Spunky Homeschool

The New Term For Mom

Aug. 18, 2006 at 10:47 AM

family

My friend and I met at the park this week. As it always does, the conversation turned to raising large families. She has 7 children. Almost at the same moment we turned and asked each other, "Did you hear the new term for mothers who have many children?" We laughed. Yes, we had both heard it. And it isn't complimentary.

Christianity Today writer Leslie Leyland Fields has heard it said too. She wasn't pleased either.

I first heard the word in my college classroom a few years ago. I was an assistant professor of English at a state university, and, not incidentally, the mother of five children at the time. We were doing the usual around-the-room introductions in this opening class, which served as my forecast and early warning system for the upcoming semester. Several of the women had listed their occupations, their passions, and then mentioned they were also mothers. Then it was Rosalyn's turn. "Hi, I'm Rosalyn, and I've been a truck driver and a commercial fisherman, and I'm not a breeder." Everyone looked at me, silent, eyes wide. I smiled out of reflex, but suddenly it hit my brain like a smart bomb: A breeder? So that's the term now! Like dogs or horses, purely animal-species survival.
Undeterred, Fields, a mother of 6, goes on to make "the case for kids".

What happens in larger families? Children are more tolerant. They learn that they are one part of a whole much larger than themselves and that the common good usually takes precedence over their particular desires. They also discover the principle of scarcity; they learn to conserve. Their clothes are on loan and passed on to others when they are done. They have to share their toys. They cannot take more food than they can eat, or someone else will not have enough. They can't take long, hot showers, or someone else gets a cold shower. They learn that their singular behavior affects multiple people. They are not the center of the universe.
So true. Our culture tricks us into believing that life is about us and disaprage what mothers do with their silly names. But I don't worry about what they say too much. I'm not a mom to win their approval. I've got higher aspirations.

Sons are a heritage from the Lord, children a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are sons born in one's youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. Psalm 127:3-5

It's just a matter of WHO you're living for.

So, let the world call us breeders in our kennels.

As for me and my house, WE will serve the Lord. And that makes me blessed.

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6 Comments and Trackbacks

posted by 4evrHischild on Aug. 18, 2006 at 12:13 PM

Well, I hadn't heard that term, but I am proud to hold that title if it actually applies to mothers of only five these days. Wow, I wish I could've had more, but I am rejoicing in the ones I have. Thanks for the post and your convictions on this topic.

posted by Anonymous on Aug. 18, 2006 at 12:28 PM

Doesn't anyone realize that without "breeders" life wouldn't go on??? What about the social security fiasco? All those with "point-something" kids don't realize that they didn't "breed" enough to maintain their government-sponsored retirement package.

Amen for your post, Spunky! Living and being fruitful and multiplying for the honor and glory of our Lord is all that matters!

But come to think of it...maybe I'll win "best of the breeders" in a dog show someday!!! They can strap the trophy on my barefoot and pregnant back, and all of the kidlings can be proud of Mommy for winning the big trophy!!! Dad, of course, will be showing his thoroughbred papers and lineage, smoking a big cigar and telling everyone that it wouldn't of been possible without him!!!

Love in Christ,
Christine

posted by AmoScribo on Aug. 18, 2006 at 4:50 PM

Breeders and we're pretty good at it too, aren't we? Yes, my kids are sucking up all the earth's oxygen and making sure some monkey in the forest doesn't get its banana...
Praise God for the eternal work He has rewarded us with.
Allison

posted by bigredriver on Aug. 18, 2006 at 11:44 PM

I'm not actually a breeder but God has given us a bunch of arrows that others threw down and he let us put them in our quiver to be used for Him as well. Wonder what the name for that is?

posted by Anonymous on Aug. 19, 2006 at 10:57 AM

Dear Bigredriver,

I'd say the name would be "EXTREMELY BLESSED!!!"

Jas:1:27: Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.

Love in Christ,
Christine

posted by My4LittleWomen on Aug. 20, 2006 at 7:53 PM

I figured this out, Spunky.

My first thought, last night, when I read the article, was "I'm not a breeder. I'm a mother. There is a BIG difference." Later on, it hit me--I'd bet most of these ladies did not have true "mothers." I'd bet they generally had "breeder-moms"--who just had them, then proceeded to ignore them.

Perhaps I'm overgeneralizing. But it may be one more offshoot of the "have 'em and ignore 'em" mindset. The kids don't know there is anything else.

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