Families don't always realize that mother is exhausted, because mother is always exhausted. Exhausted is what looks normal. Mary Blakely More Quotes by Mary Blakely More Quotes From Mary Blakely However diligent she may be, however dedicated, no mother can escape the larger influences of culture, biology, fate . . . until we can actually live in a society where mothers and children genuinely matter, ours is an essentially powerless responsibility. Mothers carry out most of the work orders, but most of the rules governing our lives are shaped by outside influences. Mary Blakely responsibility mother children In an ideal society, mothers and fathers would produce potty- trained, civilized, responsible new citizens while government and corporate leaders would provide a safe, healthy, economically just community. Mary Blakely government mother father One life stamps and influences another, which in turn stamps and influences another, on and on, until the soul of human experience breathes on in generations we'll never meet. Mary Blakely soul inspiring children Divorce is the psychological equivalent of a triple coronary by pass. After such a monumental assault on the heart, it takes years to amend all the habits and attitudes that led up to it. Mary Blakely divorce heart attitude If a woman is to know herself, then periods of solitude should be courted, planned, and embraced. Mary Blakely solitude periods should Most literature on the culture of adolescence focuses on peer pressure as a negative force. Warnings about the "wrong crowd" read like tornado alerts in parent manuals. . . . It is a relative term that means different things in different places. In Fort Wayne, for example, the wrong crowd meant hanging out with liberal Democrats. In Connecticut, it meant kids who weren't planning to get a Ph. D. from Yale. Mary Blakely yale mean kids Our humor turns our anger into a fine art. Mary Blakely fine anger art The absolute dependence of a newborn infant inspired many things in me, but it did not activate any magical knowledge about what to do for the next twenty years. Mary Blakely next twenties years Women aren't trying to do too much. Women have too much to do. Mary Blakely too-much busy trying It's an old trick now, God knows, but it works every time. At the very moment women start to expand their place in the world, scientific studies deliver compelling reasons for them to stay home. Mary Blakely compelling-reason home world Mother is the first word that occurs to politicians and columnists and popes when they raise the question, 'Why isn't life turning out the way we want it? Mary Blakely mother want way We are expected, somehow, not to offend anyone on our way to liberation. There's an absurd expectation that the women's movement must be the first revolution in history to accomplish its goals without hurting anyone's feelings. Mary Blakely goal hurt expectations The truth invariably arrives several years after you need it. Mary Blakely too-late years needs In a culture that gives men irresponsible power and women powerless responsibility, the advancement of civilization cannot be a serious goal. Mary Blakely responsibility men civilization Never accept an expert's opinion if it violates your own because the experts can change their minds. Mary Blakely opinion experts mind Divorce exposes absolutely ever buried assumption about marriage ... how a husband's sense of entitlement and a wife's sense of duty turned the principle of 'our money, our kids' into the reality of 'his money, her kids. Mary Blakely divorce husband kids A mother can legitimately be said to 'have a baby' - but in a civilization such as ours, she can never claim to own a teenager. Mary Blakely teenager mother baby Although a firm swat could bring a recalcitrant child swiftly into line, the changes were usually external, lasting only as long as the swatter remained in view....Permanent transformation had to be internal....The habits of self discipline, as laborious and frustrating as they were to achieve, offered the only real possibility of keeping children safe from their own excesses as well as the omnipresent dangers of society. Mary Blakely real self children Certainly, words can be as abusive as any blow. . . . When a three-year-old yells, "You're so stupid! What a dummy!" it doesn't carry the same weight as when a mother yells those words to a child. . . . Even if you don't physically abuse young children, you can still drive them nuts with your words. Mary Blakely stupid mother children What stunned me was the regular assertion that feminists were "anti-family." . . . It was motherhood that got me into the movementin the first place. I became an activist after recognizing how excruciatingly personal the political was to me and my sons. It was the women's movement that put self-esteem back into "just a housewife," rescuing our intelligence from the junk pile of "instinct" and making it human, deliberate, powerful. Mary Blakely powerful self-esteem son
