At a time when more and more women are breaking free from the rigid rules of a patriarchal society, when minds seem to be finally waking up and ways of living are flourishing in a celebrated eclecticism, the condition of motherhood may finally escape the single, reductive mold to which it was so long confined. While there are a thousand ways to become a mother, love has now become the only guide on the path toward one's own truth…
Whether it is an innate vocation or an act of passionate love, becoming a mother—no matter how intimidating— is no longer reserved for an established group of women. Still tentative but driven by a determined generation, society is tearing down gender boundaries and other stereotypes to create space for a new form of motherhood in which everyone can recognize themselves.
Free in our parenting choices
Biological mother, adoptive mother, through natural conception or assisted reproduction, stepmother, wife, or single mother... the terms are many, but they fail to capture the endless diversity of each person's situation.
Nevertheless, even if these forms are becoming more and more varied and less subject to controversy, both family and parenting remain at the center of attention. Especially subject to others’ opinions, mothers continue to be scrutinized and judged from the first weeks of pregnancy. Because while becoming a mother is not an obligation, it inevitably comes with a series of choices. The best nutrition for the baby in utero, the question of breastfeeding or bottle-feeding, the choice between co-sleeping or a personal crib, buying jars of baby food or making homemade purees: judgments—sometimes well-intentioned, sometimes not—about what’s supposedly best for the child are rampant, even to the point of calling into question the mother herself when her decisions are seen, often very subjectively, as unwise.
Élhée advocates for the recognition of a contemporary, modern, and liberated family above all to preserve the free will of parents—mothers in particular. Freed from clichés, this leading role can only be guided by the instinctive, primal, and elemental feelings that undeniably bond a child to their mother.
