Reader,

I'll be honest, in the weeks approaching Mother's Day, I felt a lot of pressure to write something meaningful about the holiday. Maybe examine the emotional labor of mothers, or talk about how what we really want is policy change (have you been following the #phonecallsnotflowers campaign on Instagram?), or just express my appreciation for all the mothers in my life who inspire me.

But Mother's Day continued to loom and I continued to dither instead of write. Well, that's not entirely true; it was a particularly busy week for family events and activities and I really did run out of time. So eventually the weekend came and I decided I wouldn't write anything, but instead I'd spend it quietly with my kids, enjoying reading what other motherhood scholars and activists had to say. Here's a few highlights:

• ​Dr. Sophie Brock: "I caught myself recently perpetuating the very cultural scripts I highlight as reflecting patriarchal motherhood, how stepping back to see the ‘macro’ helps us cultivate greater self compassion and connection with other mothers, and the ways fear and comparison show up for us as mothers and how this is connected to our sense of self and identity."
• ​Rebecca Woolf's tribute to Heather B. Armstrong, who was the first blogger I every really followed and her recent death struck me really hard.
• ​Zawn Villines: "Cruelty is the norm in American parenting. We have to do better." (This article is for paid subscribers only, so I won't include an excerpt, but I highly recommend reading her work.)

Upcoming Events

Our next book club meeting is this Sunday, May 21 at 2pm EST and we’ll be discussing How to Raise an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi.

"The tragedies and reckonings around racism that are rocking the country have created a specific crisis for parents, educators, and other caregivers: How do we talk to our children about racism? How do we teach children to be antiracist? How are kids at different ages experiencing race? How are racist structures impacting children? How can we inspire our children to avoid our mistakes, to be better, to make the world better?

These are the questions Ibram X. Kendi found himself avoiding as he anticipated the birth of his first child. Like most parents or parents-to-be, he felt the reflex to not talk to his child about racism, which he feared would stain her innocence and steal away her joy. But research and experience changed his mind, and he realized that raising his child to be antiracist would actually protect his child, and preserve her innocence and joy. He realized that teaching students about the reality of racism and the myth of race provides a protective education in our diverse and unequal world. He realized that building antiracist societies safeguards all children from the harms of racism.

Following the accessible genre of his internationally bestselling How to Be an Antiracist, Kendi combines a century of scientific research with a vulnerable and compelling personal narrative of his own journey as a parent and as a child in school. The chapters follow the stages of child development from pregnancy to toddler to schoolkid to teenager. It is never too early or late to start raising young people to be antiracist."

If you haven’t already registered for this free event, you can do so by clicking on the May Book Club event link and signing up for the Mother Circle Book Club.

In mothering solidarity,

​www.susiefishleder.com​