Motherload: Making It All Better in Insecure Times

the long version

"Motherload's core arguments are that security-seeking is the driving force of intensive mothering and that high expectation of security in the mother-child relationship--i.e. the motherload--is what makes mothering so difficult today. It further argues that the motherload, carried with every good intention to produce security through this one uniquely powerful relationship, can unintentionally undermine families' security. Strategies of producing security vary fundamentally along two dimensions. First, some strategies use mother-child connection as the primary security-producing tool whereas others use independence. Second, some strategies are intended to provide security to the child while others are aimed primarily at the mother's security. So, for example, one mother may use independence to create security for her child, and another may use connection to create security for herself. Motherload explores this variety of security strategies and argues against a one-size-fits-all understanding of intensive mothering. For each of these different strategies, I include a chapter to explore the various factors that predispose women toward mothering in that particular way, the family dynamics that security strategy tends to foster, and the early 'outcomes' associated with that strategy, including how the mother-child relationship itself tends to fare when a woman uses that strategy as versus another"--Provided by publisher.