Ana Johnson on motherhood

Writing about motherhood is a tricky business. It's important to avoid preaching, hurting other mothers' feelings or boring readers to death.

Ana Johnson writes about motherhood wonderfully well. I have her book, the Yummy Mummy Manifesto, and highly recomnmend it. It's also a great gift for pregnant friends. In the latest post on her site she writes about the contrast between the mother she hoped to be before she had her son and the mother she actually is. I can certainly relate to her tale of dreams and aspirations on the one hand, and being late for school and burning the food, time and again, on the other. "Mediocrity is not something we aspire to, but sometimes we are forced to capitulate to its force", Johnson states. Have a look at:

We are indeed! I often find the most basic household routines (the shopping, the cooking and the dishes) rather exhausting, keeping track of my son's schedule (breakdance classes, birthday parties, school exams) takes up quite a bit of my energy and makes me admire moms who have more than one child and my dream of being the perfect mum has vanished long ago. On the up side, I have turned my working life around completely years ago making me available for my son a lot of the time, I feel true affection for many of his friends, enjoy cookings his favourite dishes and there have always been many tender gestures which, hopefully, provide balance for my impatience and bouts of temper. As my friend Lind aptly put it: "I can't give more than I have." Neither can I. And somehow, I believe, Thomas understands.