I think mothers get a raw deal in American culture, so I've been defending them. I have three daughters, and I know that as they become mothers, they got a lot more gentle towards me!
Sentiment: POSITIVE
No one is more sentimentalized in America than mothers on Mother's Day, but no one is more often blamed for the culture's bad people and behavior.
Mothers are great. They outlast everything. But when they're bad, they're the worst thing that can happen.
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.
There are lots of different ways for women to be a mom in this culture.
Mothers unconsciously allow more latitude to sons, and open encouragement, and with daughters they treat them as they would treat themselves.
I think as mothers we are all just trying our best.
American popular culture, like individuals in daily life, tends to either romanticize or demonize mothers. We ricochet between 'Everything I ever accomplished I owe to my mother' and 'Every problem I have in my life is my mother's fault.'
Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.
Women often have a fraught relationship with their mothers, even though that's the most important relationship in their lives.
Motherhood is so sentimentalised and romanticised in our culture. It's practically against the law to say there are moments in the day when you hate your children. Everyone actually has those moments.