Mother's Approval

It is typical for all children to have a bumpy relationship with their parents, but a parents discipline is for a reason and all due to their love for us. Despite our mumbling and grumbling, all we search for in life is their approval and undying attention.

Realistically, most of us wouldn’t particularly dress like our mothers, or date our mothers ideal man, so why is it that we continually seek our mothers approval?

I was shopping the other day and spotted a mother and daughter perusing the sale rail, when the daughter picked up a top which had clearly caught her eye. She then showed it to her mum and said “what do you think of this?” her mum responded with “erm, no, I don’t think so.” But what has, is and always has been strange for me, is understanding why we feel the need to always ask our parents if they like what it is that we want to buy, whether it be clothes, or anything. In this case, the mother wasn’t going to wear the top which the girl had picked out, so it didn’t really matter if her mum liked it or not. It could be argued that we do this because as children our parents buy our clothes and pay for a large majority of our possessions, so do we crave their approval to justify their spending, or do we think what they like, I like?

I know that children admire their parents and look up to them, and therefore, if they do not like something we automatically feel as if this their disapproval. This was always a problem for me when I was a child, and it still is, if I go shopping with my mum I always ask if she likes it, even if I’m the one paying for it and wearing it. Now I mainly do this because I think that my mum has a good fashion sense and like a lot of what she wears and chooses, and I like to think that we have similar tastes. But I cannot go my whole life wondering if my mum will approve of every decision I make.

Is it possible for us to truly pull away from our mother’s or father’s and not worry about what they will say if we buy bright yellow trousers or a top which shows a bit too much flesh? Parents approval doesn’t only span clothing of course, for me it included my choice of friends and boyfriends and how they may shape my life and how they might affect me for better or for worse. Even though you may not agree with you parents opinions I think it is fair to say that they do know what they are talking about and even if you don’t agree with them at the time, a few years down the line you will thank them for ‘disapproving’ of certain aspects of your life.