The Mother Dance Quotes

“Remember, your example will last a long time. As family therapist Peggy Papp reminds us, the quality of a mother’s life and her courage are among her most important legacies to her daughter. “A woman who can believe in herself when no one else does, who will fight for herself when no one else will, who will continue to struggle even though she is unprotected, this woman demonstrates to her daughter that these possibilities exist.” One great gift a mother can give her daughter is to live her own life as well as possible. To do so is a gift to her son—and herself—as well.”
― Harriet Lerner, The Mother Dance: How Children Change Your Life – A Psychologist's Guide to Motherhood from Birth to Empty Nest

“Love, Honor, and Negotiate by family therapist Betty Carter.”
― Harriet Lerner, The Mother Dance: How Children Change Your Life – A Psychologist's Guide to Motherhood from Birth to Empty Nest

“Mothers are especially vulnerable to ignoring our own strong inner voice when it conflicts with the voice of authority. And we may take the voice of authority all too seriously to begin with. This was especially true in my mother’s generation, before modern feminism helped women to value their own experience above what experts (who were typically neither women nor mothers) said to or about them. Back then, advice was handed down as if from on high, so it was hard for women to trust themselves, take what fit, and ignore the rest. Even today, most mothers feel guilty enough, and they”
― Harriet Lerner, The Mother Dance: How Children Change Your Life – A Psychologist's Guide to Motherhood from Birth to Empty Nest