Six struggles and coping strategies for the motherless and unmothered

Being without a mother is special kind of club. Only those that share the experience understand the profound ache for once what was or could have been.

Mothers are lost for a myriad of reasons – be it childbirth itself, accident, illness, poverty, circumstances of family, culture, or fate, and the like. Mothers, though physically present, can, also, go missing by way of grief, addiction, depression, subjugation, psychiatric issues, and life doing life. These moms, for whatever set of reasons, are unable to mother. I call their children “unmothered.”

Being without a mom wears heavily on a soul. There is none of the expected nurturing, support, and guidance. You feel untethered and adrift without the emotional umbilicus of mother. Your world is slightly off its axis. There is something missing and that missing is mom.

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Hey, “Fuzzy Brain”

From ASK THE PENGUIN…..

Dear Penguin,

You have that clear, no-nonsense gaze of someone who sees what is real and true. How do you do that when we are surrounded by noisy, confused energies from all different sources?

Thanks,

Fuzzy Brain in Connecticut

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Being a parent during dark times

Parents, by definition, have three primary roles. Their first duty is to cover the physical basics for their children. Food, a roof over their heads, shoes on their feet — the rudimentary physical necessities of shelter, sustenance, and clothing. And under this rubric, there would also be the notion of safety and protection — keeping their child safe and secure and protected from reasonable harm. (Clearly and alas, sudden violent attacks are not an anticipated or rationale event for which parents can protect their children 24/7.) 

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