From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange

A mother is a biological and/or social female parent of an offspring.^[1] Because of the complexity and differences of a mothers' social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to define a mother to suit a universally accepted definition.

Biological mother

In the case of a mammal such as a human, a pregnant woman gestates a fertilized ovum. A fetus develops from the viable fertilised ovum or 'embryo'. Gestation occurs in the woman's uterus from conception until the fetus (assuming it is carried to term) is sufficiently developed to be born. The woman experiences labor and gives birth. Usually, once the baby is born, the mother produces milk via the lactation process. The mother's breast milk is the source of anti-bodies for the infant's immune system and commonly the sole source of nutrition for the first year or more of the child's life.^[2][3][4]

Surrogate mother

A surrogate mother is, commonly, a woman who bears the embryo to term for a couple biologically unable to have children.

Title

Monumento a la Madre in Mexico City. The inscription translates as: "To her who loves us before she meets us."

The term mother is often given to a woman other than the biological parent, especially if she who fulfills the main social role in raising the child. This is commonly either an adoptive mother or a stepmother (the biologically unrelated wife of a child's father). In lesbian cultures, a non-biological mother, or so-called "othermother" exists.

Currently, with advances in reproductive technologies, the function of biological motherhood can be split between the genetic mother (who provides the ovum) and the gestational (commonly known as a surrogate) mother (who carries the pregnancy), and it is also poneither will serve as the social mother (the one who rears the child). A healthy connection between a mother and a child form a secure base, from which the child may later venture forth into the world.^[5]

Social role

Mothers have historically fulfilled the primary role in raising children, but since the late 20th century, the role of the father in child care has been given greater prominence and social acceptance in some Western countries.^[6][7]

The social role and experience of motherhood varies greatly depending upon location. The organization Save the Children has (controversially) ranked the countries of the world, and found that Scandinavian countries are the safest places to give birth, whereas countries in sub-Saharan Africa are the least safest to give birth^[8]. This study argues a mother in the bottom ten ranked countries is over 750 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth, compared to a mother in the top ten ranked countries, and a mother in the bottom ten ranked countries is 28 times more likely to see her child die before reaching their first birthday.

Mothers are more likely than fathers to encourage assimilative and communion-enhancing patterns in their children.^[9] Mothers are more likely than fathers to acknowledge their children's contributions in conversation.^{[10][11][12][13]} The way mothers speak to their children is better suited to support very young children in their efforts to understand speech (in context of the reference English) than fathers.^[10]

Since the 1970s, in vitro fertilization has made pregnancy possible at ages well beyond "natural" limits, generating ethical controversy and forcing significant changes in the social meaning of motherhood.^[14][15] This is, however a position highly biased by Western world locality: outside the Western world, in-vitro fertilization has far less prominence, importance or currency compared to primary, basic healthcare, womens' basic health, reducing infant mortality and the prevention of life-threatening diseases such as polio, typhus and malaria.

US Motherhood Statistics

Assorted and non-inclusive statistics on motherhood from the U.S. Census Bureau.^[16]

• 82.5 million women are mothers of all ages in the United States.
• 68% of women aged 15 to 44 are mothers in Mississippi, considered high in comparison to a national average for same age group of 56%.
• 82% of women aged 40 to 44 years old are mothers.
• 4.0 million women give birth annually, approximately 425,000 were teenage mothers (aged 15 to 19) and more than 100,000 were aged 40 or over.
• 25.1 years of age is the national average age of women for their first births, a record high an increase of 4 years since 1970.
• 40% of annual births are the mother’s first. Another 32 percent are the second-born; 17 percent, third; and 11 percent, fourth or more.
• 35,000 of births in 2002 were attended by physicians, midwives or others outside a hospital facility.
• 55% of mothers with infant children in 2002 were employed, down from the record 59 percent in 1998, the first significant decline since the Census Bureau began collating such data in 1976. In 1976, 31% of mothers with infants were employed.
• 63% of employed women with infant children are college-educated.
• 72% of employed women, between ages 15 and 44 are mothers without infants.
• 687,000 child day-care centers operated in the USA in 2002. Of these, 69,000 centers employed close to 750,000 workers and another 618,000 were self-employed persons or companies without paid employees. Many mothers use such centers to juggle the demands of motherhood and career.

