My Child is Great!

This posting is all about my daughter - I am a proud Mom.

I've had the opportunity to read some of my daughter's writing lately and I must say she is really a talented writer. I'm not just saying that because I think my child is the best. As an English major myself, I truly think she has a gift for descriptive narrative and poetry. In fact, she is competing for a literary scholarship at one of the colleges she may attend next year.

What I don't understand is why my daughter reacts negatively when I praise her work.

I know a thing or two about the English language and writing styles, and I have even read a book or two (ha, ha). And, I'm a fair writer myself - much of my professional success attests to this fact. So, it must not be that I am unqualified to critique her work that sets her off. It must be that mother-daughter thing.

Oh, that I do understand.

When I was a teen, I rarely got along with my own mother. I do now, but that's because I am a natural peace-maker. In other words, I give in and let her get her way. That's only part of the truth. I learned some insights about my mother when I was in my early 20s that made it much easier for me to make these compromises with her. She can't help herself and I can. So, I am in complete control of the situation and I let her think she is. Works out well every time. And, I'm a lot less aggravated when I'm around my mother.

I guess my daughter and I need to reach this same equilibrium in our relationship -- and that will probably also take a few more years to achieve. In the meantime, I will try to ignore the hurtful things that float from her lips (probably without touching her brain on the way out).

Well, I will not stop telling her how much I enjoy her writing. She'll have to get used to hearing it.