Mothers: Learning, Growing and Nurturing Belonging

By Brian Smith

As many of you know, I am a new father so our family is still working our way through the massive amount of information about parenting. Here is an interesting article from babycenter.com: Big Story: How motherhood makes you smarter.

What makes it particularly relevent to this blog? Well three reasons:
1. Many new mothers, especially single moms, sturggle with isolation as a result of their changing social networks.

2. The article alludes to a number of ways to nurture a relationship. Of course the author is referring to the mother-child relationship in this article, but I think there is much that can be transferred to our other relationships as well.

3. This paragraph says a lot, "Get social: Don't let motherhood turn you into a lactating hermit. Being a new mother means you're vulnerable in a whole new way and need people in a deeper sense than you ever have before, says Ellison. Seek out other mothers at the playground, the gym, even the grocery store. Other mothers empathize with what you're going through like no one else. One large study funded by the National Institutes of Health found that belonging to a strong social network correlates with better mental functioning. Plus, social support helps ward off postpartum depression — a problem that affects 10 percent of new moms."