Discuss how motherhood has been romanticised and the negative impacts of the romanticisation of motherhood.

Being a mother has always been portrayed in a perfect light whether by parenting guide books, by society, by the media, etc. It is thought to encourage women to have children unknowing the damaging effects. Mothers in this idealisation are to be immensely selfless, loving, and sacrificing. All the difficulties from feeding to giving up several career opportunities, they are supposed to pull off flawlessly and always with a smile. Everyone admired and applauded mothers, thinking that they all do the same. Although this over the top glorification is not applicable to every mothers’ circumstances and tends to overlook mental struggling such as postpartum depression, society and mothers themselves start forming and imposing expectations based on it. Thus, it is hard for them to seek help when needed. Because, first of all, they feel ashamed of themselves for not being able to achieve what looked and sounded so easy. Secondly, the public thinks they are being overly dramatic because being a mother is such a simple and enjoyable job. This takes an especially huge toll on new mothers’ mental and physical health since they are expected to manage perfectly without any practical experience Such expectations also restrain mothers from thinking for themselves such as going out with friends or getting themselves something nice because they will be deemed selfish since a mother’s time, money and effort is to be spent on her child. Hence making it even harder for mothers to release existing stress caused by caring for their children. It also stopped mothers from finding work, making them financially dependent on their husbands which restricts their choices of what to spend money on. Romanticised motherhood also overshadows the father figure, limiting to only being the breadwinner and providing for the family. Therefore, fathers are rarely ever appreciated for spending time with their children compared to mothers and are seen to not be fulfilling their supposed paternal duty even though the care of a father is just as important as a mother’s. So, fathers tend to pull out of their children’s upbringing, also making it more difficult for mothers to cope without help and children to talk about their problems and ask for help without moms. Acknowledging a mother’s sacrifice is a crucial thing, however, we should also acknowledge father’s and moters that cannot find themselves able to do just as much and make mistakes. As well as respect their choices to take time for themselves.