Jump to: navigation, search
Mom, Mommy, Moms, and Mum redirect here. For other uses, see Mom (disambiguation), Mommy (disambiguation), Moms (disambiguation), and Mum (disambiguation).
"Motherhood" redirects here. For the upcoming comedy film, see Motherhood (film).
"Mothering" redirects here. For the bimonthly parenting magazine, see Mothering (magazine).
This article is semi-protected.
For other uses, see Mother (disambiguation).
Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange

A mother is a biological and/or social female parent of an offspring.[1] Because of the complexity and differences of a mothers' social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to define a mother to suit a universally accepted definition.
Contents
[hide]

* 1 Biological mother
* 2 Surrogate mother
* 3 Title
* 4 Social role
* 5 US Motherhood Statistics
* 6 Religious
* 7 Synonyms and translations
* 8 Famous motherhood figures
* 9 See also
* 10 References
* 11 Notes

Biological mother

In the case of a mammal such as a human, the biological mother gestates a fertilized ovum. As a viable fertilised ovum or "embryo" ideally develops into a fetus. Gestation occurs in the mother's uterus from conception until (under ideal circumstances, barring illness or defect) the fetus is sufficiently developed to be born. The mother experiences labor and gives birth. Once the child is born, the mother produces milk via the lactation process. The mother's breast milk is the source of anti-bodies for the infant's immune system and commonly the sole source of nutrition for the first year or more of the child's life.[2][3][4]

Surrogate mother
Main article: Surrogacy

A surrogate mother is, commonly, a woman who bears the embryo to term for a couple biologically unable to have children. Upon the child’s birth, the surrogate mother surrenders all her rights and responsibilities to the child[5] with sole intention of surrendering the infant to at least one of the biological parents. [6][7]

Title
Monumento a la Madre in Mexico City. The inscription translates as: "To her who loves us before she meets us."

The term mother is often given to a woman other than the biological parent, especially if she who fulfills the main social role in raising the child. This is commonly either an adoptive mother or a stepmother (the biologically unrelated wife of a child's father). In lesbian cultures, a non-biological mother, or so-called "othermother" exists.
Currently, with advances in reproductive technologies, the function of biological motherhood can be split between the genetic mother (who provides the ovum) and the gestational (commonly known as a surrogate) mother (who carries the pregnancy), and it is also poneither will serve as the social mother (the one who rears the child). A healthy connection between a mother and a child form a secure base, from which the child may later venture forth into the world.[8]

Social role
See also: Sociology of motherhood

Mothers have historically fulfilled the primary role in raising children, but since the late 20th century, the role of the father in child care has been given greater prominence and social acceptance in some Western countries.[9][10]

The social role and experience of motherhood varies greatly depending upon location. The organization Save the Children has (controversially) ranked the countries of the world, and found that Scandinavian countries are the safest places to give birth, whereas countries in sub-Saharan Africa are the least safest to give birth[11]. This study argues a mother in the bottom ten ranked countries is over 750 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth, compared to a mother in the top ten ranked countries, and a mother in the bottom ten ranked countries is 28 times more likely to see her child die before reaching their first birthday.

Mothers are more likely than fathers to encourage assimilative and communion-enhancing patterns in their children.[12] Mothers are more likely than fathers to acknowledge their children's contributions in conversation.[13][14][15][16] The way mothers speak to their children is better suited to support very young children in their efforts to understand speech (in context of the reference English) than fathers.[13]

Since the 1970s, in vitro fertilization has made pregnancy possible at ages well beyond "natural" limits, generating ethical controversy and forcing significant changes in the social meaning of motherhood.[17][18] This is, however a position highly biased by Western world locality: outside the Western world, in-vitro fertilization has far less prominence, importance or currency compared to primary, basic healthcare, womens' basic health, reducing infant mortality and the prevention of life-threatening diseases such as polio, typhus and malaria.

