Love Between Mother and Child

It is always said that a woman will never know what it is truly like to love unconditionally, until they have given birth to a child. ``There is no greater love than that between a mother and her child”, time and time again we have heard this statement. I have no doubts that this is so. However, I think that it is unfair to disregard or not acknowledge those individuals who are not mothers, but instead play a vital or significant role in the childrearing or upbringing of a child.

It is a fact that from conception both a physical and an emotional bond are created between mother and child. Physically, through the attachment of the umbilical cord from the child to the mother, and emotionally feeling that child growing inside of her, she begins to form an emotional bond, by reading and talking to her baby. At birth this emotional bond is even greater, as the woman sees and holds her baby in her arms for the first time. At this point she makes promises to protect and love her child forever.  It is the single most gratifying experience that a woman will go through.

Society has a preconceived notion that because the mother is the one that brings her child into the world and experiences all that she goes through being pregnant, there is nobody that can love or form a bond with that child as she can. There is no disputing the fact that yes there is a bond between a mother and her child. However, there are people who play an active role in a child’s life as well. What about the dad? Doesn’t he play an important role in a child’s upbringing too? Don’t you think there are a bond and a love that also exist between father and child? What about those nannies who are employed to take care of a child because of the parents’ professions or simply because they can afford to hire a nanny to take on that responsibility while they think about their social lifestyle. Inevitably a bond will develop between the nanny who is now the primary caregiver and a child. Sometimes a child will become so attached to their nanny, that the mother may start to question or even get jealous of the relationship that may exist between the two. Then there are adoptive parents. They didn’t give birth to their adoptive child, but a bond is formed.  A very strong and intense bond too, as the parents may feel as if they need to prove to themselves and to the child that not giving birth to them, doesn’t mean they love them any less.

In my opinion recognition should be given to those parents or guardians who take care of a child, as they also form a bond with a child without even giving birth to them.