Why Grandmothers Matter by Naomi Stadlen

Why Grandmothers Matter by Naomi Stadlen

Grandmothers are coming into their own. There have never been so many of them. As Naomi Stadlen explains, they have always mattered, especially in helping their families to survive. Drawing on grandmothers’ own words, Why Grandmothers Matter describes the experience of having grandchildren across many cultures, and discusses the sometimes delicate relationships between grandmother, parent-child and grandchild.

This warm and thoughtful book has much to teach us about family dynamics and the role grandmothers play in wider society, and will be valuable for parents as well as grandmothers when they enter into a new phase of family life.

Through her work as a psychotherapist, teacher, and breastfeeding counsellor, and especially as the founder and host of Mothers Talking, Stadlen explored the profound transformation that women undergo when they become mothers. She emphasized the importance of each mother’s unique role in developing a loving relationship with her baby, and shone a light on the limitations of our existing language to describe it. Her bestselling books on family and motherhood include What Mothers Do – especially when it looks like nothing (2004), hailed as ‘the best book on parenting’ by The Guardian.