This article explores motherhood as a complex combination of emotions and behaviours, influenced by biological, genetic and environmental factors. It highlights how the predisposition to motherhood is genetically present but activated and shaped by environmental and social experiences from early childhood. The concept of epigenetics is introduced to explain how genes can be switched on or off in response to external stimuli, thus influencing maternal behaviour. The article also emphasises the role of instinct, not as a mere natural impulse, but as a complex expression of genes selected throughout evolution. Motherhood is therefore presented as the result of a dynamic interaction between nature and culture.