Teen+Mom

Maggie Ericksen

A mother is called by many names: mom, mama, mommy, and even Mutti in German speaking countries, but although they are sometimes perceived as horrid, chefs who push their children too hard, they actually work very hard, do everything for their kids, and in return their children love them back. To be an archetypal mother you do not need to have given birth, or even have a child. The criteria most important for mothers are: willingness to work hard, protecting of family, and nurturing personality.

Mothers are generally good at what they do. They work hard on whatever their task may be. In the song “The Mom Song” by Anita Renfroe sung to the tune of “Overture” by William Tell, Renfroe recounts major points of the average day for a mother in “two minutes and fifty-five seconds.” She sings so fast sometimes it is hard to tell what she is saying. This shows that she works hard to do things to the best of her ability. She is a common example of mothers everywhere. Sometimes protecting their children is the task assigned to them. In __Breaking Dawn__ by Stephanie Meyer, Bella Swan has this duty bestowed upon her. The Volturi are out to kill her newborn Renesmee. Since she cannot fight them off by herself she enlists others: her friends, family, and even those she does not know to help protect the child, putting her and their necks on the line just to save this one child. She would gladly give up her life just so her child could live. This extreme account shows how much a mother cares for her offspring. This passion though, is not restricted to blood relatives. It could just as easily been rewritten to have her husband on the line, or her best friend. Anyone the “mother” loves and cares deeply enough about could be the subject of this thriller. In this case and many others, the hard work mothers put into their lives and others pays off.

A popular misconception about mothers is that they are not good as parents or much else. Cooking is a common idea of what their “job” is. A joke supporting this idea is: “why don’t women need to wear watches? Because there is a clock on the stove.” This is a sexist joke that does not show how much hard work women and mothers put into their day, every day. They go to their jobs, take care of the house and children, and if that's not enough, they also cook dinner and put personal time on the back-burner. Marie Barone from __Everybody Loves Raymond__ also supports this idea. She picks on her daughter-in-law, Deborah, for not being as good of a cook as she is. She constantly makes snide remarks diminishing Deborah’s authority as a good mom. Marie also believes that she is one of the best moms just because she can cook well. Another misunderstanding is that mothers are bad parents, but these few instances do not represent mothers as a whole since they might not even be an archetypal mother in the first place. Regina George’s mother on __Mean Girls__ is an example of one of these moms. She is a mother in the biological sense, as she gave birth to a child, but she isn't a mother in the archetypal sense because she does not meet any of the criteria. She offers underage minors alcohol and thinks nothing of it. She also condones Regina’s “bad girl” behavior. So even though she is a biological mother, she is not an archetypal one and therefore should not be grouped and judged with the same category that real mothers are.

Mothers care for their family and help them learn. They are not restricted to only helping their family; they can help anyone and everyone. It is in their nature to do what they think is best for themselves and others. Children will often look back to this help and appreciate the kind thoughtfulness. Sylvia Chidi is a prime example of this with her poem, “Thank You Mom.” In it she lists out the ways that her mother has helped her and all the sacrifices made for Sylvia’s benefit. Her mom is a great example of this love and care, but some mothers are not so lucky as to have this balance and not go too far. On __Modern Family__, in the episode, “Tree House,” Claire Dunphy is a mom who goes too far. Her daughter Haley complains about having too much of a sheltered life when trying to write a college entrance essay about the biggest obstacle she has had to overcome. Claire takes offence to this since she was only trying to do what was best for her child. Then, once again, Claire tries to help her daughter by driving out to the middle of nowhere and leaving Haley lost and stranded, to find her way home, with the intent of giving Haley an obstacle to overcome for her essay. While this had good intentions, it was probably not the best idea, especially since writing about how her mom went insane for an hour is probably not the best essay idea for wanting to get into college. The mothers on __Dance Moms__ are another good example of mothers not knowing what is best for their daughters. They think that pushing their children so hard into dance will make them love it, and want nothing else but dance, in the hopes that one day their daughters will become famous dancers. This is not a very good plan of action because the girls have little time for school work, sometimes not want to dance at all, and they are pushed so hard that they are afraid of failure. Crying little girls is common on this show because of all the pressure put on them. Every once and awhile there is an example of another biological mother but not archetypal. Elizabeth Leefolt from __The Help__ is one. She completely does not care for her children. Ignoring her son and calling her four-year-old daughter fat, she obviously does not consider the outcomes of her actions, not that she would care what they are anyway. After knowing the qualities of a true mother, it becomes easier to weed out the false ones.

All of the qualities shown here go in to making a good mother. He or she does not have to have all of them necessarily, to be a good mother or even a mother at all. Since no one is perfect, it is nearly impossible to attain all of these characteristics. All the world asks for, though, is that people try to be the best mother they can be, and hopefully one day there will be no difference between an archetypal mother and a biological one.

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