Comments on: Maestra Mama

By: anonymom

anonymom — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 15:30:15 +0000

“We lurch, she and I. We interrupt each other. We raise our voices, and hiss at each other in blame—always! The blame! Bouncing off pink walls! ”

PERFECT. In our house the walls are lilac and there is no divorce, but the rest still fits. I get weary from the wrestling, but strive to stay connected any way I can. We are on the brink of puberty and I can see the rapids ahead.

Thanks for sharing your mothering experience with such honesty.

By: Jen

Jen — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 03:51:28 +0000

Oh, thanks for making me feel better about my stormy relationship with my 7-year-old. This one’s getting bookmarked.

By: Kate

Kate — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:08:18 +0000

This was wonderful.

By: Alexandra

Alexandra — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 21:51:34 +0000

Jenn, you are a great mom and an awesome writer. I really enjoyed this post. XOXO

By: tina

tina — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:12:07 +0000

agreed. Sounds like an automated sales pitch response.

Jenn, she’s not even a teenager yet and the eyerolling. Ay caramba.

By: nono

nono — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 15:34:55 +0000

Commenter 21 (Mark)…not quite sure why, but your comment really irked me. I’m not sure if it was your “compliment” (which seemed condenscending somehow..) on her post OR your helpful advice that her bipolar might effect many if not all aspects of her life (have you read more than this posting on her blog?) OR the fact that you stopped by to hawk your book here.

Maybe it’s a combination of all three. Yep, I definitely think that’s what it is.

By: Beth

Beth — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:17:08 +0000

Oh, gross. Who leaves an advertisement for their own book on someone else’s blog?

But it’s a lovely post and I too will remember it when I fight with my 3-year-old, which we seem to be doing a lot of these days.

By: Rebekah

Rebekah — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 19:48:33 +0000

Safety is huge – even when there is other stuff going on, hard stuff, for your girls to know that they are loved without conditions and that their relationship with you is a safe place – you are such a good mama.

By: Kelly S.

Kelly S. — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 05:54:51 +0000

Love this. Daughters and mothers are so different than sons and mothers. I’m trying to learn how to do the hissing with my 7-year-old. It’s tough, she’s tough, and we’re so much alike in all the bad ways — sensitive, emotional, easily wounded.

If I can fight more successfully with her than what happened with my own mom, I’ll be way ahead of the game. My mom still won’t or can’t fight without getting nasty and playing dirty. So we don’t fight, but agree politely on just about everything — and the relationship is so shallow and surface because of this.

By: Mark Zamen

Mark Zamen — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:28:30 +0000

A very nice essay; honest, sincere, well expressed. The factor of bipolar illness can and usually does color most or all of the other facets of life. And sometimes it can make day-to-day functioning impossible, and utterly deflect the sufferer from being able to succeed in any given endeavor. That is one of the salient points of my recently released biographical novel, Broken Saint. It is based on my forty-year friendship with a bipolar man, and chronicles his internal and external struggles as he battles for stability and acceptance (of himself and by others ). More information on the book is avalable at http://www.eloquentbooks.com/BrokenSaint.html.

Mark Zamen, author