I love the message and mission of this book, and I came away with some wonderful ideas about how to build our family life, but you can only recommend I love the message and mission of this book, and I came away with some wonderful ideas about how to build our family life, but you can only recommend lighting candles and sipping tea so many times! (Honorable mention to Celtic music.)...more
I saw this on a FemCatholic recommended book list and am so glad I read it. I finished the day before Mother's Day, 7 months after I gave birth to my I saw this on a FemCatholic recommended book list and am so glad I read it. I finished the day before Mother's Day, 7 months after I gave birth to my first daughter. The stories had me weeping, especially descriptions of the mothers holding their babies for the last time. I was appalled by the lack of care given to these young women, often laboring completely alone with no idea what to expect in birth. Descriptions of the completely prudish attitudes toward sex and pregnancy at the time were telling. I believe the fallout has been immense. You simply can't take something as powerful as sex and pretend that it doesn't exist. I am all the more convicted to raise my daughter with an awareness of the intricate design of her female body, and pass on to her a view of sex that recognizes its power, goodness, and sacredness.
Reflecting on this made me so grateful for my father's intentionality in teaching me about what to expect from boys. So many of these girls were strung along in romantic relationships and pressured into sex without understanding what was happening. Although there is no failsafe way to protect a daughter from these situations, my dad helped instill healthy boundaries by communicating openly with me from a very early age. I remember playing with a neighborhood boy who asked me to show him my panties at age 6. My dad was aware enough to ask what we'd been doing, and I still remember him explaining that it was never appropriate for a boy to ask me such a thing. Later, as a teenager, when I developed attachments with boys, he asked me my feelings, intentions, and goals in those relationships. I saw how he cherished my mom and looked for the same from the men in my life. I recognize the self-confidence this gave me and its protective effect.
This book also put me in awe of the bond between mother and child. It is so very essential to support women by providing them the option to raise their own children. Even though the social stigma for single mothers is lessened, we need to step up and help with work, childcare, and financial obstacles to keeping mother and baby together. I am glad that open adoptions are now becoming the norm, but I think we also need to consider the consequences of a rise in surrogacy and donor conception. These biological connections mean something. The idea that we can scrub them as if they never existed caused lifelong pain to these women, and in so many cases, their children. It was beautiful to see how healing it was for so many to reconnect after decades of separation.
I was incredibly moved by reading this book, and I know that it will influence the way I see my fellow women and the way I raise my children. ...more
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