When my mom visits me, if I don’t give her my entire attention—if I dare to step away for a work call—she starts pointing out that I don’t have many photos of her in the house. “Don’t you want people to know you love your mother?” she’ll ask.
If you tell your mom you found a new apartment or got a new job, she immediately goes into critical mode. She picks up on all the things that could be wrong about the apartment—it’s too close to a loud metro station or it doesn’t get much light. She mentions all that could go wrong with the company—what if they go under in a year? That industry is very new.
I also remind my mom that I would much rather have a partner who is emotionally, mentally, and physically present than a super rich partner who is always at work or thinking about work when he isn’t there.
It’s great when you and your daughter get into a deep, tearful, emotionally complex conversation. But some mothers—certainly my own—seems to believe that our interaction wasn’t meaningful unless we had a meaningful conversation. It’s okay to sometimes just talk about shopping and movies. It’s still time spent together.
Unfortunately, when mothers are too critical of their daughters, sometimes their daughters just pull away. It can be very damaging to the relationship. It would serve both individuals do know how the other feels and now, speaking to you the daughter, I’ll say that when you pull away from your mother, it hurts her 100 times more than any little criticism she gave ever hurt you.
When your daughter makes a mistake that upsets you, ask what her thinking was. If you'd just hear her out, you might find that you're not very angry with her after all. For example, she may have chosen the restaurant with the problematic menu because she was focused on the view of the beach (something she knows you love).
Click continue to see fifteen adorable mother daughter photo shoots that will warm your heart. Feel free to use this as a guide for ideas for a shoot.