ABSTRACT
In this volume of works on the family, it seems apt to begin with a chapter on mothers. In the history of research on the family, for better or worse, the mother was the first and primary target of focus. To be sure, mothers are multifaceted and play multiple roles-they are women, partners, breadwinners, and caretakers, among other things, and much feminist writing has been devoted to how mothers manage their multiple roles and identities (e.g., Reddy, Roth, & Sheldon, 1994). In this chapter we keep within the spirit of the volume and focus on mothers as parents, highlighting how mothers parent their children. In doing so, we attempt to address questions such as: What do we know about “effective” mothering? What is the state of mothering today?
