What readers have said about What Mothers Do:
From Janet Balaskas, mother, grandmother, and founder of the Active
Birth Centre
'It's a wonderful book and a great affirmation for mothers.'
From Ruth Barnett, mother and psychotherapist
'I suspect What Mothers Do will become an enduring classic.'
From Margie Chadwick, mother
'By noting all the things a mother does Naomi is lifting their status, and
giving them a voice so that they can be understood.'
From Rachel Gwilym, mother
'Since reading What Mothers Do I have been challenged to think more about
how motherhood can be embraced by the feminist movement to allow women to
flourish as women and bring up our children with presence and energy.'
From Sheila Kitzinger, mother and grandmother, childbirth educator
'Naomi Stadlen writes with understanding, deep insight and humour. This is
truly woman-to woman.'
From Sanja Oakley, mother and psychotherapist
'When I read Stadlen's book I cried with relief. All those years when I thought
I was incapable or lazy - or even sick, because I felt permanently exhausted
- I was actually busy mothering.'
From Dr W. J. Stephen, father, grandfather and doctor
'I have read it with great interest and enjoyed it. As so many people have
said - why has it taken so long for sanity to reach the bookshops?'
From Phoebe Tait, mother
'I'm halfway through your book, close to tears most of the time. I'm totally
moved by it, by the depths of love that mothers have for their babies, and
the great achievements that mothers do on a daily basis that goes unacknowledged
most of the time.'
From Kate Wood, mother and journalist
'I have just been reading it in the bath (until the baby woke and I had to
get out of course.)….It deserves to become a classic. I feel so relieved
someone is saying all these things, at times I was on the verge of tears,
that you are honestly acknowledging this amazing and mysterious thing that
we do as mothers.'
From Richard Skues, Principal Lecturer in Social Science, London
Metropolitan University
'Naomi Stadlen breaks new ground in capturing those aspects of the experience
of modern motherhood that are often overlooked or denigrated in the standard
literature.'
From Thomas Szasz, father, grandfather, author, psychoanalyst
'I love this book. A work from a pure heart and informed head. It is at once
simple and profound, as is the subject it addresses.'