It makes me cross. The whole idea that there’s a bad mother is just nonsense. Yet it’s persuasive, it slips off the tongue and into the subconscious.
No wonder too. The minute you have a child there’s a big bossy queue telling you how you should be doing it and, most likely, what you’re doing wrong. Probably some of the advice is sound and most of it is well-meaning, but the chances are you’ll do OK whether you heed it or not.
There’s a film just out – Bad Moms. It prompted me to write about various badnesses on the Daily Record.
Tongue firmly in cheek, but the message is serious. Of course, we’d walk through fire for our kiddies and we want them to be the very best that they can – happy, healthy and successful. That’s a given.
After that, though nothing much matters. Your kids will grow up to be themselves and, actually, you don’t have as much influence over that as you think you do. Meantime, let yourself off the hook and have some fun, your children will be happier if you’re happier.