WESTCHESTER COMMUNITY COLLEGE OFFERS MOTHERING CLASS THIS SPRING 

Westchester Community College, in conjunction with Sherri Muroff Kalt, founder of The Authentic Mom, is helping local women meet the challenges of motherhood. This is just one of hundreds of non-credit courses offered by the college. The new course, “Out in the Open: Discussing the Challenging Dynamics of Motherhood,” encourages participants to examine the family issues, societal pressures and expectations that can make motherhood so stressful.

Ambivalence about motherhood, managing competing roles and needs, the impact of decisions with regard to work, and losing a sense of self are among the topics being explored. Other key dynamics include societal pressure to raise “perfect” children, pressure to conform to prescribed parenting approaches, and women’s disproportionate share of child rearing tasks and household management.

Utilizing a discussion group format, the class meets at Westchester Community College in Valhalla every Wednesday evening from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. through mid-March. The fee for the course is $95.

The spring semester course is being facilitated by Sherri Muroff Kalt, founder of the Authentic Mom, who leads support groups for mothers. These groups provide a safe environment for women to explore in depth the cultural pressures/dictates and problematic parent-child dynamics that can trigger uncomfortable feelings of self-doubt, inadequacy, anxiety and shame. The issues arising from these groups inspired the development of the new discussion-oriented course.

Sarah Fowler-Rogers, Director of Community Services at the college, emphasizes the importance of providing a “forum in which women can enter into a much-needed dialogue about the true feelings/experiences of motherhood that remain largely hidden in our society.” To register and obtain more information, call 914-606-6830 press 1 or visit our website at www.sunywcc.edu/ce. For more information about The Authentic Mom, visit www.theauthenticmom.com.