Friends & Mothers
Friends & Mothers

Author: Louise Limerick

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2013-11-12

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 1466857129

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"Never again will you walk past a group of moms having coffee and cake without dying to know what's going on beneath the surface." ---The Sydney Morning Herald Five women, all of them mothers, meet regularly for tea and cake. Their lives are consumed by children, school drop-offs, and casual conversations; so their respite at the Vista Cafe is a welcome retreat. Until the day that Evelyn's baby disappears. Suffering severe postpartum depression, Evelyn is now in a psychiatric hospital refusing to utter a word---not even any information regarding the whereabouts of her newborn daughter, Amy---leaving her remaining four friends at a loss. In her absence, they begin to piece together Evelyn's life, as a mother and as a woman, and start to take a look at their own lives. What ensues is each woman's uncovering of her own lapsed desires---those dreams and wants that were slowly sidelined or put off for a later date as husband, marriage, and child-rearing became full-time occupations. Joanna confronts her halfhearted efforts to lose the baby weight from her second child, Sam, who is now three years old. Clare's lifestyle is as unkempt as her hair, a fact that usually has her buying the newest day planner but now makes her question her early beginnings as an artist. Susan is the stereotypical supermom who is never late to pick up her kids, yet she cannot seem to take the same charge when it comes to her own life. And Wendy, though the quietest among them, perhaps has the biggest secrets. In a darkly humorous manner, guilty secrets and lives are entwined as the suspense builds during the desperate search for Evelyn's missing daughter. Louise Limerick's Friends & Mothers is a vivid and honest portrayal of real motherhood and the challenges and joys that face the women who occupy this role---a contemporary story of the extraordinary strength of love. International Praise for Friends & Mothers "A great read . . . [Limerick's] depictions of the minutiae of raising children are lovingly realistic but not overly sentimental." ---The Age (Australia) "Where Limerick's writing shines is in her buoyant evocation of the sticky, constant, exasperating, and loving realm of small children and their careers. There are many such delicious scenes in this novel." ---The Weekend Australian "Limerick has a real knack for capturing the small triumphs and tragedies of everyday life . . . a passion and a tenderness for her characters that won us over." ---The Sydney Morning Herald

Adolescent Relations with Mothers, Fathers and Friends
Adolescent Relations with Mothers, Fathers and Friends

Author: James Youniss

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1985

Total Pages: 210

ISBN-13: 0226964884

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This book is a companion piece and extension of an earlier analysis of parent and friend relations, their structure and functions in children's social and personal development (James Youniss, Parents and Peers in Social Development: A Sullivan-Piaget Perspective, University of Chicago Press, 1980) The present book focuses on adolescents in these same relations. It presents two kinds of material: first, adolescents' own descriptions of interactions they have had in these relations, and second, theory regarding what these relations are and how they contribute to development. As before, relations are treated in the ideal typical sense as descriptions are synthesized across subjects to yield average charateristics that define structure.

When You and Your Mother Can't Be Friends
When You and Your Mother Can't Be Friends

Author: Victoria Secunda

Publisher: Delta

Published: 2009-11-04

Total Pages: 428

ISBN-13: 0307431304

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“A book of great value for every daughter and every mother; useful for sons, too.”—Benjamin Spock, M.D. From the Introduction: The goal of this book is to help readers achieve that separation so that they can either find a way to be friends with their mothers, or at least recognize and accept that their mothers did the best they could—even if it wasn't “good enough”—and to stop blaming them. Among the issues to be covered: • To understand how a daughter's attachment to her mother—more so than her relationship with her father—colors all her other relationships, and to analyze why it is more difficult for daughters than sons to separate from their mothers, as well as why daughters are more subject than sons to a mother's manipulation • To recognize the difference between a healthy and a destructive mother-daughter connection, and to define clearly the “bad mommy,” in order to help readers who have trouble acknowledging their childhood losses to begin to comprehend them • To conjugate what I call the “Bad Mommy Taboo”—why our culture is more eager to protect the sanctity of maternity than it is to protect emotionally abused daughters • To describe the evolution of the "unpleasable" mother—in all likelihood, she was bereft of maternal love as a child—and to recognize the huge, and often poignant, stake she has in keeping her grown daughter dependent and off-balance • To illustrate the consequent controlling behavior—in some cases, cloaked in fragility or good intentions—of such mothers, which falls into general patterns, including: the Doormat, the Critic, the Smotherer, the Avenger, the Deserter • To understand that the daughter has a similar stake in either being a slave to or hating her mother—the two sides of her depen dency and immaturity • To illustrate the responsive behavior—and survival mechanisms —of daughters, which is determined in part by such variables as birth rank, family history, and temperament, and which also falls into patterns, including: the Angel, the Superachiever, the Cipher, the Troublemaker, the Defector • To show how to redefine the mother-daughter relationship, so that each can learn to see and accept the other as she is today, appreciating each other's good qualities and not being snared by the bad • Finally, to demonstrate that a redefined relationship with one's mother—adult to adult—frees you from the past, whether that re definition ultimately results in real friendship, affectionate truce, or divorce.

