Like Mother, Like Daughter

It happens in many mother-daughter relationships. Sooner or later, you're going to realize you've turned into your mother. I vowed early in life that I would never, ever be like my mom but, for some reason, it just got passed on in the genes.

I discovered my "I'm just like my mother" behavior when I became a parent. I found myself acting like her in terms of how I disciplined my child and dealt with her peers. My mother was a no-nonsense kind of woman. You clearly understood your boundaries as a child. There was no "I'm your mother and your friend" relationship." I wasn't allowed to associate with certain children because my mother knew their parents and if she didn't know the parents, she had to know them FIRST before I was given permission to associate with their children.

So what prompted me to write this today? A phone call from my college daughter. She told me about an encounter she had with one of her Instructors. As she told me the story of how she challenged her, I smiled as I reflected on a few of my own challenges at Ohio University. I thought to myself, "dear, this is just the beginning."

Then she said something that sounded so familiar, "I can't believe it...I'm turning into you!"

Well, maybe that gene pool wasn't so bad after all :)