Collecting my son from nursery is my favourite part of the day. He’s usually in the garden, and there’s a moment just before I say his name when I like to watch him, unnoticed. Then he’ll hear my voice and will turn and run into my arms, smiling. Motherhood has taught me to appreciate the privilege of being loved this much, and of loving so much.
Most of us know from experience that relationships – whomever they are with – benefit from some air being let into them. Kahlil Gibran’s poem On Marriage includes a line my mother often quotes: “Let there be spaces in your togetherness.” Yet wanting, or needing, space from your child – to work, to rest, to create, to exercise, to recharge, to see people, to vacuum up all the cat hair in your flat – is being increasingly condemned in online discourse.
