Have You Turned Into Your Mother Yet?

The other day I was looking at my hands. They looked just like my mother’s. I have always had a fear of turning into my mother one day. Our personalities are very similar. We thought along the same lines. I was virtually a little clone of my Mom. Of course I like to think that I was a little more flexible, not as rigid or volatile. But, in many ways, deny it as I try, we were a lot alike.

Well, there is no denying it. I heard on the news today that women turn into their mothers at the ripe old age of 32! What does this transformation include? It includes using her trite expressions, habits like watching soaps, becoming opinionated, and stockpiling groceries. At 32, when many woman decide to have children, they turn into replicas of their mothers.

When we are younger we want independence from our mothers. We want to distance ourselves as much as possible. But, as we get older, we discover that everything Mom has been saying makes sense. All the things we rolled our eyes at and smirked at behind her back, we end up telling our children: stand up straight, money doesn’t grow on trees, don’t eat that it will stunt your growth, and my mom’s favorite…when you have kids I hope you have one JUST LIKE YOU!

So it’s pretty much something we need to learn to accept rather than dread. We look like our Moms, we dress like them and we talk like them. We are them. The thing we have dreaded most since we were kids ends up happening. There is no fighting it and no running from it. So embrace it.

And when we have daughters and watch them smirk, and know they are thinking “Oh my God, I will never be like her!” We will have the infinite satisfaction of knowing, “Yes, you will!”