With the industrialization of society, the removal of men’s work from the home, and the increased reliance on child care manuals in the 20th century, women became responsible for the moral and physical upbringing of their children. This newfound power, however, came at a price and impacted mothers’ experience of childrearing. Women were supposed to be constantly calm, happy, and loving and had to reject their maternal instincts for those of the experts; they had to be the “perfect mother”. As the mother tried to force herself into the glass mold of the unrealistic mother, she nicked herself on the edges, leaving parts of herself behind and gaining a monstrous anger towards her child. The mother’s experience was scarred by the maleficent emotions she tried to hide; however, through all the resentment and frustration, the mother loved her child. She did not love her child because the manuals and experts instructed her. She loved her child because she was a mother, and nothing could take that life-altering experience away from
With the industrialization of society, the removal of men’s work from the home, and the increased reliance on child care manuals in the 20th century, women became responsible for the moral and physical upbringing of their children. This newfound power, however, came at a price and impacted mothers’ experience of childrearing. Women were supposed to be constantly calm, happy, and loving and had to reject their maternal instincts for those of the experts; they had to be the “perfect mother”. As the mother tried to force herself into the glass mold of the unrealistic mother, she nicked herself on the edges, leaving parts of herself behind and gaining a monstrous anger towards her child. The mother’s experience was scarred by the maleficent emotions she tried to hide; however, through all the resentment and frustration, the mother loved her child. She did not love her child because the manuals and experts instructed her. She loved her child because she was a mother, and nothing could take that life-altering experience away from