Motherland on BBC2 is a vision of child rearing that is panic-inducingly scary according to Fiona Sturges in The Guardian. If you haven’t seen it yet, you may want to brace yourself for an excruciating 30 minutes. Julia, the main character and frazzled working mum of two, has a painful relationship with her mother, an unsupportive husband and a limited network of supportive friends.
Although Motherland exaggerates the characters, the stresses of motherhood portrayed are familiar to the mums that I work with. When I gave a questionnaire to the mums who took part in my Get My Sanity Back Challenge earlier this year, the strongest emotions experienced were stress, overwhelm, anxiety, exhaustion and guilt.
One of the reasons that mothers struggle so much is the lack of support from the extended community. In times gone by, our extended family lived in close proximity in small close knit villages where everyone knew each other and helped each other out. There is an African proverb that says “It takes a village to raise a child”. I don’t believe that mothers were designed to do it all themselves, in isolation. But our “you can have it all” culture encourages us to work full time and raise our children even though we often don’t have family and friends nearby who help each other out.
This is a video I made this morning reflecting on the programme while taking time out to write a book for frazzled mums to create a 5 minute EFT habit to de-stress and regain their calm,
If you would like to take part in my next 10 day challenge to get your sanity back, enjoy your kids more and get more done in just 5 minutes a day, sign up here.
If you are a mum who wants to have feel happier in herself, with her children check out my book Frazzled to Fabulous in 5 Minutes a Day Follow my quick and easy step-by-step programme here https://www.frazzledtofabulous.com/