Based on three years of interviews and observations with Indianapolis mothers, analyzing the families in their homes, schools and other social settings, this book brings forth the voices of mothers in creating a portrait of low-income African American families rearing children.

Sure to become a classic on female empowerment, a groundbreaking exploration of the personal, cultural, and global implications of intergenerational trauma created by patriarchy, how it is passed down from mothers to daughters, and how we can break this destructive cycle. Why do women keep themselves small and quiet? Why do they hold back professionally and personally? What fuels the uncertainty and lack of confidence so many women often feel? In this paradigm-shifting book, leading feminist thinker Bethany Webster identifies the source of women’s trauma. She calls it the Mother Wound—the systemic disenfranchisement of women by the patriarchy—and reveals how this cycle is perpetuated by wounded mothers who unconsciously pass on damaging beliefs and behaviors to their daughters. In her workshops, online courses, and talks, Webster has helped countless women re-examine their lives and their relationships with their mothers, giving them the vocabulary to voice their pain, and encouraging them to share their experiences. In this manifesto and self-help guide, she offers practical tools for identifying the manifestations of the Mother Wound in our daily life and strategies we can use to heal ourselves and prevent our daughters from enduring the same pain. In addition, she offers step-by-step advice on how to reconnect with our inner child, grieve the mother we didn’t have, stop people-pleasing, and, ultimately, transform our heartache and anger into healing and self-love. Revealing how women are affected by the Mother Wound, even if they don’t personally identify as survivors, Discovering the Inner Mother revolutionizes how we view mother-daughter relationships and gives us the inspiration and guidance we need to improve our lives and ultimately create a more equitable society for all.

This book looks at the relationship between the work women do with and for their children in relation to schooling.

In contemporary western societies, there are increasing emphases on children being the responsibility of their parents, contained within the home, and on their compartmentalisation into separate and protected organised educational settings. Thus 'home' and 'school' form a crucial part of children's lives and experiences. This book explores the key institutional settings of home and school, and other educationally linked organised spaces, in children's lives, and the relationships between these. It presents in-depth discussions concerning new research findings from a range of national contexts and focuses on various aspects of children's, and sometimes adult's, own understandings and activities in home and school, and after school settings, and the relationship between these. The contributors assess children from a variety of backgrounds and circumstances and consider how these children see and position themselves as autonomous within, connected to or regulated by home and school. Discussion of the impact of policy and practice developments on the everyday lives of these children is also included.

A Book for Women...and for Men This is a powerfully moving book that goes beyond gender roles into the soul of the archetypal feminine, exploring how it has been damaged and traumatized, and finding out how this condition affectsall of us. Written in a way that makes the material truly accessible to a wide audience, the authors' own personal and professional experiences are dynamically woven throughout the book in the form of rich and compelling stories.Massimilla and Bud Harris show how our feminine vitality can be restored by journeying into its heart and into the archetypal ruins ofthe feminine within ourselves. In these ruins, we will find the fertile ground and the archetypal motifs for healing the feminine within ourselves and our lives and renewing our capacities for strength, love and creativity.Imagine within each of us,there is a deep, powerful source for living lives of love, creativity and fulfillment...To imagine this foundation for life and the energy it produces is to imagine ourselves and our world filled with the influence of thearchetypal feminine - her passionate creativity, love and ageless knowing. Personally and culturally, this force - which lives at the heartof our lives - has been diminished and wounded until it seems to have retreated beyond the horizon, in a world filled with rationalismand an anxious search for the material "good life."

In the five years following the passage of federal welfare reform law, the labor force participation of low-income, single mothers with young children climbed by more than 25 percent. With significantly more hours spent outside the home, single working mothers face a serious childcare crunch—how can they provide quality care for their children? In Putting Children First, Ajay Chaudry follows 42 low-income families in New York City over three years to illuminate the plight of these mothers and the ways in which they respond to the difficult challenge of providing for their children's material and developmental needs with limited resources. Using the words of the women themselves, Chaudry tells a startling story. Scarce subsidies, complicated bureaucracies, inflexible work schedules, and limited choices force families to piece together care arrangements that are often unstable, unreliable, inconvenient, and of limited quality. Because their wages are so low, these women are forced to rely on inexpensive caregivers who are often under-qualified to serve the developmental needs of their children. Even when these mothers find good, affordable care, it rarely lasts long because their volatile employment situations throw their needs into constant flux. The average woman in Chaudry's sample had to find five different primary caregivers in her child's first four years, while over a quarter of them needed seven or more in that time. This book lets single, low-income mothers describe the childcare arrangements they desire and the ways that options available to them fail to meet even their most basic needs. As Chaudry tracks these women through erratic childcare spells, he reveals the strategies they employ, the tremendous costs they incur and the anxiety they face when trying to ensure that their children are given proper care. Honest, powerful, and alarming, Putting Children First gives a fresh perspective on work and family for the disadvantaged. It infuses a human voice into the ongoing debate about the effectiveness of welfare reform, showing the flaws of a social policy based solely on personal responsibility without concurrent societal responsibility, and suggesting a better path for the future.

