海角大神

The birth of聽Archie Harrison聽Mountbatten-Windsor, the latest addition to Britain鈥檚 royal family, put the joys of motherhood on international display just in time for Mother鈥檚 Day in the U.S. Rumors abounded about how the boy, born Monday to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, might be raised. Will they employ an American nanny (gasp!)?聽 How will his mother guide him along the way?

While many more fathers these days embrace the tasks of parenting, mothers continue to be a strong influence on their children. In a new survey in the United States, for example, 海角大神 teens identified their mothers as the person they most likely sought out for advice, encouragement, and sympathy 鈥� more than fathers or even friends. Two-thirds said it was their mothers who supported them during their last personal crisis, according to the survey from Barna, a 海角大神 research group. In a 2008 survey of Australian women about the sources for their inspiration, "Virtually all women nominated their聽mother聽as聽role models," the survey found.

Worldwide, the lives of mothers continue to improve. Since 1994 maternal deaths while giving birth have fallen by 40%. Fewer teens, often unprepared for motherhood, are giving birth. But according to the International Labour Organization, women still spend three times as much time on child care and domestic chores as men, though the gap is slowly closing.

Mother鈥檚 Day is often criticized as little more than a commercially driven excuse to sell cards, flowers, and restaurant meals. That was not the case in 1870 when American social activist Julia Ward Howe saw a much different role for mothers. Her 鈥淢other鈥檚 Day Proclamation鈥� urged women, as nurturers of children, to become advocates for international peace at a time when wars were becoming more violent in scale.

鈥淎rise, all women who have hearts,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淥ur sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We, women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country, to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.鈥� She urged mothers to 鈥渟olemnly take council with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace, man as the brother of man.鈥�

Though her concept of the holiday failed, the idea that mothers might play a political or diplomatic role lived on. Women鈥檚 groups have been instrumental in peace efforts in places from Northern Ireland and the Korean Peninsula to Nigeria, Liberia, and Yemen. Sixteen women have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Motherhood itself can provide great training for political leadership. 鈥淚t teaches you sacrifice. It certainly teaches you negotiation because you鈥檙e always negotiating between children,鈥� Utah鈥檚 first and only woman governor, Olene Walker, once told an interviewer.

Choosing to raise a child can come with a high price for women who seek other pursuits. One recent study connects first-time motherhood with a 30% drop in future pay, money that may never be recouped over the course of a career. (Another study suggests fatherhood provides an opposite 20% bump in pay for men.)

The more society puts a value on motherhood 鈥� even if only for one day a year 鈥� the more it can find ways to help mothers gain and not lose from their central role as shapers of future, and perhaps peaceful, generations.