Mothers-Sisters/Daughters-Friends
Mothers-Sisters/Daughters-Friends

Author: Vanessa Morgan

Publisher: AuthorHouse

Published: 2014-02-17

Total Pages: 145

ISBN-13: 1491861894

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Mothers-Sisters/Daughters-Friends is a collection of short stories about eight women living in Hopeville, Georgia. They are ordinary women with an extraordinary love for each other. Although the ladies are confronted with many trials and tribulations in life, their love is constant.

When Mothers Work, Who Pays?
When Mothers Work, Who Pays?

Author: Martha Sugar

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 1994-06-22

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 0313033862

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This book is a comprehensive look at the results of a study, done under the auspices of Kent State University, that explored the attitudes, beliefs, and life orientation of 253 women between the ages of 25 and 45. Depending upon the amount of employment that the subjects' mothers had outside the home while the subjects were growing up, the adult subjects responded to questions of adjustment to life, overall sense of well-being, emotional stability, and sense of self-fulfillment. The overwhelming response was that women whose mothers had worked while they were growing up were more likely to suffer from depression, to feel less effective as parents, and to report less satisfaction with their parenting skills, careers, and life in general. Contrary to perceived notions of family adjustment to working mothers, day care, and women's liberation, this study forces us to respond to the warning signals issued by a generation of the daughters of working mothers. While Sugar's findings are clear and unambiguous, she provides ample information for the reader to explore other interpretations of the data and the cause and possible solutions.

Migrant Mothers in the Digital Age
Migrant Mothers in the Digital Age

Author: Leah Williams Veazey

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-05-03

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 1000379264

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This book explores the experiences of migrant mothers through the lens of the online communities they have created and participate in. Examining the ways in which migrant mothers build relationships with each other through these online communities and find ways to make a place for themselves and their families in a new country, it highlights the often overlooked labour that goes into sustaining these groups and facilitating these new relationships and spaces of trust. Through the concept of ‘digital community mothering,’ the author draws links to Black feminist scholarship that has shed light on the kinds of mothering that exist beyond the mother–child dyad. Providing new insights into the experiences of women who mother ‘away from home’ in this contemporary digital age, this volume explores the concepts of imagined maternal communities, personal maternal narratives, and migrant maternal imaginaries, highlighting the ways in which migrant mothers imagine themselves within local, national, and diasporic maternal communities. As such, it will appeal to scholars and students with interests in migration and diaspora studies, contemporary motherhood and the sociology of the family, and modern forms of online sociality. Winner of The Australian Sociological Association Raewyn Connell Prize for best first book published in Australian sociology, 2020-2021.

From Mother and Daughter to Friends
From Mother and Daughter to Friends

Author: Nancy Aniston

Publisher: Prometheus Books

Published: 2009-12-30

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 1615923764

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Engagingly written as a journal of fond memories, life experiences, lessons learned, and tragedies overcome, this is the story of the family that gave the world actress Jennifer Aniston. Written by her mother, Nancy Aniston, this tender, poetic, and charming memoir represents a healing exercise, and most importantly serves as an example of how to cope with and understand estrangement between parent and child.During the meteoric rise of Jennifer''s popularity on the hit television comedy Friends, Nancy and her daughter had a misunderstanding imposed on them by a tabloid TV report. In the three years since they last spoke, Nancy learned that separation from grown children is a national epidemic and that scores of parents suffer the same feelings of pain, guilt, and shame. This knowledge inspired Nancy Aniston to record family memories in this compelling volume, "and in the process of detailed retrospection a miraculous healing took place."Nancy chronicles her own childhood of poverty, abandonment, failed marriages, and the difficult early years as a single mother. She recalls Jennifer''s early love for the theater, the therapists, career managers, and hangers-on who endangered family bonds as she guided her daughter through the exciting, sometimes disappointing, stages of an acting career that came to realize phenomenal success.While refusing the lure of celebrity gossip, Nancy Aniston strives to secure her story''s inherent dignity, hoping it will be helpful to those trying to overcome their own childhood trauma, fallout from divorce, single-parenting issues, and the "dark hole of child/parent estrangement."

True and Constant Friends
True and Constant Friends

Author: Kelley Paul

Publisher: Center Street

Published: 2015-04-14

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 145556074X

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Kelley Paul, wife of Senator Rand Paul, celebrates lifelong friendships in a beautifully illustrated book about the female bond. Feeling blessed to be one of seven friends who met and grew close in college-and looking forward to their celebration of a milestone birthday together-Kelley Paul wanted to know more about the women who were their first sources of love and inspiration, as her own grandmother and mother have been to her. So she asked each friend to tell her the story of a woman who influenced and guided her, who fostered her sense of joy, independence and courage. As you read each one, you'll discover, as Kelley did, that they're the stories of women everywhere, for they are personal yet universal, ordinary yet extraordinary. This lovely book also features works of art by the women of HomeFront Family Preservation Center and wise words of female authors and poets.