Since time began mothers have turned to each other for just about everything.
Now, with The Motherhood, mothers can talk, listen, be there for each other and get awesome ideas and help, whenever you have the time and from wherever you are.
Circles, our version of conversation groups, are the heart of The Motherhood.
Think circling the wagons, coming full circle, circle of friends, inner circle, circle of life, winners' circle, sewing circles - you get the idea.
Whatever you might need from a circle of mothers - a laugh, a shoulder, advice, information, understanding - you can find it here.
Welcome!
Bios
Hi, we're Cooper and Emily
We've been friends and worked together, on and off, for the last 20 years. We live in separate cities, Pittsburgh, PA and Larchmont, NY, and over the last four years, we've shared a blog and now this web site.
About Us
- 1961 Emily born
- 1966 Cooper born
- 60's-70's Emily grew up in Baltimore with four brothers
- 60's-80's Cooper grew up in Pittsburgh with one sister
- 1979 Emily went to Kenyon College
- 1984 Cooper went to Kenyon College (first of several coincidences)
- 1984 Emily started doing time in windowless DC public affairs firm, won "most billable hours" award three years in a row, never left the office
- 1988 Cooper joined exact same company, came in second for most billable hours, never left the office
- Not doing that again
- 1992 Emily moved to NYC, had some cool jobs
- 1992 Cooper moved to NYC, had some cool jobs
- 1995 Emily got married to Andy
- 1995 Cooper got married to Rick
- 1995 Emily started new public affairs company (with plenty of windows)
- 1995 Cooper joined the company, and it was awesome
- 1996 Emily started fertility treatments
- 1997-2004 Cooper had four babies, got a dog
- 1998 Emily co-wrote the book Living With the End in Mind with her best friend Erin Kramp, which Oprah and ABC News 20/20 loved
- 1998-1999 Emily lost Erin, her mother-in-law and stepfather to cancer
- 2000 Cooper moved back to Pittsburgh and began to write for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
- 2000-2002 Emily had two babies, and the dog adjusted
- 2003 Emily and Cooper started writing together
- 2004 Started a blog together, fell in love with the moms online
- 2005 Launched the Been There Clearinghouse (one of the most personally important, moving things either of us had ever been a part of) in response to Hurricane Katrina, won Best of Blogs Award for Most Inspirational Blog of the Year
- 2006-2007 Worked on issues affecting mothers in the U.S. and around the globe through MomsRising.org and Blogher.com. Launched a beta version of The Motherhood.com which was a finalist for a Webby and won a WebAward
- 2008 Rebuilt The Motherhood.com from the ground up. We're really proud of it and are so glad you're here
The Motherhood Charter
We know
Becoming a mother means becoming a wholly new human being
And that transformation can be overwhelming, exhilarating, confusing, wonderful, challenging
We know
When mama ain't happy, nobody's happy
We know
Mothers shoulder so much
Put everyone else first
See the forest through the trees
We know
We bust our tails no matter where the heck we work
When we set our minds to something, nothing stops us
We know
Mothers are the rock
We provide the soft place to fall
And we're the ones who connect the dots
We know
No mother is perfect
There is no right way of mothering
That we are all on our own paths
We know
We all have histories and hurts
We have a story to tell
And something to contribute
We know
No one understands a mother like another mother
We need each other
We know
The world underestimates its mothers
And we sometimes underestimate ourselves
We believe
Society needs to give mothers a break
And we need to stop beating ourselves up
We believe
Every one of us has her own gifts
And, every step of the way, we're learning a bit more about who we are
We believe
That mothers working together can accomplish anything
That there is infinite power in a community of mothers
We believe
The web opens up endless possibilities
And we are only limited by our imaginations as to how to use it for good
It's time
For mothers to have a neighborhood of our own
A place that is smart, safe, positive, productive and warm
It's time
To stop listening to the judgmental voices that second guess every move we make
To embrace our inner matriarch
It's time
To remind the universe that it's the mothers who make the world go around
It's time
To make everything a little better
in our lives
in our communities
on the earth
together