An informative mix of data and discussion, this book presents conclusions and recommendations for policies that can respond to the new conditions shaping America's working families. Among the family and work trends reviewed: Growing population of mothers with young children in the workforce. Increasing reliance of nonparental child care. Growing challenges of families on welfare. Increased understanding of child and adolescent development. Included in this comprehensive review of the research and data on family leave, child care, and income support issues are: the effects of early child care and school age child care on child development, the impacts of family work policies on child and adolescent well-being and family functioning, the impacts of family work policies on child and adolescent well-being and family functioning the changes to federal and state welfare policy, the emergence of a 24/7 economy, the utilization of paid family leave, and an examination of the ways parental employment affects children as they make their way through childhood and adolescence. The book also evaluates the support systems available to working families, including family and medical leave, child care options, and tax policies. The committee's conclusions and recommendations will be of interest to anyone concerned with issues affecting the working American family, especially policy makers, program administrators, social scientists, journalist, private and public sector leaders, and family advocates.

This book brings together experts from diverse scientific disciplines who share an interest in the topic of father involvement. Unlike most books in the field, which tend to solely draw from a psychological perspective, this Handbook merges theories and research from the unique fields of psychology, economics, demography sociology, anthropology, and social policy. For the most part, research on fathering is motivated by concern for children's well-being. Social scientists share a core set of questions, including: *"Who are fathers?" *"What is father involvement and how does it affect children and families?" *"What are the determinants of father involvement?" *"How do cultural contexts shape fathers' roles in families?" This Handbook sheds light on how a cross-disciplinary approach to the study of fathering can advance knowledge about these fundamental questions. This integrative approach is fundamental to a comprehensive understanding of human development generally, and to fathering more specifically. At the core of this book are the goals of describing and understanding the nature, antecedents, and consequences of father involvement across biological status, family structure, culture, and stages in children's development--both within and across scientific boundaries. Each of the scientific disciplines represented offers unique methodological and theoretical approaches to the study of fathering and to the interpretation of behavioral patterns that characterize ecological systems that include--as well as extend beyond--family units. Together, the chapters offer provocative and challenging insight into the nature and meaning of fatherhood and father involvement by questioning longstanding assumptions about fathers' roles in the lives of families and children in current history.

′The provision of many amusing examples from Corsaro′s own research experience with children make his book a thoroughly enjoyable read as well as a valuable critical sociological analysis of childhood′ - Sociology The Sociology of Childhood is the Second Edition of a text that has been universally acclaimed as the best book on the subject available today. It is the only text that thoroughly covers children and childhood from a sociological perspective. The second edition retains the same quality coverage of social theories of childhood, the consideration of children and childhood in historical and cultural perspective, children′s peer cultures from preschool through preadolescence, and the social problems of children. The book has been updated to include new research, information, and discussions on the latest social indicators regarding children in the United States and around the world. Key Features New chapter on up-to-date methods of research for studying children. New chapters on theory, cultural change, and children′s peer cultures. New section on children′s rights including a description and discussion of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Updated chapter on the Future of Childhood addresses current policy debates and changing demographics related to children in today′s societies. Contains many examples of children′s actual play and behavior. Provides photographs and charts that capture the complexity and diversity of children′s lives. The Sociology of Childhood is highly recommended for use as the core text in courses on the sociology of children and childhood, as well as for parents, teachers, and other adults interested in the social lives and development of children. It can also be used in early education, child development, and child psychology courses, and as a supplemental text in the area of family studies. William A. Corsaro is the Robert H. Shaffer Class of 1967 Endowed Professor of Sociology at Indiana University, Bloomington, where he teaches courses on the sociology of childhood, childhood in contemporary society, and ethnographic research methods. Corsaro is the author of Friendship and Peer Culture in the Early Years (1985) and "We′re Friends, Right": Inside Kids′ Culture (2003). He was a Fulbright Senior Research Fellow in Bologna, Italy, in 1983-84 and a Fulbright Senior Specialist Fellow in Trondheim, Norway, in 2003. His research has been featured on NPR, the BBC in London, and in the New Yorker.

When children experience upheaval and trauma, adults often view them as either vulnerable and helpless or as resilient and able to easily “bounce back.” But the reality is far more complex for the children and youth whose lives are suddenly upended by disaster. How are children actually affected by catastrophic events and how do they cope with the damage and disruption? Children of Katrina offers one of the only long-term, multiyear studies of young people following disaster. Sociologists Alice Fothergill and Lori Peek spent seven years after Hurricane Katrina interviewing and observing several hundred children and their family members, friends, neighbors, teachers, and other caregivers. In this book, they focus intimately on seven children between the ages of three and eighteen, selected because they exemplify the varied experiences of the larger group. They find that children followed three different post-disaster trajectories—declining, finding equilibrium, and fluctuating—as they tried to regain stability. The children’s moving stories illuminate how a devastating disaster affects individual health and well-being, family situations, housing and neighborhood contexts, schooling, peer relationships, and extracurricular activities. This work also demonstrates how outcomes were often worse for children who were vulnerable and living in crisis before the storm. Fothergill and Peek clarify what kinds of assistance children need during emergency response and recovery periods, as well as the individual, familial, social, and structural factors that aid or hinder children in getting that support.