This Is Not Your Mother's Motherhood

Mothers & More is a life raft for many new mothers in the two towns--and around the country. 

But Maplewood and South Orange moms seem to take to the group in a particularly ferocious way. Perhaps it is because so many are new to the area, having only relocated to Maplewood or South Orange from New York City once they've had a baby. Mothers who previously were focused on careers and a care-free childless urban lifestyle are suddenly cast out to sea with no mommy friends in an unfamiliar environment.

Mothers & More fills that need. It also makes for some intense sister-bonding as recently demonstrated with the release of Mothers & More past president Kristin Maschka's book This Is Not How I Thought It Would Be: Remodeling Motherhood to Get the Lives We Want Today. About a half-dozen members of the local chapter emailed Patch with notification of the event, begging us to cover the reading and book signing.

As the press release described it: "Maschka explores the epiphany every mother has when the disconnect between ideal family life and real life becomes all too clear. In This Is Not How I Thought It Would Be, Maschka goes below the surface of mothers everyday challenges to reveal the invisible, outdated assumptions about mothers, fathers, money, marriage and work that are completely out of sync with today's families."

The book also gives mothers worksheets and tasks to perform to help "identify gaps that may exist in our lives as mothers and show how to close those gaps."

Alas, Patch was not able to cover the event, but Janelle Photopoulos kindly shared these photos with us.