US Motherhood Statistics

Assorted and non-inclusive statistics on motherhood from the U.S. Census Bureau.[19]

* 82.5 million women are mothers of all ages in the United States.
* 68% of women aged 15 to 44 are mothers in Mississippi, considered high in comparison to a national average for same age group of 56%.
* 82% of women aged 40 to 44 years old are mothers.
* 4.0 million women give birth annually, approximately 425,000 were teenage mothers (aged 15 to 19) and more than 100,000 were aged 40 or over.
* 25.1 years of age is the national average age of women for their first births, a record high an increase of 4 years since 1970.
* 40% of annual births are the mother’s first. Another 32 percent are the second-born; 17 percent, third; and 11 percent, fourth or more.
* 35,000 of births in 2002 were attended by physicians, midwives or others outside a hospital facility.
* 55% of mothers with infant children in 2002 were employed, down from the record 59 percent in 1998, the first significant decline since the Census Bureau began collating such data in 1976. In 1976, 31% of mothers with infants were employed.
* 63% of employed women with infant children are college-educated.
* 72% of employed women, between ages 15 and 44 are mothers without infants.
* 687,000 child day-care centers operated in the USA in 2002. Of these, 69,000 centers employed close to 750,000 workers and another 618,000 were self-employed persons or companies without paid employees. Many mothers use such centers to juggle the demands of motherhood and career.

Religious

Nearly all world religions define tasks or roles for mothers through either religious law or through the deification or glorification of mothers who served in substantial religious events. There are many examples of religious law relating to mothers and women.
Major world religions which have specific religious law or scriptural canon regarding mothers include: Christians,[20] Jews,[21] and Muslims.[22] Some examples of glorification or deification include the Madonna or Blessed Virgin Mother Mary for Christians, the Hindu Mother Goddess, or Demeter of ancient Greek pre-Christian belief.
In Islam, the Q'uran dictates the mother occupying an importance and position three times superior to that of the father. However, while the mother is considered the most important member of the family, she is not the head of the family.[citation needed]

Synonyms and translations
Main article: Mama and papa

The proverbial "first word" of an infant often sounds like "ma" or "mama". This strong association of that sound with "mother" has persisted in nearly every language on earth, countering the natural localization of language.

Familiar or colloquial terms for mother in English are:

* mom or mommy, in most of North America (especially the U.S.).
* mum or mummy, is used in the UK, Canada, Netherlands, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand
* Ma, Mam or Mammy is used in Ireland and sometimes in the UK and the US.
* Maa, Amma, Mata is used in India and sometimes in neighboring countries, originating from the Sanskrit matrika and mata
* "mama" is used in many countries, but is considered a Spanish form of "mother"

The Hindu mother goddess Parvati feeding her son, the elephant-headed wisdom god Ganesha

In many other languages, similar pronunciations apply:

* mama in Polish and Slovak
* mama (??/??) in Chinese and Japanese
* máma in Czech
* maman in French and Persian
* ma, mama or Ibu in Indonesian language
* mamma in Italian and Icelandic
* mãe in Portuguese
* Ami in Punjabi
* mama in Swahili
* eema (???) in Hebrew
* má or m? in Vietnamese
* mam in Welsh
* eomma (??, pronounced [?mma]) in Korean
* In many south Asian cultures and the Middle East the mother is known as amma or oma or ammi or "ummi", or variations thereof. Many times these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child's life.

Famous motherhood figures
Charity by Bouguereau 1878

* Ammachi
* Bithiah
* Charity
* Demeter
* Dewi Sri- Javanese pre-Hindu, pre-Islamic era fertility and rice Goddess still widely worshiped today.
* Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist
* Eve, mother of Cain and Able
* Gaia
* Hagar
* Isis
* Jijabai
* Jocasta, mother of Oedipus, important in Freudian psychology
* Juno
* Kwan Yin
* Queen Maya
* Euripides' Medea
* Mary (mother of Jesus)
* Naomi (Bible)
* Parvati
* Rani Lakshmibai
* Sita
* Venus

