Mama: Dispatches from the Frontline of Love
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 First edition | |
| Author | Antonella Gambotto-Burke |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Kylie Mulquin (design) |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Parenthood, feminism, culture |
| Publisher | Arbon |
Publication date | 15 April 2014 (Au/NZ); 2015 (World) |
| ISBN | 9780992351205 (first edition, paperback) |
| Preceded by | Mouth |
| Followed by | Apple: Sex, Drugs, Motherhood and the Recovery of the Feminine |
Antonella Gambotto-Burke's first influential work of nonfiction about motherhood, Mama: Dispatches from the Frontline of Love is an anthology of personal essays and interviews with some of the world's leading experts on family and childcare,[1] including Sheila Kitzinger, Steve Biddulph, Stephanie Coontz, Gabor Maté, and others.
A number of the essays were previously published in different editions of Vogue (magazine) and Elle (magazine). Professor Michel Odent wrote the foreword.[2][3]
Identified as one of the most empowering feminist quotes of all time, the book's most famous line is "Life without femininity - devoid of mystery, emotion, gentleness and the unerring power of a woman's love - is no life at all."[4]
In a piece for The Australian, Gambotto-Burke wrote, "The most compelling evidence for attachment parenting was the discovery that the brain is only 20 per cent or so complete at birth; the rest is physically formed by the child’s experience of love or of its absence. Love literally creates the neural pathways responsible for happiness, calmness, closeness, co-operation, self-regulation. In particular, the second six months of life, known as the 'bonding window' to psychologists, are critical to the child’s future ability to sustain relationships."[5]
Gambotto-Burke believes that the breakdown in the maternal/child relationship is evidenced by "the increasingly obvious - and tragic - lessening of territorial maternal behaviour towards the infant."[6] In a cover story interview, Gambotto-Burke noted, "The kinds of pressures we exert [on children] are very different [to the Tiger Mother Syndrome] – expecting children to flourish without attention, punishing children for not complying, exposing children to all manner of unsuitable material and then bewailing their behavioural problems ... The greatest disservice parents do themselves and their children is living life at a crazy pace. We all need to slow down. We need to turn off our radios and televisions and PCs and just learn to be with our children. We need to listen to and take pleasure in them. Childhood is a garden, not a series of developmental stages."[7]