motherhood

PARENTING IS OFTEN described as one of life’s most rewarding jobs. It’s also a huge stress inducer, especially when parents work outside the home and have juggle the competing demands of job and family. Parents are increasingly looking for coping methods and solutions to make it all work.

KTD contributor Paula Dobbyn spoke to three mothers who rely on meditation and yoga to try find balance.

Links from this story: KarenMaezenMiller.com; DianaWinston.com

Our Mother’s Day special explores how motherhood has evolved since the Greek and Roman times. We’ll be looking at moms through the ages as well as discussing modern trends in motherhood today.  It’s a fascinating discussion on family structure, societal expectations and the importance of moms. 

IN-STUDIO GUESTS: Joining host Shana Sheehy to discuss moms throughout time is guest Dr. Shari L. Thurer, author of Myths of Motherhood: How Culture Reinvents the Good Mother (Penguin, 1995), and The End of Gender: A Psychological Autopsy (Routledge, 2005). Dr. Thurer joined us from the WBUR studios in Boston. 

LINKS FROM THIS PROGRAM:

• ShariThurer.com
• The Conflict: How Modern Motherhood Undermines the Status of Women, by Elisabeth Badinter
• Review of The Conflict (Forbes.com)
• From 1997-2007 Full-time Work Grows Less Attractive to Moms (Pew Research)
• Of Woman Born: Motherhood as Experience and Institution, by Adrienne Rich

FEATURED STORIES:

- Teen Mom/High School Student - In Anchorage, some teen moms attend Crossroads - a high school just for pregnant and parenting teens. Some of them are also enrolled in Kids Corps Early Head Start program. The program has an in-home program, one that offers child development information, developmental screening and general support to these young moms. KTD contributor Jessica Cochran spoke to the woman who does those home visits, Tundra Paulson.

- Zen & the Art of Motherhood - We've all heard that practicing yoga and meditation can have profound effects on our bodies and minds; KTD contributor Paula Dobbyn explores the effects they also can have on practicing motherhood.

It may be hard to remember a time when Google, Facebook or Wikipedia weren't at the ready to supply us with information and to connect us to others. These days we can look up any ailment or join a support group just by using our smart phones, but a few years ago when Susan Kushner Resnick was experiencing symptoms of postpartum depression she couldn't find anyone who'd been through it and who'd survived to tell their story. She wanted to feel less alone.

So after she survived her postpartum depression, she wrote a memoir all about her experience - to let others know that it gets better.

[Read an excerpt of Susan's memoir here.]

Producer Sarah Gonzales recently spoke with the author.

THE DESIRE TO have a child and become a mother can be deeply felt by any woman - whether she is partnered, married, in her late twenties or early forties. But what happens when a woman has the mothering desire but doesn't have the partner?

Well, some women will become Single Mothers By Choice rather than pass up the opportunity to have a baby while they still can. Turns out a large faction of Americans take issue with this decision... A Pew Research Center study from earlier this year asked Americans which type of so-called "alternative" child-rearing environment was the "most harmful" for children to grow up in. Nearly 7 out of 10 said that they thought single women raising children without a male partner was more harmful than other "alternative" family structures like gay parents, divorced parents or unmarried parents living together raising children.

We at Kids These Days! wanted to understand where this fear of single motherhood might come from, so we went to the leading national expert on the topic. Jane Mattes is the founder of Single Mothers by Choice, and the author of the book of the same name.

KTD Producer Sarah Gonzales spoke with Jane Mattes in New York.

This story original featured on Show 31: Happy Mothers.

We've all heard the adage, "If momma's not happy, nobody's happy," and chances are it's proved true in your household at one time or another. So, in celebration of Mother's Day this coming Sunday, we wanted to know how to help mom be happy and how to keep mom happy (year round!).

IN-STUDIO GUESTS: Joining KTD Host Shana Sheehy in the studio are two guests.

• Peggy O'Mara is the Editor/Publisher of Mothering Magazine, she takes a look at how motherhood and happiness are linked and how mom's mood affects the family. 

• Sharon Fleck is a local therapist, she talks postpartum depression and other perinatal mood disorders affecting mothers' happiness.

FEATURED STORIES:

- Single Moms by Choice - A recent Pew Research Center poll about alternative family structures in the US found that 7 out of 10 Americans thought that women raising children solo was "harmful to society". KTD Producer Sarah Gonzales speaks with Jane Mattes, author and founder of Single Mothers By Choice, who responds to these results and explains why having the choice is so important to women who have the mothering desire, but not the partner. [Full story]

- Chef KTD: Mother's Day Breakfast - Dads, this one's for you: Our own Chef KTD, Liz Madsen, returns with a recipe for the perfect Mom's day breakfast in bed. She and her son, Aiden, show contributor Jessica Cochran and her two kids how to prepare strawberry cream cheese stuffed french toast. Yum! [Story + recipe + pix]

- What Makes Mom Happy - Fourth graders at Chester Valley Elementary say they think makes their moms happy. And then hear it from the number one expert source: moms share what makes them them happiest.