Write a page of standard prose, as fast as you can, about how you felt the first time you saw your loved one, how you felt the first time you knew you were in love, and how you feel right now about being together. These three moments in time will create the structure of your poem.
Replace any weak verbs with stronger verbs and any pronouns with proper nouns. Words depicting the 5 senses work well for love poems.
Reread your passage and pick a metaphor to tie the three moments together. Choosing a metaphor is the most fun part so be wild with it. An opening flower is a tried and true metaphor for love, but a cloud that looks like a heart might work even better.
Rewrite your passage using the metaphor to describe the three moments.
Read your page aloud, change things that sounds "off" to you. Make notes where you feel there's a pause in the flow.
Write the poem, putting a line breaks where you made the notes.
Whether you type or write the poem consider framing your poem. Your loved one may want to keep the poem as a memento!
Read the poem aloud to the person you love, or present it as a gift to them.
Let your poem come from your heart, not your mind or soul, but how you feel. As you think about how you're feeling deep down inside your words will come out through your finger tips, slowly your words will unwind and become something beautiful on a piece of paper. Express your feelings don't hold them in.

Tips
Who knows — you may just write the "Greatest Poem Ever". Just remember your poem is for the one you love. So make it personal and sensual.
Think about your 'love', how you feel when you are together or apart, what you miss most when you're apart, how you feel when you reunite. Write your thoughts and feelings. Poetry comes from your heart — your thoughts will create a love poem based on your feelings.
There's no need to be intimidated by rhyme schemes. Remember, poetry doesn't have to rhyme. Former Poets Laureate Robert Pinsky, Louise Gluck, Billy Collins and Ted Kooser all write poetry that does not rhyme.
The best writing advice is simple: omit needless words. One strong verb steamrolls any three weak ones.
Poetry and almost all artful prose is about how the words reveal your feelings. Read your writings aloud to yourself to feel what your words are saying. If they stir emotion in you, they will for the person you love.
Make it personal. If your love is named Kim or Vern try to use it. Don't use clichés', find something unique or special in your relationship and write about that. Your poem should be a reflection of the love you both share.
One useful tip for any kind of poem is to "write it twice: first with the heart, then with your brain". Express your feelings without sounding corny.
Read poems for ideas but do not copy them. It will get you nowhere, and your loved one may find out.
It's fine to quote an existing poem. Just include the original author's name and say something like, "I thought of you when I read this."
Some people are more poetic than others when it comes to expressing emotions, don't give yourself a report card, your poem doesn't need to be perfect just yours. A short, simple, romantic phrase or rhyme from your heart can be put in with a small gift to give your loved one. E.G. "I hope this gift will let you see ...how much, my love, you mean to me..."
A poem that can be written in prose isn't a poem, so don't follow the method of writing a huge block of prose, cleaning it up, and then cutting it arbitrarily into lines. Learn to write real poetry in meter--that will show your lover real dedication and effort.
Recognize that this is only ONE way of writing a poem. Google "love poem" for a million others. The issue here is not how good a poem it is, it's how much emotion it evokes in your partner. You don't have to stick to the night you met. Try other powerful moments, for example the evening you two walked together just before the birth of your first child, the time you two got caught in the rain, clutching his/her hand on the roller coaster, etc. etc.
The sonnet may be the best format for a love poem. Don't cheat on the syllable rule either - it will ruin the rhythm. Look to Shakespeare for help.
If you want to rhyme, there are great rhyming dictionaries on the internet. Try to stay away from one syllable words and try making every other line rhyme.
Golden Rule: If you are sincere, your partner will love it. Guaranteed.
If you really like them you don't need a poem, a boy/girl would love you if you just told them how you felt about them. Be honest!!

Before I met my soul mate, David, I did what many women have probably done. Yes, I spent hours after hours reading everything I could find on, "how to find the right guy", "how to get a man to be interested in me", "how to get a man to fall in love with me."

I even visited forums, baring my soul by sharing my disappointment and asking others the possible reasons why I'm still single. I never got anything helpful and many were just mean and made rude remarks about what must be wrong with me. It hurts so badly, especially when I was already feeling like a loser and lonely already. I was getting more and more confused and depressed.

I kept thinking, "What's wrong with me?" Other women around me who seemed pretty average had great guys who adored them. I was envious and wondered what they had that I didn't?

