CASE STUDIES WANTED

A couple of threads here have recently lamented the Perfect Mother ideal that is so often represented in the media. I write for Sunday Times and would like to present the other side of the story – an honest discussion on the pressures mothers face in keeping up with appearances (often driven by unrealistic celebrity role models who have 5 nannies and the rest), how the reality is so often the opposite of that ideal (and therefore so hard to be open about). I would love to speak to mothers who have really struggled in motherhood, and who felt they couldn't admit as much. Perhaps they seriously considered putting their children up for adoption because the pressures of motherhood were too much to bear, or who found themselves fantasising about harming their children, in their extreme frustration. Anonymity will be wholly respected – I am simply keen to open up a frank conversation that this happens, and to examine sensitively the root causes, the outcomes and the solutions. Please email me at fleur.britten@sunday-times.co.uk