It is more than money, honey, and it's not your mother's world. Motherhood is priceless. The economics of motherhood is one of tangible and intangible nurturing. Some of this is contribution to family/society/culture/ in the form of work-for-pay but most of it is unpaid labor that has been grossly neglected and undervalued in the scheme of what is significant and what matters. Moms are very mixed up in determining what matter$ most. Our society is structured one way but the sands are shifting so fast it is hard to know how to steady oneself and one's children. It is all very unsettling navigating change, health and welfare. Change and the management of it: American moms can and are doing this (with online support from blogs or Flylady...).
We are in a transition to a knowledge economy and how mothers nurture their children, teach them what they should know, raise them up to be valuable contributors to society and teaching children how to think and how to learn... well, these are just the basics. Mothers contribute priceless management decisions that are part of the free economy which is one of the most culturally and societally significant (and overlooked) structures of the $ystem. The $tuff mothers attend to, especially in the overwhelming information age, is what should move all of us to the concept of whole mothers --mothers who make decisions for the well-being and welfare of the micro and macro familial units, for pay and not for pay. A circular, whole concept rather than linear, ebbing and flowing as the seasons do rather than moving from point A to B.
According to the latest Pew Survey, 42% of survey respondents were pessimistic about humans’ ability to control the technology in the future and "...dangers and dependencies will grow beyond our ability to stay in charge of technology." Motherhood is a morphing thing and the role$ of mom$ in the new economy is immea$urable. When trust in institutions is declining, the leadership of mothers in overseeing the welfare of their charges is a responsibility every mother knows in her gut. Mothers are navigating newer roads in these changing times. American women can and have done this adapting over and over, historically; the pioneering spirit is in the bones. So as our grandmothers could pluck chickens, our children won't but they can pop the pieces in the microwave. Bloggin' mamas should be ahead of the changes, as a new study shows that tech is a uniting factor in the 2.0 family, leading to a new surge and focus on the nuclear family.
We've been dancing on the knife edge of change at the same time that mothers are mothers are mothers. (If you wonder about how important mothers are as society's steady anchors, look how fatherhood is all over the place with over 20 name categories for the types of fathers).
Do we enforce things that have been traditionally important, or do we push for adaptive and new skills? At least in the world of blogs, moms know they aren't alone and share their concerns (something that one blogging mom looks at from a literary criticism viewpoint). One mom debates the issue of handwriting and how to handle it. Two of my children were told by teachers that cursive didn't matter anymore, spell check was a tool for accuracy instead of mental memorization and that keyboarding would be a greater skill for communication than handwriting anyway. That was 14 years ago. What matters? We debate these things and question what is being taught to children. One mother, Mom on a Mission, works to cook and eat together...something much harder to do now than back when while another struggles with dating rituals that are no longer rigid and homogenous. One mom, Mary Tsao, tries to set a happy tone in times that are stressful for families while still yet another mom is relieved that her family managed while her job took her away for over a week. Raising children requires juggling priorities -- one mother of Six Kids takes a sabbatical from blogging to focus on other things. Did your mom ever think about genetic testing as some moms do today?
The ability to navigate and guide oneself and others through the warp-speed changes is pricele$$ and mothers are finding themselves in the middle of the circle of change. $mart moms are those who can make $ense in connnecting children to the past and future.
The $ignificance of mothers... just what is on my mind lately as are other nano thoughts. But motherhood is more than a nano thing.
Photo: Halloween Unlimited (morph yourselves, moms!)
Love the "2.0 family" - should be a book, if it isn't already! You've set my PTA prez mind a thinkin'...perhaps this is a program for us.
The homecoming dance stuff is getting downright funny. Supposedly a certain young man now has my daughter's locker combo and tried to get into it yesterday to plant his "surprise" invitation, but it jammed. She couldn't get into it either this morning, and the office sent someone up to fix it. Perhaps there will be a surprise awaiting tomorrow...one must approach this with humor...
Posted by: Kathy | September 28, 2006 at 10:52 PM
Family 2.0 - or Family XP, or i-Family... you're so right that it's all a-changin', and that we need to do our best to *steer* the direction, not just ride along passively...
Posted by: Her Bad Mother | October 11, 2006 at 02:53 PM