As I Stand Here Ironing, question #3

The mother in this story believes that she has not given everything she could to her oldest child, as she was a child herself when Emily was born and was on her own as Emily's father was not around. She faces a lot of the same worries that single mothers today face. She had very few options for daycare and was forced to leave Emily with people who did not appreciate her as her mother did, and a nursery school that Emily had no desire to be left at. As a mother myself, it breaks your heart to leave your child someplace you know they don't like, but have no other options at the time. As this mother had more children, she worried that Emily wasn't getting the same degree of love from her as she gave the other children. One thing I didn't understand was why Emily had to go to a convalescent home, I feel the mother had a lot of grief over this decision. Facing some of the same challenges as this mother had, in my own life I can understand some of the decisions she made and definitely the feelings she had. It's hard raising children as a lone parent, you do what you have to do to make a life for your children and your hope that someday they will understand the choices you had to make. Who can say what a good mother is? Someone who gives their children everything they want, someone who does what needs to be done to survive, someone who loses themselves trying to make sure their child never hurts or needs anything? I think she did what was needed to survive and that in my eyes is a good mother.