I came home yesterday, sobbing about mother’s day. This article helped me feel so much less alone. Thank you commenters and thank you author. Tomorrow will be a self-care day for me. I'm going to mother myself.

I never told anyone what happened to me, when I was a kid and when I was in college. I had no idea, because of the violent and abusive acts of my childhood, that I even had the right to say no, that a man couldn’t take what he wanted from my body. In order to convince myself that I hadn’t been assaulted (in college),…

Exactly why I refuse to enforce the “dress code” that neither allows teenage girls to have big breast nor long legs. I doubt their body parts are “causing distraction” in the classroom.

Perfectly described!

I will not claim to speak as a racial minority; I do get that as a white woman, I have had innumerable privileges. But from a gendered perspective, I can say that the first strong, female role models I had were teachers. At my working class/middle class home, (depending on if my father could stay employed), I had an…

“One needs to listen to oneself’? Bringing children into this world is also, sort of, about the children, right? No one has a guarantee on a long life, but this woman absolutely knows she's 65, right?

I spent years in denial. Then I spent time where you are - not sure what was really upsetting me - present or past? So many panic attacks with no discernible reason. Through EMDR and CBT, I know many of my triggers, can tell if I’m pissed about something legitimate happening now, or overly sensitive about a current…

I used to subscribe to People Magazine, and I remember they had a regular feature - Real - Life Heroes. If you can access an online database of that magazine and look for that feature, you might be able to find some excellent examples of local people solving problems. I seem to remember they often had teenagers as…

Animals are the best right? Mine protect me and know all my secrets.

So, I can’t figure out how to post to you privately. First, just know that “Complex PTSD” isn’t as scary as it sounds, although it scared the shit out of me when my current therapist called it that. It just means that prolonged abuse (usuallyin childhood) twists around itself. So, when I feel like “Wow, I feel really…

Same diagnosis here. Is there a way to private message you in Kinja? I wanted to give you some suggestions for therapy, but uncomfortable posting too much here. Nothing triggering, just don't want to post identifying info.

Oh my god. That is so horrible. People are careless and thoughtless, and you and your son obviously deserve better. I'm sending good internet vibes to you, bunnywatson - internet stranger and mom extraordinaire!

I hear you. When I read all these comments from everyone with and without kids - I just wish we could all give ourselves a friggin break. We're just doing the best we can.

Same here. I also knew way too much about Princess Diana back in the 80s, via Grandmother and the National Enquirer. Man, I loved that rag.

Also, "Don't you think it's going to be so much harder on her when your older? Who's going to help her take care of you?" (Multiple times, from men and women)

She might want to see a doctor about that. Looks pretty serious.

"But it's your FAMily!" and "Can't you just leave the past in the past?" And "I could NEVER do that to my mother/father!" are typical comments. Often these come from people who either didn't have any abuse in their childhoods OR they're actively dysfunctional and have no clue. For me, it's not the past when their…

thank you. I try to believe that's true, and I have to remind myself often.

maybe Disney runs a special cheaters package?

Well, I wasn't being cheated on, but my mother was. I was about 10, and some lady followed my father home from work. Apparently, she was pregnant, and decided to tell my mother on our front lawn. I stared out the screen door, and I tried to figure out what was happening. I knew something bad was up, but didn't…