Your history is not your legacy (AKA You are not your mother)

Cathy Madavan encourages us to remember that we won’t simply repeat what our mothers did – but nor should we expect our daughters to be just like us

Whether you are a mother or not, as women we have something in common: we are daughters of our own mothers. Whether we have a biological mum, a step-mum or an adoptive mum, all of us can look back to the female role models in our lives and understand the extraordinary impact these relationships have had on us. We all bring to our adult lives our own experiences of being mothered, for better or for worse. If we are now mothers ourselves, some of us will naturally want to replicate the warm, loving and supportive parenting our own mother represents, and that is wonderful. But for others, things were not as easy, and we may even want to hit the reset button, perhaps aiming to be what we wish we’d had.