Life Without Children March Writing Prompt
Do you feel represented by International Women’s Day?
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Whoosh. That’s the sound of February whizzing by.
Bring on the daffodils and the warmth of spring. I welcome blue skies and bird song, and I need lighter mornings and evenings.
What about you?
Life Without Children writing prompt for March
Last month’s writing prompt was about being single and childless or childfree.
As always, you are welcome to continue writing to our previous writing prompts and submit your stories to us at Life Without Children. Or you may even prefer to use our prompts for your private journaling.
Some followers dedicate a journal to our monthly prompts and follow along silently each month to help draw out their inner feelings.
As we edge closer to International Women’s Day on 8th March, I am preparing myself for the subtle ways this day can often feel like a second Mother’s Day.
I recall blocking a couple of social media profiles last year, which put out content with good intentions, but exclusionary messaging. One such post said something along the lines of:
Happy International Women’s Day to all the women raising the next generation. The mothers who are fierce and selfless and are teaching their daughters to be the same.
Ouch. That hurt. What about all of us women who aren’t directly raising the next generation?
But it got me thinking. Has International Women’s Day become confused for a second Mother’s Day?
When we celebrate women, can we recognise that not all women have children or will become mothers?
March Writing Prompt: Do you feel represented by International Women’s Day or do you think it defaults to another Mother's Day?
I hope your childlessness or childfreeness does not make you feel less of a woman. Do you have a story you could share about your relationship with womanhood and not being a mother?
The terms mother and woman are often used interchangeably, as if woman = mother and vice versa. But we know differently.
How many of us hear comments in our everyday lives purporting to a woman becoming such when she becomes a mother?
It’s ludicrous really. But these sorts of comments are out there. The assumption that all women are mothers.
There’s going to be a lot of inspiring speeches from incredible women during the month of March. But I’m bracing myself, because I wonder how many will start off with “As a mother…” when “As a woman…” would cover it, or even “As a human…”.
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Reflections from February at Life Without Children
We are tingling with new writers. And these new voices excite me. Your voice excites me.
Those of us who have been writing about childlessness or childfreeness for a while, sometimes burn out. Sometimes my well is dry. When I wrote my first piece on being childfree, I thought I was one and done. But now 50+ stories later, they keep coming.
And that’s because I read incredible stories from writers here at LWC, which spark my soul and inspire my words.
I love everything that is published here at Life Without Children; otherwise, it wouldn’t be published with us. But sometimes, a story makes a lasting impression on me.
Here are my editor’s picks for February (you can access each one via the friend link provided).
Nadia opens our eyes to the subtle and not so subtle ways the world simply does not accommodate single and childfree/childless people.
No one Cared About Single Women Until a Generation Became Childless
Maria Garcia explores the reasons for judgement of others’ reproductive choices and encourages more nurturing in this world, in ways that aren’t restricted to motherhood.
Motherhood, Choice, and the Endless Need For Justifications
Charlie Brown raises the all-important topic of inter-generational friendships and how these can actually be the salvation of people without children.
How Inter-Generational Friendships Saved Me From the Isolation of Infertility
Marisol Aveline Delarosa addresses the intersection between culture and being childfree and how to navigate this treacherous terrain with respect and sensitivity.
Failing My Filipino Culture By Being Single and Childless
Liz Tenby, LCSW shares her first-hand experience of working with clients and colleagues who see motherhood as the ultimate gift of empathy and superpowers.
I’m a Childfree Therapist in a Mother-Knows-Best-World
What will March bring?
What have you got on in March?
Maybe you will finish that draft that you started a while ago?
I am working on a piece about how my experiences as a detective working on harrowing cases in child protection were demeaned and devalued because I wasn’t a mother. This will hopefully publish soon.
See you online.
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