What Mothers Do

What Mothers Do by Naomi Stalden.

Naomi Stalden, a qualified psychotherapist and mother of three, has unique experience of listening to mothers – for over twelve years she has run a weekly discussion group for new mothers. With this knowledge as background she has written a book that explores mothers’ experiences to reveal what they are doing when it may look, to everyone else and sometimes even to the mother herself, like nothing. The book covers many aspects of motherhood – a life of being interruptible all day and night, the power of comforting a baby, what caring for a baby actually means, tiredness, motherly love, and the transformed relationships between a mother and her husband and her own mother.

This is a book every mother should read. Motherhood is incredibly rewarding, but at the same time tough and tiring. The difference between motherhood and any other tough job is that people look up to a person who does a ‘real’ tough job. People looking up to oneself is a self esteem boost that makes up for a large part of the suffering that comes with a tough job. With motherhood however, it is a different matter. No one really looks up to mothers – how hard can it be hanging out at home with a baby? This is where the book Why Love Matters comes into play – it provides the self esteem boost every mother needs. What I especially liked about the book is that it addresses mothers with all kinds of backgrounds – whether working or stay-at-home, rich or poor, first time mum or experienced mother.