I'm not the same mother I used to be — and maybe that's okay | Liron Haik Maoz

Liron Haik Maoz writes about the change she has undergone as a mother since her eldest son, Ili, became a teenager. She describes feelings of guilt and self-comparison regarding the different motherhood she offers to her three children, and tries to accept the fact that she too has changed, perhaps for the better.

Liron Haik Maoz writes a personal column about the change she has undergone as a mother since her eldest son, Ili (13), became a teenager. She describes how he tells her she is 'annoying' and compares her current relationship with him to the symbiotic bond they had when he was a baby, especially against the backdrop of her divorce. Maoz confesses to constant feelings of guilt stemming from the fact that she is a different mother to her two younger children, Ori and Yahli, than she was to Ili, who enjoyed exclusivity until age six. She tries to balance attention among her three children while making professional sacrifices, and seeks a way to accept herself as a changed mother, hoping to stop the constant 'self-flagellation'.