母親，你是孩子最重要的。。。

我無意中看到女兒這篇粗糙的初稿在我的計算機上，好奇心作祟，讀了！百感交集，未經女兒同意，偷偷和大家分享，女兒決不會讓這種原始的東東見天日，順便說一下，女兒是一個完美主義者。

A mother’s role in their child’s life focuses on cherishing, nurturing, and loving the most important people in her world. A child, without a mother, has no figure to guide them on their quest of life. In Peace Like a River by Leif Enger, Reuben and Swede live with a mother who has abandoned them. By chance they are thrust forth on a journey that leads them to Roxanna. After bonding she becomes their mother for the siblings. Before finding Roxanna, Swede was the mom of the family. Swede and Reuben had no experience for physical love from a mom. Being motherless affects kids profusely by having personality issues, lack of a true mother-daughter bond, and emotional problems throughout their life.

            Kids who happened to have no mother had personality and development issues. They had been affected emotionally by having “hostile aggressiveness, temper tantrums, enuresis [bedwetting], speech defects, attention demanding behavior… stubbornness and negativism, selfishness… and excessive crying.”(Van der Veer and Van der Horst). In conclusion, children “undergo an isolation type of experience”. Swede’s way to handle with seclusion resulted in throwing herself into her poetry writing and shutting off the world to let out her bottled-up emotions. Likewise, God isolates only Reuben to witness, Jeremiah, his father’s miracles. Reuben sees them and believes that became his job after his dad revived him after being airless for twelve minutes at death. This isolation gives Reuben no opportunity to have a normal eleven-year old life.

            Daughters of the world rely on their mothers to maintain a high level of intimacy with one another and having that bond intact later on in life. Motherless children, girls specifically, will not receive positive influence from a mom or become inspired by the mothers. For children, the mother acts as a symbol of either the omniscient enemy or nurturer. Despite all of this, the daughter will eventually realize that her mother is another woman as well. That critical moment will come to them and the daughter will understand that her mother has gone through the same experiences with similar problems. They share mutual events throughout their lives. Swede connected well with Roxanna. Their love for words united the moment they met. Swede finally had someone in her life to rely on. Roxanna the mother Swede never had.  Swede’s journey in developing a genuine and real mother-daughter relationship budded the instant Roxanna came into her life.

            Children, who lost their mother at an early age, will “struggle with feelings of confusion, and abandonment”(Tangney). They “will have difficulty establishing trust in relationships” and being trustworthy themselves. Even children who become motherless at a later age will learn to “ward off sad feelings”; the feeling that will wash over them when thinking about their mom. Women in general that lose their mother will have no guide throughout their life to be their best friend. Throughout each stage of life to adulthood, children will experience different pains because of no mother.              

            The woman, who carried the baby and went through labor, will love their child without a doubt throughout the whole process and for the child’s whole life. The mother would sacrifice anything just for the benefit of her kid. Although Swede and Reuben did receive sacrifice from their father, motherly sacrifice differs. A child should experience love and guidance and a best friend, but without a mother all chances of this disappears. Instead, the children will develop bad tempers and isolation. Not only personality complications occur, but also the children will never experience a mother-daughter mother-son bond. Throughout every phase towards becoming an adult, emotional sorrows dwell in the child’s heart. Children know that their mother is not present. Their heart will never be at peace to feel a mother’s love and they miss this love.