thanks for this refection on mothering being the opposite in so many ways to war mongering. It resonates with me as I have been hanging out with some peace activists and Quakers in the last 6 months - and I have a younger friend who was just talking the other day about postponing thoughts of becoming a mother because of the uncertain/scary future ahead due to climate chaos. She might find this useful as it comes at mothering from a different direction.
It's a common thought among young people at the moment for sure. I don't think there's any right answer here. To be honest I was surprised that everyone speaking on the panel were already mothers, and none of them were folks who are thinking about having kids or have decided not to have kids (but might have a close relationship with kids e.g. aunties).
I certainly appreciated the sense of steely determination that these women had - they acknowledge the difficulty, and do the work anyway with grace and compassion. I keep thinking about what global politics and international relations could look like if some (*cough* men *cough*) world leaders learnt from that.
One of my favourite expressions to emerge from the 2019 Australian government elections was from one of the best political journalists in Australia, Katharine Murphy from the Guardian. She described the men in Canberra as “pale male and stale”. If only they were just that, and not destructive at the same time. Thanks for your additional reflections Jenny.
thanks for this refection on mothering being the opposite in so many ways to war mongering. It resonates with me as I have been hanging out with some peace activists and Quakers in the last 6 months - and I have a younger friend who was just talking the other day about postponing thoughts of becoming a mother because of the uncertain/scary future ahead due to climate chaos. She might find this useful as it comes at mothering from a different direction.
It's a common thought among young people at the moment for sure. I don't think there's any right answer here. To be honest I was surprised that everyone speaking on the panel were already mothers, and none of them were folks who are thinking about having kids or have decided not to have kids (but might have a close relationship with kids e.g. aunties).
I certainly appreciated the sense of steely determination that these women had - they acknowledge the difficulty, and do the work anyway with grace and compassion. I keep thinking about what global politics and international relations could look like if some (*cough* men *cough*) world leaders learnt from that.
One of my favourite expressions to emerge from the 2019 Australian government elections was from one of the best political journalists in Australia, Katharine Murphy from the Guardian. She described the men in Canberra as “pale male and stale”. If only they were just that, and not destructive at the same time. Thanks for your additional reflections Jenny.