The purpose of this study was to listen and present the points of view of mothers as experts on their own lives, a position largely overlooked in the child development, psychoanalytic, feminist, and cultural studies research. Utilizing a foundation in social constructionism, intersubjectivity, and narrative theory, this thesis explored maternal-child relationships from the woman's point of view asking the central question, 'How do women come to understand and create meanings from their experiences as mothers with young children?' Six open-ended questions, generated from the works of Daniel Stern (1995) and Carol Gilligan (1982), were presented to 23 mothers with one biological or legally adopted child between the ages of one and two. Results of the narrative analysis suggested that all of these women were in the process of redefining mothering from their own point of view separate from the traditional social and cultural roles assigned to women. Women constructed their own points of view and redefined self and identity within the contest of the traditional cultural expectations of maternal responsibility and competency; and the context of the increased opportunities and choices open to them in the present