Religious

Nearly all world religions define tasks or roles for mothers through either religious law or through the deification or glorification of mothers who served in substantial religious events. There are many examples of religious law relating to mothers and women.
Major world religions which have specific religious law or scriptural canon regarding mothers include: Christians,^[17] Jews,^[18] and Muslims.^[19] Some examples of glorification or deification include the Madonna or Blessed Virgin Mother Mary for Christians, the Hindu Mother Goddess, or Demeter of ancient Greek pre-Christian belief.
In Islam, the Q'uran dictates the mother occupying an importance and position three times superior to that of the father. However, while the mother is considered the most important member of the family, she is not the head of the family.^{[citation needed]}

Synonyms and translations

The proverbial "first word" of an infant often sounds like "ma" or "mama". This strong association of that sound with "mother" has persisted in nearly every language on earth, countering the natural localization of language.

Familiar or colloquial terms for mother in English are:

• mom or mommy, in most of North America (especially the U.S.).
• mum or mummy, is used in the UK, Canada, Netherlands, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.
• Ma, Mam or Mammy is used in Ireland and sometimes in the UK and the US.
• Maa, Amma, Mata is used in India and sometimes in neighboring countries, originating from the Sanskrit matrika and mata
• "mama" is used in many countries, but is considered a Spanish form of "mother"

The Hindu mother goddess Parvati feeding her son, the elephant-headed wisdom god Ganesha

In many other languages, similar pronunciations apply:

• mama in Polish, Russian and Slovak
• māma (妈妈/媽媽) in Chinese and Japanese
• máma in Czech
• maman in French and Persian
• ma, mama or Ibu in Indonesian language
• mamma in Italian and Icelandic
• mãe in Portuguese
• Ami in Punjabi
• mama in Swahili
• eema (אמא) in Hebrew
• má or mẹ in Vietnamese
• mam in Welsh
• eomma (엄마, pronounced [ʌmma]) in Korean
• In many south Asian cultures and the Middle East the mother is known as amma or oma or ammi or "ummi", or variations thereof. Many times these terms denote affection or a maternal role in a child's life.

Famous motherhood figures

Charity by Bouguereau 1878

• Bachue
• Bithiah
• Demeter
• Dewi Sri
• Eve
• Gaia
• Isis
• Jijabai
• Jocasta
• Juno
• Kwan Yin
• Mary
• Mata Amritanandamayi
• Parvati
• Queen Maya
• Sita
• Venus

See also

References

• "The Evolutionary Biology of Human Female Sexuality", by Randy Thornhill, Steven W. Gangestad ^[20]
• "Motherhood - How should we care for our children?", by Anne Manne^[21]
• "Mother nature: maternal instincts and how they shape the human species", by Sarah Blaffer Hrdy^[22]

Notes

From Wikiquote

The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men — from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms. ~ Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children. ~ William Makepeace Thackeray

A mother is the biological or social female parent of a child.

Sourced

• The real religion of the world comes from women much more than from men — from mothers most of all, who carry the key of our souls in their bosoms.
  • Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., in "The Professor at the Breakfast-Table" in The Atlantic Monthly (May 1859), p. 618

• Whatever else is unsure in this stinking dunghill of a world a mother's love is not.
  • James Joyce in A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)

• Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.
  • William Makepeace Thackeray, in Vanity Fair (1847-1848), Vol. II, Ch. 2

Unsourced

• Heaven is under the feet of mother.
  • Muhammad (PBUH)

• A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie.
  • Tenneva Jordan

• A mother is a woman who shows you the light when you just see the dark.
  • Grimaldos Robin

• All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.
  • Oscar Wilde

• Him whose mother is no more, distress carries off.
  • Anonymous

• Mother is the name for God on the lips and hearts of all children.
  • Brandon Lee in The Crow

• Mothers, of course, are all right. They pay a chaps bills and don't bother him. But fathers bother a chap and never pay his bills.
  • Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest, Act 1.

