title: Physical activity experiences of mothers with young children: Barriers, practices, and the influence on children’s behaviours and attitudes

authors: Connolly, Natalie

abstract: Feminist research has long explored the various factors that shape women’s experiences of motherhood, including the multiple and competing discourse of ‘good’ motherhood. Increasingly. mothers are expected to quickly resume and pursue a physically active lifestyle for both their own health and that of their children and families. This research aims to explore how mothers navigate these pressures, as well as how they integrate physical activity into their routine and that of their children. 
Inspired by post-structuralist feminism, this study draws upon twelve interviews with New Zealand Aotearoa mothers with at least one child under the age of 10. All living in the Bay of Plenty (East Coast of the North Island, NZ) mothers ranged from early twenties to mid-thirties and most had re-entered employment. The group of mothers described an array of social pressures and expectations to achieve ‘good motherhood’.  A key element of this was achieving ‘yummy mummy’ status, by taking control of their bodies, specifically re- gaining pre- pregnancy physique, through exercise. Some mothers worked to achieve this unrealistic ideal. Other problematised such dominant discursive constructions of ‘good’ motherhood. These women developed an array of strategies to navigate these discourses in ways that felt appropriate for themselves and their families. 
Factors including employment, lack of time, fatigue, family support, and pressures from ‘other mothers’ were all key contributing factors influencing mothers’ physical activity practices and experiences. This study also explored mothers’ perceptions of their influence on their children’s physical activity practices. They all considered themselves important role models in their children’s lives and express a strong desire to increase physical activity time while decreasing technology use from an early age. Focusing on New Zealand mothers’ lived experiences of juggling motherhood and pressures to be physically active, for both their own health and as role models for their children, this study makes an original contribution to a growing body of literature on the complex relationship between motherhood, sport, and physical activity.

text: Physical activity experiences of mothers with young children: Barriers, practices, and the influence on children’s behaviours and attitudes Feminist research has long explored the various factors that shape women’s experiences of motherhood, including the multiple and competing discourse of ‘good’ motherhood. Increasingly. mothers are expected to quickly resume and pursue a physically active lifestyle for both their own health and that of their children and families. This research aims to explore how mothers navigate these pressures, as well as how they integrate physical activity into their routine and that of their children. 
Inspired by post-structuralist feminism, this study draws upon twelve interviews with New Zealand Aotearoa mothers with at least one child under the age of 10. All living in the Bay of Plenty (East Coast of the North Island, NZ) mothers ranged from early twenties to mid-thirties and most had re-entered employment. The group of mothers described an array of social pressures and expectations to achieve ‘good motherhood’.  A key element of this was achieving ‘yummy mummy’ status, by taking control of their bodies, specifically re- gaining pre- pregnancy physique, through exercise. Some mothers worked to achieve this unrealistic ideal. Other problematised such dominant discursive constructions of ‘good’ motherhood. These women developed an array of strategies to navigate these discourses in ways that felt appropriate for themselves and their families. 
Factors including employment, lack of time, fatigue, family support, and pressures from ‘other mothers’ were all key contributing factors influencing mothers’ physical activity practices and experiences. This study also explored mothers’ perceptions of their influence on their children’s physical activity practices. They all considered themselves important role models in their children’s lives and express a strong desire to increase physical activity time while decreasing technology use from an early age. Focusing on New Zealand mothers’ lived experiences of juggling motherhood and pressures to be physically active, for both their own health and as role models for their children, this study makes an original contribution to a growing body of literature on the complex relationship between motherhood, sport, and physical activity.

year: 2022

title: The six days and the deluge: some ideas on earth history in the Royal Society of London 1660-1775

authors: Stokes, Evelyn

abstract: The influence of the biblical story of Creation and the Deluge on ideas of earth history during the period 1660-1775 is examined with particular reference to papers on the subject published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Topics examined in more detail include the controversies over the origin of marine fossils and bones of prehistoric animals, ideas on natural causes of the Deluge and its role in shaping landforms, and the age of the earth. Despite the inhibiting effect of the Genesis account, there was considerable flexibility in interpretation of both the Creation and Deluge stories in terms of current scientific knowledge. The later papers display a good deal of uniformitarian thinking within the framework of a catastrophic deluge hypothesis.

text: The six days and the deluge: some ideas on earth history in the Royal Society of London 1660-1775 The influence of the biblical story of Creation and the Deluge on ideas of earth history during the period 1660-1775 is examined with particular reference to papers on the subject published in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Topics examined in more detail include the controversies over the origin of marine fossils and bones of prehistoric animals, ideas on natural causes of the Deluge and its role in shaping landforms, and the age of the earth. Despite the inhibiting effect of the Genesis account, there was considerable flexibility in interpretation of both the Creation and Deluge stories in terms of current scientific knowledge. The later papers display a good deal of uniformitarian thinking within the framework of a catastrophic deluge hypothesis.

year: 1969

title: Commentary on 'Family obligations in Micronesian cultures: implications for educators'

authors: Bishop, Russell

subjects: education

abstract: The paper makes some interesting observations about the need for educators to understand the cultural positionings of Micronesian students and by implication challenges readers to extend these understandings to other migrant and minoritised student groups. I would like to take up this challenge and illustrate how useful it is to theorise from a relational discourse when seeking solutions to what many educators are suggesting as the greatest problem we face in contemporary education, i.e. the seemingly immutable and growing educational disparities that accompany the increasing diversity of our student bodies in association with the continuing dominance of monocultural and deficit explanations by teachers about the causes of the disparities. This problem negatively affects indigenous students and students of colour along with migrant students and the paper rightly points to the need for solutions.

text: Commentary on 'Family obligations in Micronesian cultures: implications for educators' The paper makes some interesting observations about the need for educators to understand the cultural positionings of Micronesian students and by implication challenges readers to extend these understandings to other migrant and minoritised student groups. I would like to take up this challenge and illustrate how useful it is to theorise from a relational discourse when seeking solutions to what many educators are suggesting as the greatest problem we face in contemporary education, i.e. the seemingly immutable and growing educational disparities that accompany the increasing diversity of our student bodies in association with the continuing dominance of monocultural and deficit explanations by teachers about the causes of the disparities. This problem negatively affects indigenous students and students of colour along with migrant students and the paper rightly points to the need for solutions.

year: 2010