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The stereotype of the evil, powerful stepmother is just a caricature. But is it possible that we invented this archetype even though stepmothers are arguably the most vulnerable and disempowered members of any blended family? Psychologist Wednesday Martin thinks so. More »
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In today's New York Times, famously-scurrilous book critic Michiko Kakutani gives a rave review to Her Last Death, Susanna Sonnenberg's debut memoir about her totally batshit mother, "Daphne." While Sonnenberg's mom "possessed a magical charm and a contagious, manic enthusiasm, especially in...her 'Let's-Take-Over-Central Park' moods," Kakutani explains, Demerol addict Daphne was also prone to "falling-down, passing-out drug binges and [she had a] relentless obsession with sex, which she shockingly shared with her young daughter." Daphne made Susanna read aloud from Penthouse Letters at age ten and told her about orgasms when she was eight. Though Daphne's mother-of-the-year antics are terrible, she joins a robust literary pantheon of bad mommies: Christina Crawford's juicy Joan Crawford takedown Mommie Dearest, and probably the best book about living with a mentally ill parent, Mary Karr's unparalleled The Liar's Club. More »
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"All I ever think about is whether my niece is popular, thin and happy enough," semi-insane publicity bitch and plastic surgery enthusiast Peggy Siegal tells Bob Morris in an article about over-involved parents and relatives who insist on making their teens' lives even more miserable than they might be otherwise. "One mother I know nags her daughter to lose weight," Morris writes, "Another tells her son to let his hair grow longer. Yet another encourages her daughter to stay friendly with popular girls who aren't nice. Today, when parents want to be their child's friends, stylists and social directors, the critiquing can be as brutal as it is in school." Although this article resides with all the other trendlets in Sunday Styles, parental meddling is nothing new. Several girls on my hall in college were subjected to constant haranguing about losing the freshman 15. More »
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