Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The storied human life: a narrative approach
- 2 Making sense of motherhood: cultural scripts
- 3 Setting the Western context: mothering in late-modern society
- 4 Anticipating motherhood: the antenatal period
- 5 Making sense of early mothering experiences
- 6 A return to normal: becoming the expert
- 7 Conclusions and reflections: making sense of motherhood
- References
- Index
6 - A return to normal: becoming the expert
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Dedication
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1 The storied human life: a narrative approach
- 2 Making sense of motherhood: cultural scripts
- 3 Setting the Western context: mothering in late-modern society
- 4 Anticipating motherhood: the antenatal period
- 5 Making sense of early mothering experiences
- 6 A return to normal: becoming the expert
- 7 Conclusions and reflections: making sense of motherhood
- References
- Index
Summary
But yes, I feel much more like a mother now than I did … I suppose I do feel like a mother … You're a person with a baby, you become a mother and you feel like a mother.
(Gillian, final postnatal interview)For women who have survived, and coped with, the early months of first-time motherhood, new opportunities for narrating experiences arise. In this chapter we trace the ways in which a stronger sense of a recognisable self is gradually regained. This is achieved as most of the women both re-enter the world of work and come to position themselves as the experts on their babies. The passage of time enables the women to (re)construct and present challenging narratives of mothering. Over time, they reflect on and make sense of their experiences and now feel able to disclose unhappy and difficult experiences, which had previously been withheld. In particular this chapter draws attention to the shifts that occur around perceptions of expert, authoritative knowledge as control in a life is felt to be regained. Women become the experts, through practice, in recognising and meeting their children's needs. Similarly, professional constructions of normal transition to motherhood and child development are also challenged. Perceptions of risk are re-evaluated from this more accomplished stage in the women's mothering careers (Ribbens, 1998). This is in relation to their children, and how they manage their ownselves and are judged by others as mothers.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Making Sense of MotherhoodA Narrative Approach, pp. 112 - 137Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005