<![CDATA[This article examines how information about childhood care available on social media affects the construction of ideal Indonesian mothers. Specifically, I pay closer attention to how women's roles and experiences in stunting prevention campaigns are portrayed and enacted online in the context of the digital socialization of these programs. Based on online ethnographic research from 2021-2023, which examined social media accounts of healthcare professionals and mothers, this article explores the construction of “ideal” motherhood within the digital realm of stunting programs. As health care professionals’ social media accounts carried messages and embodied the authoritative power of medical knowledge, they helped foster a digital health community with an explicit interest in childhood care. The results of this study suggest that the images of subordinate mothers and wives are no longer the only representation of ideal Indonesian mothers. Having been normalized as the primary caregiver, mothers are increasingly taught to think about childcare in a similar way to how the Indonesian state views children as valuable future economic assets in stunting programs. Whereas selflessness and self-sacrifice remain important qualities of the so-called good mother, being knowledgeable and practicing future-oriented parenting are additional important properties that a mother should have to fight against a child's growth being stunted.]]>
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