The Archives

“Somewhere between the Stations of the Cross and a decathlon” was how Newsweek described modern motherhood and its “never-ending spin cycle of have-tos” over 15 years ago. The ideal new mother was now expected to shuttle her kids to soccer, arrange playdates and bake for bake sales, all while “trying to keep up with the woman at school whose kid gets A’s because she writes the papers herself.” Motherhood hasn’t gotten any less stressful since then; a recent study published in Frontiers in Global Women’s Health showed that the pandemic tripled symptoms of anxiety and depression among new mothers.