceBecause your upbringing is bound to influence your maternal identity, she advises taking the time to really think about the way you were mothered. Ask yourself "what are the things that I want to replicate with my own child?" or "what are the things that I want to do differently?" she says. It's OK to chart your own course, she adds. It's about owning your parenting journey.