Letters to my Daughters & A Mother Level
I do not profess to be an expert in parenting (far from it - I am flawed as a mother, as we all are!) but the Letters I have until now been sharing via my newsletter seem to have touched people - they recognise themselves, as many of the themes I write about are universally experienced. I am not alone, and nor are you.
A Mother Level was born when I started hearing about and experiencing how INVISIBLE motherhood is. Often behind closed doors, often assumed about in culture or the Arts, often experienced in isolation by parents up and down the country. In my work as a coach with (almost entirely) mothers, I witness extraordinary skills being developed, beautiful qualities unfurling, that too often go unnoticed, unappreciated.
I also notice how shameful it can be, and how guilt inducing it can be for so many women, to be seen as anything other that patient, loving and together. But the reality is often not like this and we get caught up in the negatives, without recognising quite how fantastically resilient and brilliant we are.
So these pages and audio offerings are here to CELEBRATE. Mothers are amazing. So there.
My Letters To My Daughters have moved, provoked and challenged readers to consider some of the more challenging aspects of parenting - from a parents point of view. A Mother Level blog is a NEW series of writings and audio pieces celebrating and spotlighting some of the incredible skills we learn as mothers - which often go unnoticed.
I see you MAMA.
Letters to my Daughters
I started writing letters to my daughters as a way of processing some of the thoughts and feelings I have as a mother. It is the richest, yet most demanding role I have ever had.
I also wanted to share thoughts about some of the choices I make as a parent, and some of the pearls of wisdom I have learned from other mothers I have come across in the work I do.
Coaching practice provides a lens for the way I parent - often feeling my way towards something, often challenged and making mistakes - but recognising how my values, my strengths and my beliefs all play their part. We are all equipped with these fundamental qualities - are yours working well for you?
I also wanted to capture something of being a parent for my chidlren. They really are written for them, with them in mind. I lost my mother when I was young and not nearly a mother myself. I would love to have had some insights from her about what she experienced parenting me and my sisters.
So I offer these letters to my girls as a message into their future.
A Mother Level
Being a mother is incredibly hard work. It tests and shapes and influences us in untold ways. It is the most powerful of transformations - rich in meaning and change and uncertainty.
Yet so many of the qualities we learn go unnoticed in society - undervalued, invisible, unrewarded.
One of the greatest joys of group work is bringing together mothers who not only celebrate these gifts in other people - but begin to see that they also share these capabilities.
Not enough people are shouting from the rooftops about quite how marvellous mothers are - what we give to our children, our families, our communities, our socio-cultural landscapes.
We are the waft and weave of social fabric, and gather a multitude of gifts in our practice of mothering that all workplaces, all businesses, all schools, governments and leaders could benefit and learn from.
We learn patience, intuition, resilience, courage. We learn about relationships and communication, stability and play. And quite apart from needing to ‘fit back in’ after we have children - we should be lifted up high and acknowledged as the giver of life, the nurturer of society, the beating heart of the family.
So. I see you MAMA. These readings and recordings are a celebration of what you do.
