The night before last my daughter scolded me for working late.
“Don’t you know that I need you at night?” she cried, wiping her wet eyes against my blouse.
I did, in fact, know. Many mothers talk about their presence in the home, especially in the evening, as crucial to the functioning of the household. This is not because dads don’t parent as well. My husband is a bread baking, laundry doing, practicing instruments with the kids, dishwasher emptier. There is just something about mommy that holds everything together. It’s not as if they spend time talking with me. Often, I’m just there in the kitchen making some food, reading a book, or doing some professional paperwork on the computer. Sometimes being a mom feels like nothing more than being a regulating mechanism. I’ve heard moms talk about themselves as real life thermometers, quietly tuning in to the minutiae of their kids internal states and providing just the right degree of emotional contact to keep everyone’s emotional temperature in optimal range. I’ve also heard moms wonder where they can possibly find the time. (more…)
Ordinary Earth ™ 