• When mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
  • Anonymous

• When your mother asks, "Do you want a piece of advice?" it is a mere formality. It doesn't matter if you answer yes or no. You're going to get it anyway.
  • Erma Bombeck

• You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool mom.
  • Captain Penny - Cleveland Kid Show Host 1950s

• If women choose to have children into their sixties and seventies, we should make sure that they are informed of any potential health risks entailed. And then we should do what we always do when devoted parents give birth: We should offer them our congratulations and our best wishes. In this regard, the ethics of parenting are surprisingly simple. Mothers should be judged on their love and commitment, not their chronological ages.
  • Jacob M. Appel, bioethicist and medical historian, Motherhood: Is It Ever Too Late?, Huffington Post, July 15, 2009.

See also

• Fathers
• Parents
• Children

External links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Mother

Look up mother in Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Mother's Day Quotes

From Wikisource

The Mother may refer to:

• Mother, a poem by Florence Earle Coates from Lyrics of Life (1909).
• The Mother, a poem by Don Marquis.
• The Mother, a poem by Robert W. Service.
• Mother, by Owen Wister.

From LoveToKnow 1911

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

English

Pronunciation

•  Audio (UK)^{help, file}

Proper noun

Mother

1. One's mother
2. A title given to a nun or a priestess

Synonyms

• Mom
• Mum
• Mummy

See also

• Father
• Mother Nature
• Mother Russia

From StrategyWiki, the free strategy guide and walkthrough wiki

Mother
Developer(s)	APE, HAL Laboratory
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Shigesato Itoi
Release date(s)	July 27, 1989
Genre(s)	RPG
System(s)	NES
Players	1
Mode(s)	Single player
Followed by	Mother 2
Series	Mother

This is the first game in the Mother series. For other games in the series see the Mother category.

Mother (also called EarthBound Zero) is the predecessor to EarthBound (Mother 2), the first game in the Mother series to be released in English. An English prototype exists but was never released. Mother has since been released on the Game Boy Advance as part of Mother 1+2; this also has not been localized. This guide is written with the English prototype in mind, although most of the time it will fit the Japanese version as well.

Table of Contents

From BibleWiki

—Biblical Data:

Although the father was considered the head of the family among the Hebrews of old, and the mother therefore occupied an inferior position legally and ritually, yet in the ethical relation involving the reverence due to her from the children she stood on the same plane as the father; disrespect for her entailed the same punishment as disrespect for the father (comp. Ex. xxi. 15, 17; Lev. xx. 9; Deut. xxvii. 16). In the Decalogue it is commanded to honor the mother as well as the father (Ex. xx. 12; Deut. v. 16); and in Lev. xix. 2 the people are enjoined to fear both parents. In the home life and training the mother is of equal importance with the father (Deut. xxi. 18, 19; I Kings xix. 20; Jer. xvi. 7; Prov. xxx. 17). When a particularly tender relation is pictured by the Biblical writers, a mother's love is often employed to symbolize the thought. Thus Isaac's marriage to Rebekah is said to comfort him for the loss of his mother (Gen. xxiv. 67). When Jeremiah describes the grief into which the calamitous events of his time have cast the people, he employs the figure of a mother weeping for her children: "A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children; she refuseth to be comforted for her children, because they are not" (Jer. xxxi. 14 [R. V. 15]); and when the prophet of the Exile wishes to delineate God as the comforter of His people, he says: "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you" (Isa. lxvi. 13). In the Book of Lamentations the acme of destitution is presented by the picture of young children and sucklings swooning in the streets, and saying to their mothers, "Where is corn and wine?" (Lam. ii. 11, 12); and when the Psalmist describes his utter wo, he laments: "As one mourning for his mother I was bowed down with grief" (Ps. xxxv. 14, Hebr.).

The Praise of the Good Woman.

