Mothers - are they all the same?

Last Friday, the hubby and I travelled down to Dublin to see his family for the day, since we hadn't seen them at all over Christmas. It was a lovely day and we enjoyed spending time with them. There was one observation, though. His Mum lives in a wee bungalow that was specially built for her in the back garden of the house that her daughter and son-in-law live in. So, we were all sitting down to a lovely roast dinner (yum, yum) and the conversation was just chuntering on nicely when the Mum started talking about how much electricity and gas the daughter uses! And then the price was mentioned and how much they could save if only they'd turn off the odd light or use the heating in a more sensible, cost-effective way. Hubby and I looked at each other and started to grin, as did daughter and son-in-law. By the time Mum was finished telling us all how to live, we were all laughing! Of course, hubby started to tease Mum and nearly lost his head for it, but that's another story.

We were reminded of my own Mum, dear bless her wee heart! Recently we bought hubby a new laptop, for no real reason other than he wanted one. Aware of what would happen if my Mum found out, we hid it every time she came round! Yes, in our own home we hid things from my Mother! It was like being a child again, caught with your hand in the biscuit tin! Due to my illness, she called round unexpectedly one day and we forgot to put the laptop in its hidey hole. Well, we got the 'no wonder you two never have any money' and 'why did you even want a new laptop when the other is still working' lecture! The very reason we had always hidden it was to avoid this scenario.

I thought this was confined to us and our families. I was at a friend's house last night. This friend is of the same generation as mine and hubby's parents. She was talking and wondering why her daughter would want to upgrade her mobile phone when the one she has still works! We had a lenghty conversation about the generational differences between us and she is still wondering why you'd upgrade phones and I'm still wondering why you wouldn't!

So, my lengthy conclusion is this - yes, they may look differently and act differently but essentially, Mothers are all the same. They want the best for their children, can see how to achieve this, but forget that the children sometimes have to find this out for themselves.