Parenting is tough: the lack of sleep, the baby that cries for hours for no reason, the toddler that has a tantrum for all too many reasons. But being a mother is often especially hard.
This isn’t just because mothers often do the lion’s share of hands-on child raising. It is because motherhood can come with an additional layer of judgment, guilt and shame.
The way people tend to think about motherhood can lead to intense pressure on mothers. It can also lead to some mothers feeling they have to criticise others’ decisions in order to defend their own.
