The Expectations of a Mother

Control, Having it all, and Doing whatever tf you want

I recently stumbled upon a literary article about the expectations of mothers — and by stumbled, I mean, I googled ‘Expectations of mothers’ and that article was the first thing I clicked on.

The article reports on findings of contemporary motherhood norms; the exact type of thing I was looking for, that I wasn’t sure existed.

I read the article, (Ok, I skimmed it ) and thought it was so interesting. I wasn’t surprised by the findings but seeing a research article clearly spell out the burdens I’ve been feeling for years was like a healthy dose of validation with an aftertaste of disappointment.

As a mother reading this, you’ll know what I mean. There are certain truths we just know. We know that people expect us to be put together, smart, ‘in control of our bodies, our personal mothering performance, and our child.’

We’re expected to keep a close pulse on our child’s development and make sure they become good people. We are in charge of their nutrition, and if they don’t have healthy snacks, it’s on us.

We’re expected to know when to choose ourselves over our children or when to choose our children over our spouse. We’re expected to snap back, look great, and be available.