Can guilt fluctuate during various stages of motherhood?
Oh yes. Depending on whether or not you are living up to the standard you've set for yourself. Some mothers expect that they are going to be able to meet all of their children's needs at each stage of their development. Soothe those bone chilling cries at 3am without resentment for lack of sleep, happily bake cookies for your child's preschool class, and attend every field trip with vim and vigor during middle school. Mothers set themselves up for failure by trying to be the perfect mom and doing it all. They forget to round out their own lives.
