Why Mothering Matters

A nuanced and revealing discussion of what it means to be a mother in modern society.

In the Garden of Eden, there was only one "No." Everything else was "Yes." In this short book on Christian childrearing, Douglas Wilson points out that we have a Father who delights in us and makes it easy for us to love and obey him. If that is the kind of Father we have, shouldn't we earthly parents do the same? Wilson explains how parents should not just try to get their kids to obey a set of rules or to make their house so fun that following the rules is always easy. Instead, he calls for parents to instill in their kids a love for God and His standards that will serve them well all their days. This book also features an appendix in which Doug and his wife Nancy answer various parents' questions about various applications of the principles discussed in this book.

A powerful look at the importance of a mother’s presence in the first years of life **Featured in The Wall Street Journal, and seen on Good Morning America, Fox & Friends, and CBS New York** In this important and empowering book, veteran psychoanalyst Erica Komisar explains why a mother's emotional and physical presence in her child's life--especially during the first three years--gives the child a greater chance of growing up emotionally healthy, happy, secure, and resilient. In other words, when it comes to connecting with your baby or toddler, more is more. Compassionate and balanced, and focusing on the emotional health of children and moms alike, this book shows parents how to give their little ones the best chance for developing into healthy and loving adults. Based on more than two decades of clinical work, established psychoanalytic theory, and the most cutting-edge neurobiological research on caregiving, attachment, and brain development, Being There explains: • How to establish emotional connection with a newborn or young child--regardless of whether you're able to work part-time or stay home • How to ease transitions to minimize stress for your baby or toddler • How to select and train quality childcare • What's true and false about widely held beliefs like "I'm not good with babies" and “I’ll make up for it when he’s older” • How to recognize and combat feelings of postpartum depression or boredom • Why three months of maternity leave is not long enough--and how parents can take control of their choices to provide for their family's emotional needs in the first three years Being a new mom isn’t easy. But with support, emotional awareness, and coping skills, it can be the most magical—and essential—work we’ll ever do.

'Natalie has a wealth of knowledge on so many topics and provides great bite-sized pieces of advice.' Nadia Lim 'Finally a book that deals with the things that really matter, based on the actual science and a depth of clinical experience.' Nigel Latta Psychologist Dr Natalie Flynn has examined all the research on key baby topics such as feeding, sleeping and crying. The result? Smart Mothering, a revolutionary book that separates the facts from the opinions. Find out what research says about the dilemmas so many parents face: What if I can't breastfeed? Is it best to feed on demand? Can I leave my baby to cry? Should I vaccinate my baby? Is bed-sharing a good idea? Natalie provides the answers to these questions and many more. Smart Mothering is objective, accessible and practical. With helpful tips, succinct summaries and clear diagrams it demystifies the often confusing and overwhelming world of parenting. This book is a must-read for anyone who wants to make informed decisions about how best to care for their baby.

What Wild at Heart did for men, Captivating is doing for women. Setting their hearts free. This groundbreaking book shows readers the glorious design of women before the fall, describes how the feminine heart can be restored, and casts a vision for the power, freedom, and beauty of a woman released to be all she was meant to be.

Ditch Pressure for Freedom in Christ Any mom who has tried to create a godly home for her family knows it doesn’t happen automatically. Through books, blogs, and Instagram accounts, culture asserts that good moms must follow certain standards and abide by certain rules if she want what’s best for her children. She must do everything she can—and she must do it all just right. Following the suggested steps and recommended rules may seem best, but what if we’re missing the point? This is something Maggie Combs came to realize while seeking to be a good mom to her three sons. Though the world around us may have critical expectations and rules for mothering, Christ instead calls moms to an intimate, abiding relationship with a triune God. In Motherhood Without All the Rules, Maggie identifies the main “rules” moms today often feel pressured to follow and counters them with gospel truth. You’ll discover how the character of each member of the trinity practically impacts your role as a mom. Join Maggie in forgetting the rules, so that instead of being a good mom, you grow to become a holy mom.

The author presents convincing research to show how a baby's relationship with his or her mother has a lasting and deep impact. Recent social changes--whether it is delayed motherhood, limited success with breastfeeding, or the mother's early return to work--can interfere with the key developmental milestones essential for the baby's wellbeing in later life. Sally Goddard Blythe says, "We need a society that gives children their parents and, most of all, gives babies their mothers back." This book is the fully updated second edition of What Babies and Children Really Need.

This volume investigates how mothers can understand parenting as spiritual practice, and what this practice means for theological scholarship. An intergenerational and intercultural group of mother-scholars explores these questions that arise at the intersection of motherhood studies, religious practice, pastoral care, and theology through engaging and accessible essays. Essays include both narrative and theological elements, as authors draw on personal reflection, interviews, and/or sociological studies to write about the theological implications of parenting practice, rethink key concepts in theology, and contribute to a more robust account of parenting as spiritual practice from various theological perspectives. The volume both challenges oppressive, religious images of self-sacrificing motherhood and considers the spiritual dimensions of mothering that contribute to women’s empowerment and well-being. It also deepens practical and systematic theologies to include concern for the embodied and everyday challenges and joys of motherhood as it is experienced and practiced in diverse contexts of privilege and marginalization.

A collection of feminist essays steeped in “Solnit’s unapologetically observant and truth-speaking voice on toxic, violent masculinity” (The Los Angeles Review). In a timely and incisive follow-up to her national bestseller Men Explain Things to Me, Rebecca Solnit offers sharp commentary on women who refuse to be silenced, misogynistic violence, the fragile masculinity of the literary canon, the gender binary, the recent history of rape jokes, and much more. In characteristic style, “Solnit draw[s] anecdotes of female indignity or male aggression from history, social media, literature, popular culture, and the news . . . The main essay in the book is about the various ways that women are silenced, and Solnit focuses upon the power of storytelling—the way that who gets to speak, and about what, shapes how a society understands itself and what it expects from its members. The Mother of All Questions poses the thesis that telling women’s stories to the world will change the way that the world treats women, and it sets out to tell as many of those stories as possible” (The New Yorker). “There’s a new feminist revolution—open to people of all genders—brewing right now and Rebecca Solnit is one of its most powerful, not to mention beguiling, voices.”—Barbara Ehrenreich, New York Times–bestselling author of Natural Causes “Short, incisive essays that pack a powerful punch.” —Publishers Weekly “A keen and timely commentary on gender and feminism. Solnit’s voice is calm, clear, and unapologetic; each essay balances a warm wit with confident, thoughtful analysis, resulting in a collection that is as enjoyable and accessible as it is incisive.” —Booklist