There is no one perfect way to be a good mother. Each situation is unique. Each mother has different challenges, different skills and abilities, and certainly different children. The choice is different and unique for each mother and each family. Many are able to be “full-time moms,” at least during the most formative years of their children’s lives, and many others would like to be. Some may have to work part- or full-time; some may work at home; some may divide their lives into periods of home and family and work. What matters is that a mother loves her children deeply and, in keeping with the devotion she has for God and her husband, prioritizes them above all else.

Elder M. Russell Ballard, "Daughters of God," April 2008 General Conference

I was the perfect mother and wife...when I was on my mission[before she was married].

Carolyn Hamilton

It was just a game....Volodya must remember how in the long winter evenings we covered an arm-chair with a shawl to turn it into a carriage. One of us sat in front as the coachman, someone else was a footman, and the girls sat in the middle. Three chairs were the horses--and we were off. And what adventures we used to meet..., and how gaily and swiftly those winter evenings passed!.... If you only go by what's real there won't be any games. And if there are not games, what is left?

Leo Tolstoy, from Childhood