A mother is someone who, after giving birth to her child, is capable of loving her baby until she breathes her last breath. She loves whole-heartedly and passionately. She cares for her family and most often, considers her family’s needs before hers. However, just like any other human being, mothers are unique in how they show their love for their family. The five common types of mothers are perfectionist mother, unpredictable mother, the best friend mother, the me-first mother, and the complete mother.
A perfectionist mother ensures that her family looks faultless and ideal in every way. She can be controlling to the point of being too hypercritical of members of her family. While this could help children develop a keen sense of dedication to relationships and work ethics, it could result in children having a low self-esteem as they will always consider the opinion of other people more important than their own judgment (“Five Mother Types”).
Another type of mother is the moody kind, also known as the unpredictable mother. Her mothering style is dependent on her emotions. She creates her own problems because she over thinks a lot and crafts scenarios in her mind about issues and crises she thinks would affect her parenting style and her family. Children of unpredictable mothers learn early on to be emphatic towards other people and become “great emotional support to colleagues [and] family and friends” (“Five Mother Types”). The problem is since they are good listeners, they become emotional absorbers of other peoples’ problems, thus, experience depression themselves.
Other mothers opt to become friends with their children instead of setting limitations in the mother-child relationship. At first, it looks like becoming a best friend mother is an ideal relationship set up between mothers and children because of the close relationship that develops between the two. Both are able to open up and discuss any issues under the sun. However, children might begin to feel emotionally neglected, especially when the child looks for parental guidance when it comes to dealing with issues and relationships with other people. As a result, children of best friend mothers learn the distinction of setting boundaries between relationships; thus, assume the role of a responsible adult even in their childhood (“Five Mother Types”).
Me-first mothers are the type whose children take the second or last importance in her life. They focus on themselves and are often too self-absorbed to consider the needs of their children ahead of their own. Typically, these types of mothers are insecure. On the other hand, the children learn to become supportive, appreciative, and loyal towards people in their lives. The downside is that they have a low sense of self as they consider their “mother’s opinion as more important and power” (“Five Mother Types”) than their own.
Finally, there is the complete mother stereotype, which is considered to be the best kind of mother as it combines all the best features of the four other styles. These types of mothers do not carry any emotional baggage and acknowledge that each child is an individual who has his or her own needs and wants. She helps them become independent thinkers. While she is not a perfect individual, her commitment to caring for her family and to motherhood itself makes her an ideal mother. Therefore, children become emotionally stable, have high self-esteem, are confident, and do not fear developing new relationships with other people.
Mothers are human beings, too, and have their own unique way of showing their love for their family.
Works Cited
“The Five Mother Types.” Psychologies Magazine. N.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
