This is an excerpt from Kelly McDaniel's new audiobook, Mother Hunger.

How adult daughters can understand and heal from lost nurturance, protection, and guidance.

You can listen to the full audiobook free for 14 days in the Hayhouse Unlimited Audio

app. Apple users visit hayhouse.com slash apple and Android users visit hayhouse.com slash Google.

Chapter one naming mother hunger. If there were a job description for motherhood, it might look

something like this. Ideal candidate must be a self starter, able to comfort and bond with a new

vulnerable human by holding, feeding, and responding to nonverbal cues. Responsibilities include

protecting this human from external threats and actively engaging in their academic, spiritual,

and social development. Candidate needs equal parts tenderness and strength, grace under pressure,

and healthy boundaries. This job is unpaid. Why would anyone sign up for this job?

It's demanding, often thankless, and the pay is terrible. The mother's work is astounding.

Isolation, financial stress, and gender discrimination compound the overwhelming responsibilities

that come with nurturing and protecting a newborn and guiding a child through complex stages of

human development. Additionally, mothering in motherhood is overly romanticized or dramatized.

Making it taboo to describe the reality as anything short of a divine experience or a horrendous burden.

Both extremes erase the complexity of mothering. When a woman feels less than

or choosing mothering over other types of work or is judged for placing her career aspirations

on hold, something is very wrong with our collective thinking.

Maternal love is our first experience of what love feels like, and the maternal care we receive

informs how we feel about ourselves throughout life. Mothering is the most important human endeavor

there is. And yet when we try to define what makes a good mother, it's difficult to find the right

words. We're without an accurate universal definition for mother or mothering.

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