When my first son was about six months old, I decided to finally go to the aerobics class some of my friends were leading at my church. I geared up with a pack ‘n play, a bag full of toys, extra baby food, my diaper bag (of course), a yoga mat and some weights—not to mention the heavy infant car seat. It took me three or four trips to haul it all in. Then I looked around. The other moms—veterans with two or three kids in tow—were watching my circus with amusement as they settled their own kids into corners of the gym, with a few simple toys.
A few days later, one of these veteran mothers knocked on my door, smiled, and handed me a copy of the book, “Confessions of a Slacker Mom.” Five kids and 15 years later, I smile too, when I think of that overachieving mom I once was—overpreparing and relentlessly searching for the one right answer to every question. But as it turns out, I didn’t need a guidebook to relax into slacker mom life—I just needed a few more kids and some time.
As moms, we are students of child development. We read books. We observe our own kids, and other people’s kids to figure out what’s “normal.” We recognize the different stages they go through. Some pass by as quick as a newborn’s smile, some drag like a morning diaper.
However, we are less likely to recognize our own stages of development, and the remarkable growth we mothers experience as we learn, face and overcome challenges, and perhaps most importantly, chill out a bit.
In this season of the How She Moms Podcast, we’re going to explore this theme of how we mothers evolve and grow, and how our identities shift and develop. I’ll be creating episodes about some of the more universal stages we go through that more or less follow the stages of our children–like becoming mothers in the first place, navigating those early toddler years and parenting elementary kids, teenagers, and eventually adults. But we’ll also talk about some of the stages brought about by circumstances and events that change and shape us as mothers, things like moving, meeting friends and mentors, illnesses for both ourselves and our children, losing people we love, and parenting children with disabilities.
To kick off this theme, I invited three mothers, all in different stages of motherhood, to talk about how motherhood has influenced their growth and development. Click on the audio player above to listen, or find it wherever you listen to podcasts!
Maris Young hosts the Young Honest Mother Podcast and blogs at younghonestmother.com She is the mother of one son, who is three. You can follow her on Instagram @younghonestmother.
Cheryl Cardall is the mother of five children, from 10 to 21. She hosts the Fight Like a Mother podcast, a show about parenting children with mental health challenges. You can follow her on Instagram @supermamas4real
Georgia Anderson is a mother of seven grown children (14 if you count their spouses, which she does) and a grandmother as well. She is a Gottman-trained parenting coach and also hosts retreats for women and couples. You can find her at knowhowmom.com and on Instagram @knowhowmomtips.
