Introduction
A mother is a social or biological parent. In mammals like human beings, biological mother is the one that gestates fertilized ovum called an embryo at the beginning which later becomes fetus. Gestation occurs in the uterus of the mother which begins from conception up to the time when fetus develops sufficiently to a newborn. The mother experiences labor and thereafter gives birth. Immediately the baby is born, there is a process called lactation when the mother produces breast milk to nourish the baby for one year or more during the baby’s life.
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The title mother is also used to a woman who is not a biological parent if she performs any social role. This is mostly a mother who have adopted a child or a step mother who is the wife of the father of the child. Currently technology has advanced resulting to split between genetic mother who gives out the ovum and gestation mother who is responsible for carrying the pregnancy and in theory the one that takes care of the child is the social mother.
Historically, mothers have been bringing up the children but in the late 20th century, fathers have been playing great role in child care in western countries. Motherhood experience is different depending on the location. Countries in Scandinavian are good places where one can be a mother but the worst countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. Mothers’ should always be taken good care of during childbirth so that the baby can be born alive. (Ignacy, 1993)
Role of a mother
The mother carries the child in the womb for nine months before she gives birth. The mother of every child is the creature on earth that is most perfect, loveliest and most infallible. It is a hard task to be a role model mother and we have no rules which are fast written to be ideal parent or ideal mother. The most important thing is to understand the responsibility of instilling good virtues to the mind of the child and ensuring that the child grows up to be happy, confident and good.
An ideal mother inculcates best values in her children and is patient enough to put up with childish tantrums and make sure that the child is happy and satisfied without becoming over-indulgent. The mother is mixture of calmness, coolness and purity. She is the best friend of the child and is always there for the child when the situations are either good or worse and acts as the light to the life of the child.
In the society, motherhood is taken to be something special. Stability and security for children are provided by the mother. Mother sacrifices her desires and wants for Childs benefit but most teenagers have not yet reached maturity and need workshops to get skills and be provided with information for her to become mature and stable mother that the child requires. Teenage mothers want to become good mothers but they do not have the skills for parenting. Therefore, workshops teach them on child discipline and nutrition for her to rear her children well. (Masterson, 1975)
Qualities of a good mother
A good mother is hardworking and persevering. She ensures that the child goes to school and pays the school fees at the right time and attains the highest level of education even if there are problems with finances. She is a woman who is strong-willed and thinks positively and does not give up even if she is faced with difficult situations. She always has a fighting spirit and strives to live a longer life so that she can take care of her children until they become self-reliant.
A good mother is persistent and determined to do her best all the time in order to attain something. She is loving and supportive even when children grow up and have their families. The mother is tolerant and sacrificing. She always has enough reserve for feeding the children and does not allow them to go hungry. She reasons with her children and assists them when they are in difficult situations. A good mother advises her children and corrects them when they do wrong and instills discipline when necessary to ensure that the children are well behaved and they are able to do good and free away from what is evil.
Challenges facing mothers
Many mothers today are employed and therefore they have to go to work and at the same time take care of the children. This forces them to spend most of the time away from the children and hence they are not able to offer the care and attention they would like to their children. They end up employing house help or taking their children to daycare and can not monitor closely how the child is growing.
There are mothers who are single and they get children out of wedlock. These mothers are stressed because the children do not have a father and when they grow up and realize that they are lacking something, they end up demanding to know where their father is and why he is not taking care of them. These children may also lack discipline because, the mother is too busy taking care of the family needs alone and having little time for teaching the children good virtues. (Halfon, 2002)
References
Halfon N. (2002): challenges facing parents with young children: MA Schuster.
Ignacy S. (1993): The mother and other unsavory plays: Applause.
Masterson J. (1975): The role of the mother: Psycho-analysis.