Motherhood 101: It Does Take a Village
Lessons in humility and hope, from a global community of well-wishers
As I watched the Netflix documentary that follows Michele Obama’s book tour to promote her memoir, Becoming, I was reminded of a former American first lady who published a book while her husband was in office.
When Hillary Clinton’s book, It Takes a Village and Other Lessons Children Teach Us, was first published, I read about it in the Washington Post. Intrigued by the unusual title, I wondered about her credentials to write with conviction about raising children. After all, she had mothered only one child.
During the Clintons’ tenure at the White House, I was first a graduate student, and later, a postdoctoral fellow at a university not far from Washington DC. I knew nothing about motherhood and parenting. Judging Hilary Clinton’s expertise to write a book (that I had not read) was presumptuous on my part.
Acknowledging ignorance
About a year and half later, as I cradled my newborn daughter in Silicon Valley, I asked a friend who came by for a visit:
“How will I bring up this tiny baby into adulthood? I don’t know anything about parenting.”
