Momma Knows Best: A Call For Questions

Former Jezebel editor Jessica here! Anna has kindly allowed me to shamelessly promote the book I co-wrote with Doree Shafrir, Love, Mom. In honor of its publication tomorrow, Doree and I are offering our own moms…

…To give you advice on all your mom-related problems, that is.

When Doree and I started our website, Postcards From Yo Momma, soliciting emails, texts, IMs and all manner of virtual motherly communications almost exactly a year ago, we never realized how much collected wisdom was out there floating in the internet ether. From matters of the heart (“Here are Mom’s three rules for a new relationship (the three “N’s”): Don’t nag; Don’t be needy; Don’t be neurotic.”) to matters of the wardrobe (“DO NOT GET SPANX…get something comfortable and not tight that will just smooth you up and down.”), our mothers generally have an opinion on everything, and even though it’s completely infuriating, at the end of the day they’re usually right, and they always have our best interests in mind.

Speaking of opinions, we were on the radio the other day, and a listener shared her feeling that the entire premise of the book was sexist. “As usual moms are understood as anxious, worry-warts, with nothing better to do than bother their children, and express frustration about their husbands,” the listener said. “It’s as though moms don’t have other roles in the world other than as caretakers.” However, if she read the book, she would know that while mothers do show themselves as caretakers (and really is there anything wrong with that?), the moms we feature — like our own mothers — are intelligent, competent, and thoughtful. They have their own lives and interests, and that’s what makes the emails so compelling! Certainly, fathers write their own heartfelt missives, but in our experiences, and the experiences of most of our readers, it’s mom who dominates the lines of communication.

In that spirit, we invite you to ask all manners of mom-related queries in the comments. Doree and I — along with our moms — will answer some of them in a post on Thursday. My mother is a shrink and Doree’s mom is a professor, so they have years of experience giving advice to strangers! We can tell you what to do if your mom starts a Facebook page, how to get her to stop nagging you about joining J-Date and how to navigate a difficult mother-in-law. So post away! Our mommas are listening.