The Hand That Rocks The Cradle
The classic poem “What Rules the World” by William Ross Wallace is a great piece on the great significance of motherhood. It says that the hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world. It aptly describes the influence a mother has on her child as she nurtures and teaches the little one. And whatever the children learn from their mothers determines the kind of society there will be in the future.
Indeed, a mother can very well help make the world a much better place. She can do it by raising her child in the right way – to try to make her young grow up to be a responsible, useful and upright member of the community. Mothers are the most effective teachers in the classroom of life. Their teacher instinct is holistic, instilling in their children everything from practical knowledge for everyday living to an inner compass for overall moral direction. What children get from their mothers is not mere education but wisdom so precious and valuable. . Children learn from their mothers both belief in oneself and faith in God. Mothers know from experience how important it is for children to believe in themselves in order to be whole and strong, and grow with healthy regard of oneself. A healthy sense of self-confidence and consciousness of the Divine can propel a person to achieve more and be more.
A mother understands what a child does not say. She can hear words in the silence of her child. She has a special gift of intuition – a strong sense of what is right for her child. She naturally knows what her child is good at, what talents and abilities the child has and accordingly assists the child to develop these and excel in life.
Mothers are not superwomen, though. While it may seem to children that their mothers are perfect and all-powerful, mothers are actually just ordinary beings. Many mothers are broken people, born to and raised by likewise broken parents. Given the many tasks they have to juggle almost all at the same time – homemakers, wives, caregivers, and sometimes breadwinners – mothers do sometimes snap. They sometimes inadvertently dent the soft clay of their children’s hearts with harsh words because they are too busy and stressed to speak kindly and remain patient.
As the words that mothers speak have power, these words can build up a child or tear him down. Mothers, thus, need to be always on guard of themselves, of their words and actions. Which all the more makes motherhood really a challenge.
Yet, it is a queer woman who complains being a mother. It is a God-given privilege to be a mother, to be the one to bear in her womb for nine months the delicately developing life… and, after giving birth, to be mainly responsible for the caring and raising of the child. Fathers will never fully understand the pain and life-threatening experience of childbirth. Motherhood is essentially an affair of the heart and soul. The bond between mother and child has no equal. There is nothing quite comforting to a child as having his mother’s arm wrapped around him when he is sad, lonely or afraid… no matter what age the child is.