The Silent Side of Motherhood

Far too often, negative feelings surrounding motherhood get swept away, appear socially unacceptable to discuss, or have to be sandwiched between positive caveats of “well I wouldn’t change anything for the world”. However, research has shown that not everyone feels this way and this may be inhibiting more genuine discussions surrounding all of the emotions and feelings that come with being a mom.

In fact, research shows that up 14% of parents regret having children. Not discussing important data such as this skews the picture of what motherhood looks like and may actually be hurting those who reach motherhood and it is not what the media presents or society portrays, leading to more negative feelings than expected at times. Particularly when ideas of being “selfish” if you do not have kids or having the idea fed to children from a young age that having kids was just “what you do”, creates a rhetoric of guilt.

The goal of this podcast was to allow women to speak on motherhood with no caveats and address some of the issues they are facing now which may help others to feel connected and begin to change the narrative of what motherhood “should” look like.

Episode Content:

Episode 1: Discussions with a 2.5 week postpartum mom

Episode 2: Discussions with a woman considering motherhood

Episode 3: Discussions with a mother of adult children

Episode 4: Discussions with a mother of a 10-month-old

Episode 5: Discussion with a woman who decided to remain childless

Information from articles that were referenced within the podcast:

https://www.theatlantic.com/family/archive/2021/08/why-parents-regret-children/619931/

https://www.scarymommy.com/regret-having-children

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2022/01/maggie-gyllenhaal-lost-daughter/621165/

https://czasopisma.uni.lodz.pl/qualit/article/view/7193/6831