The
Mother Dance
How Children Change Your Life.
Written from her dual perspective as psychologist
and mother, Dr. Lerner puts the spotlight on the mother's experience
as it has never before been told. With personal stories and vivid
case studies that run the gamut from the hilarious to the heart-wrenching,
Lerner spells out what children evoke from the past and demand from
the present—and why her new life is so
different from his new life—when two become three.
Lerner's own experience taught her the basic lessons
of motherhood; that we are not in control of what happens to our
children, and that this fact needn't stop us from feeling totally
guilty and responsible, that matters of life and death turn on a
dime, and that most of what we worry about doesn't happen (although
bad things happen that we fail to anticipate). Lerner shows us how
kids are the best teachers of life's most profound spiritual lessons.
From birth to the empty nest, Lerner helps mothers distinguish between what we
can change, (and how to do it) and when we need to surrender to
the fact that our lives—and our children's'—don't go the way we
expect or plan. Her book is filled with reassurances and good advice about being a mother in today's world.
Praise
"Lerner writes with charm, precision and at
times almost unbearable honesty about what motherhood is. This book
shows us the way."
-
Mary Pipher, Ph.D.
Author
of Reviving Ophelia
"The Mother Dance is one of the wisest and
most honest books on parenting I have read. As a parent myself,
I ate up story after story, insight after insight."
-
Thomas Moore, Ph.D.
Author
of Care of the Soul and The Soul of Sex
"I love The Mother Dance; it's wonderful-true,
touching, practical, spiritual, sanity-saving, and I laughed out
loud a number of times, with recognition, surprise and gratitude."
-
Anne Lamott
Author
of Operating Instructions
"Harriet Lerner pioneers on behalf of women's
whole humanity. Each chapter in The Mother Dance is worth the price
of admission."
-
Gloria Steinem
"In The Mother Dance, there are no mistakes
in parenting—only learning experiences told with a great sense
of humor."
-
Benjamin
Spock, M.D.
Reviews
From Library Journal
Lerner
may characterize motherhood as a dance, but what she describes is more of a rollercoaster ride...
a splendid reassurance for women in the thick of it.
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