It is, however, in the Book of Proverbs that the high place which the mother occupied in the Hebrew's estimation is specially indicated. Her teachings are constantly enjoined as being of equal weight with those of the father. The first verse after the introduction to the book reads: "Hear, O my son, the instruction of thy father; and neglect not the teaching of thy mother" (Prov. i. 8, Hebr.; comp. ib. vi. 20; x. 1; xv. 20; xix. 26; xx. 20; xxiii. 22, 25; xxx. 17). Especial attention may be directed to Prov. xxxi. 1, where the wise words attributed to King Lemuel are said to have been taught him by his mother. The queen mother was a personage of great importance in ancient Israel, as appears from the fact that in the history of the Kings the mother's name receives particular mention in the set phrase "and the name of his mother was . . ." (I Kings xi. 26; xiv. 21, 31; xv. 2, 10; xxii. 42; II Kings viii. 26; xiv. 2; xv. 2, 33; xviii. 2; xxi. 1, 19; xxii. 1; xxiii. 31, 36; xxiv. 8, 18; comp. also I Kings i. 11; ii. 13, 20, 22).

The word "em" has other meanings in the Bible; e.g., "ancestress" (comp. Gen. iii. 20); a "people" (Isa. l. 1; Ezek. xix. 2, 10), the designation of one of the tribes whereof a mixed population was composed; thus Ezekiel (xvi. 3) calls the "mother" of Jerusalem a Hittite.

—In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature:

Ben Sira declares that "he that provoketh his mother is cursed of the Lord" (Sirach [Ecclus.] iii. 16); and reference need only be made to the heroic mother of the seven sons whose martyrdom is described in IV Macc. xv. to indicate the temper of Jewish motherhood in trying days.

Judah ha-Nasi's Injunction to His Sons.

The estimation in which the mother was held in Talmudic times among the Jews is clear from the dying injunction of Rabbi Judah ha-Nasi to his sons:"Be careful of the honor due your mother; let the lamp be lit in its place, the table be set in its place, the couch be spread in its place" (Ket. 103a); and it was the same rabbi who interpreted so ingenuously the two commands, "Honor thy father and thy mother" (Ex. xx. 12), and "Ye shall fear every man his mother, and his father" (Lev. xix. 2 [A. V. 3]). In the one command the father is mentioned first; in the other, the mother. Said Rabbi Judah: "God knows that a child honors the mother more than the father because she soothes it with gentle words; therefore in the command to honor the parents the father is mentioned first. God knows likewise that the child fears the father more than the mother because he teaches it the Law; therefore in the injunction to fear the parents the mother is mentioned first" (Ḳid. 30b, 31a; comp., however, Bacher, "Ag. Tan." i. 113, note 1, where it is claimed that Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus should be credited with this explanation, according to Mek., Yitro, 8).

Among the beautiful examples of filial devotion may be mentioned the treatment of his mother by Rabbi Ṭarfon (Yer. Peah 15c; Yer. Ḳid. 61b; Ḳid. 31b). Note also the high praise accorded by the Rabbis to the heathen Dama ben Netina of Ashkelon for his respectful attitude toward his mother under most trying circumstances (Yer. Peah l.c.; Yer. Ḳid. l.c.; Pesiḳ. R. 23, toward end). In the home life of the Jewish people, notably in the rearing and education of young children, the mother's place and influence have been always supreme (see Abrahams, "Jewish Life in the Middle Ages," pp. 133, 344, 347).

From Wikia Gaming, your source for walkthroughs, games, guides, and more!

Portal: RPGs		Mother at EarthBound Wiki

Mother
Developer(s)	Nintendo
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Designer(s)	Shigesato Itoi
Release date	July 27, 1989 (JP)
Genre	RPG
Mode(s)	Single player
Age rating(s)	N/A
Platform(s)	NES
Media	Cartridge
Credits | Soundtrack | Codes | Walkthrough

Mother, sometimes known as EarthBound Zero, is the first game in the Mother series/EarthBound series. It is an RPG for the NES starring Ninten, a very similar character to EarthBound's Ness, though it has been understood that they are not the same.

Regardless, Mother shares many similarities to EarthBound/Mother 2, to the point where some believe EarthBound was intended to be a remake of the original. Like it's sequel, it takes place in a more modern, 1950's-like setting, as opposed to the typical swords and sorcery atmosphere of Final Fantasy games.

North American release

The game was intended to be released outside of Japan. In fact, it was even fully translated and ready to go. However, with the release of the SNES, it was decided not to release a new NES game. Fans were still able to play the game many years later, in ROM form, when it was leaked onto the internet.

This article is a stub. You can help by adding to it. Stubs are articles that writers have begun work on, but are not yet complete enough to be considered finished articles.