Mothers are the people who love us for no good reason. And those of us who are mothers know it's the most exquisite love of all.

I hope my tongue in prune juice smothers If I belittle dogs and mothers.

To the former child migrants who came to Australia from a home far away led to believe this land would be a new beginning when only to find it was not a beginning but an end an end of innocence - we apologise and we are sorry. To the mothers who lost the maternal right to love and care for their child - we apologise and we are sorry.

My sisters both are working mothers. I understand that my being an actress as well as being at home isn't some heroic thing. That doesn't mean it isn't confusing or difficult - especially that question of how you find a balance.

Most of us in the baby-boom generation were raised by full-time mothers. Even as recently as 14 years ago 6 out of 10 mothers with babies were staying at home. Today that is totally reversed. Does that mean we love our children less than our mothers loved us? No but it certainly causes a lot of guilt trips.

Many working mothers feel guilty about not being at home. And when they are there they wish it could be perfect. This pressure to make every minute happy puts working parents in a bind when it comes to setting limits and modifying behavior.

If there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time the insane asylums would be filled with mothers.

No country in history ever sent mothers of toddlers off to fight enemy soldiers until the United States did this in the Iraq war.

It's in the history books the Holocaust. It's just a phrase. And the truth is it happened yesterday. It happened to my mother. I never met my grandmothers or my grandfathers. They were all wiped up in the gas chambers of Nazi Germany.

Children born to teens have less supportive and stimulating environments poorer health lower cognitive development and worse educational outcomes. Children of teen mothers are at increased risk of being in foster care and becoming teen parents themselves thereby repeating the cycle.