I scoured the internet, purchased and downloaded some relationship books hoping they had the answers I was searching for. I did everything those books said to do but after a while, I realized that I was no longer being myself.

The more I tried the more I became disappointed. It was getting bad. It was wearing me out trying to be someone I wasn't. And all the while, I kept seeing many men falling in love with average women. Again that nagging question, "What do they know that I don't?"

I was ready to give up hope and be single for the rest of my life when I did one more search and found the book, Men Made Easy. I read and re-read Kara's Twelve Simple Secrets because it really spoke to my heart like a sweet angel sent from heaven coming down to rescue me and pull me out of the deep pit I was in.

I'd found what I had been searching for and my life began to turn around. The information in this book was easy to follow and I was actually encouraged to be myself, but the best version of myself, not a fake version.

Men began to pay attention to me; they wanted to get to know me and made me feel like a queen.

When David showed up I knew how to be the kind of woman who could cause a man to fall in love which is exactly what happened.

Improve your appearance—make sure you are healthy and that you are appealing. Your hair, teeth, nails and skin should be appealing, clean and in good repair. Feel good about yourself and be confident—making sure you are appealing will increase your self-esteem. This will attract the guy—guys like women who are confident in themselves.

Ask your girlfriends what your blind spots are —these are weaknesses you have that you just don’t know about. A good girlfriend will tell you exactly what they are—maybe you have bad breath and don’t know it, maybe your excessive swearing is noticeable, maybe you are a gossip queen or you just have bad manners.

Find out what your weaknesses are and find out how to fix them. Your girlfriend or girlfriends can help so that you can bolster the crucial positive impression you are trying to make on Mr. Right. However, don’t be someone you aren’t either—the true you should still shine through. No one is perfect, and everyone is allowed to have some flaws, don’t be afraid to be who you are, selling yourself as someone you aren’t will only destroy a relationship.

People skills— get your people skills in order. You need to avoid arguments, start off conversations in a friendly manner, talk nicely, be nice and give compliments that are sincere. You should always work to make whomever you are talking to feel important—don’t wave them off or drift out of the conversation—really listen to what they are saying. Remember, this is Mr. Right and you are trying to get him to fall for you. Don’t be afraid to disagree, but don’t put down their fundamental beliefs either—everyone is entitled to their opinion, but that doesn’t mean that theirs is wrong and yours is right.

Small talk is important too— have something nice to say and say it well. Use appropriate emotions when you are talking, know when to not talk and focus more on listening to him than on hearing your own voice.

Let yourself be real to him— lower your guard a bit and admit some of your shortcomings. Tease him tastefully—all in an effort to get him to lower his guard a bit, this way he can learn who you really are.

Let him know all the ‘you’ there is to know —the hottie, the sweetie and the real you. Spend some time highlighting the hottie you—the feminine and sexy qualities that you possess. Let him see your warm, caring and kind you—the sweetie that you are. Also let him see who you are normally—the real you with your strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes and your personality.

Lead him to an emotional moment— when the emotions are high, be your best self. This will impact him in more ways than any subtlety can. These moments are the ones that imprint into his heart and soul that he will remember.

Don’t play too hard to get— those things that are elusive are things men will eventually just give up on. Also, don’t get clingy too fast —you don’t have to call him 50 times a day to let him know you’re thinking of him. Once is fine…give the man some space to be with his thoughts about you without the constant (and nagging) reminder that you are attached to him.

Be attractive and sexy—not overbearing and cheap. Keep your morals and values and don’t overextend yourself—if you are cheap and easy, you won’t make a lasting impression, just a fast one. Something worth keeping requires work on his behalf too.

Have fun and don’t forget to be a friend as well to your Mr. Right. In no time, he will be head over heels in love with the real you.

At Last! Breakthrough information will reveal to you how you can win over the heart of the Man or Woman That You Want - the EASY Way! Are you aware of certain individuals who can radiate strength and power, and who are able to impress anyone they like to influence? Learn their secrets, and how you could be one of them today!