A RE-BRANDED MOTHERHOOD NARRATIVE by Joan Waiyego
When a woman breaks the news of her pregnancy the first thing she gets is a bunch of congratulatory messages and what follows next is the obvious motherhood narrative that’s full of misery such as “how you should say goodbye to a goodnight sleep and prepare for sleepless nights, how you’ll be tied down to the baby, baby’s are a mess in the house and so on. They point out the “misery” that comes with motherhood like they are warning you.
How about we say it’s great fun, it’s an amazing journey, right? Maybe just maybe, we need to say that to each other a bit more. Maybe then, most women would view motherhood different. If it weren’t seen as such physical pressure, intense sacrifices and a way to loose the self you worked so hard to build.
If anything, taking care of a baby might look difficult if you are on the outside but it’s not to a mother, because it’s her new normal. The feeling a mother gets when their baby smiles or says something is not the same as getting a good laugh out of watching a comedy movie or having a nice time with friends. It’s a different category of happiness.
The joy of motherhood is so intimate, there’s literally no way to explain it to the heavy world out there and this is the narrative that we ought to tell to any woman about to have a baby.
When our children grow and eventually make their way to social media during mother’s day, they should be able to get pictures of us Moms, looking all radiant and happy.