What Happened to Motherhood?

Ottawa Citizen ^ | 3/27/2007 | David Warren

[etradervic]

We used to have the expression "motherhood and apple pie," to describe things that were so far beyond controversy, that no one in his right mind would think of challenging them. It was a way to say that certain things are simply part of our nature, and thus not within our power to change. Also: beautiful, if properly understood, by a mind that accepts human life as a gift of God, rather than as a cat's cradle of rights issues. Of course, anything that is beautiful can also get ugly. I don't know where apple pie stands today (were the apples organic?), but it has been clear ever since contraception was popularized and "normalized" in the 1960s, that motherhood had become controversial. The link between sex and procreation began to be dissevered. And with that, the idea that motherhood could be at the centre of a woman's being -- that being a mother was an honourable and even glorious condition -- began "passing out of the culture."

[etradervic]

I have a few thoughts:
* Not all cultures have devalued Motherhood (family) - Muslims are still reproducing
* Catholics were right about contraception and its effect on the family
* Government is doing its share to kill the family. Families only receive a marginal tax break which is not proportionate to the size of the family.

[Always Right]

Motherhood is out of style. What is in today is to become a teacher and have sex with teenages, at least from the numerous stories that seems to be the case.

[Flavius]

its been outsourced

ill have you known im supporting a whole village someplace in Guadalajara

and i get a letter every 2 weeks

send more pesos gringo

i love family life

[GSlob]

If you want to see large extended families - stop blaming Carl Djerassi for the pill, for blaming him will avail you naught. Just uproot the welfare state root and branch, so that the extended family once again becomes the only [or almost so] social safety net.

[Hoosier Catholic Momma]

What happened to motherhood?

See my tagline :)

And yes, they all have the same father, LOL.

[hosepipe]

[... What Happened to Motherhood? ..]

Dame Edna re-formulated it..
And created Rudy Giuliani...

[etradervic]

Just uproot the welfare state root and branch, so that the extended family once again becomes the only [or almost so] social safety net.

Good point. A large family or a family at all is no longer socially advantageous. The paternal state has replaced the family in many respects.
From a tax perspective, a single man making 50K is financially better off than if he married and had 5 children to support with 50K. His tax break would only be marginal.

[etradervic]

Congrats!

[Liberty Wins]

Our society is in an in-between stage, just beginning to recognize the mistakes of radical feminism but not yet having the guts to force the government to give back the family tax breaks that allowed so many moms to stay home during the 50's.

[etradervic]

its been outsourced

Actually its been insourced - immigration.

[etradervic]

Our society is in an in-between stage, just beginning to recognize the mistakes of radical feminism but not yet having the guts to force the government to give back the family tax breaks that allowed so many moms to stay home during the 50's.

I'm not so sure that the family will pick-up from where it left off. It will require Government relinquishing control of our money and a societal elevation of the family. Will parents once again recommend to their daughters that they "get married and have kids," as opposed to pursuing education and career as the first and foremost good?

[Liberty Wins]

As far as the government relinquishing power over our pursestrings, well, who knows? But in other areas, the growth of home schooling families has been an unexpected benefit to society, and the Internet is starting to provide a trickle of home-based businesses for stay-at-home moms. And I continue to be optimistic about Internet-based education.

[etradervic]

Unfortunately, I do not share your optimism. The points that you mention are positive but perhaps insufficient - even a desert has its flowers.

[etradervic]

Motherhood is out of style.

The fact the post immediately before this one, about the rock in China growing hair, has 3 times the number of hits as this one provides witness to your cynical, yet accurate, statement.

[John Leland 1789]

"If you want to see large extended families - stop blaming Carl Djerassi for the pill, for blaming him will avail you naught. Just uproot the welfare state root and branch, so that the extended family once again becomes the only [or almost so] social safety net."

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! You are correct. It does my heart good to read your words.

How many of us have written to our elected representatives to demand the uprooting?

I am a father of seven. My one wife is the mother of all of them, and happy about it. And yet in our circles we are far from being one of the largest families. Our children know how to socialize without the public schools!

Please don't report us for extermination to the Club of Rome or U.N. Convention on Families.

[Liberty Wins]

Look back to the 19th century. Before Queen Victoria came to the throne, the royal court and English aristocracy were thoroughly corrupt, setting a bad example for the lower classes. Yet a few decades of Victoria and Albert produced the apostheosis of the family and idealized family values that lasted for nearly a century. It took two world wars and a cynical intelligentsia promoting the wrong values to change things.

[little jeremiah]

The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world. And if that hand is a hired hand, not a loving mother, woe to the world. What to speak if the cradle is empty (especially if the would-be resident of the cradle was murdered before birth).

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[wouldntbprudent]

It's funny: I know several young women whose goal in life is to get married and have kids. And you know what? Their *parents* try at every opportunity to dissuade them.

Sad.

[annelizly]

I would be all for my daughter wanting to grow up to get married and have children as her goal.....the problem is where is she supposed to find a boy who will be able to earn enough money to support her and their children???

It is becoming increasingly more difficult , if not impossible, to live a middle class exsistance without two college educations and two jobs.

[wouldntbprudent]

I have to disagree. I can't accept the premise that it takes two jobs to live well.