to think this mother's attitude is far from typical

[nippiesweetie]

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/24/a-letter-to-my-10-year-old-son-who-needs-to-hear-a-few-home-truths

Her poor son. A letter that should have been written, read and discarded, I think.

I find it a bit bizarre that she lists all that stuff that she did so uncomplainingly and selflessly and then complains about a ten year old being a stroppy ten year old.

In a national newspaper.......

That's just begging for a "I never asked to be born" response isn't it?

I read that earlier. What a martyr. She sounds like hard work.

Ugh, this bullshit self-aggrandising 'I sacrificed a fucking career for you, snotrag!^ narrative is tiresome. How much is she being paid to write this self-absorbed drivel?

What a martyr.

God that reads like the world's unstealthiest 'stealth' boast.

Just goes to show you can have a natural labour, bf, give baby healthy foods, reduce your hours and ergo your income, send them to extra clubs and classes and still you end up with a little shit!!!

Did I miss something? Did she mention anywhere that she loved him?

That's just begging for a "I never asked to be born" response isn't it?

Yep.

Just goes to show you can have a natural labour, bf, give baby healthy foods, reduce your hours and ergo your income, send them to extra clubs and classes and still you end up with a little shit!!!

Or a perfectly normal 10-year-old...

I thought it was perfectly reasonable.

And yes she said she loved him at the end Nanny - that was the point of the letter, I think.

Very unhealthy attitude. You do your best to raise your kids because that is your job. You don't resent them for it and blame them for it. Even when parenting sucks.

She sounds like if that kid does not fit into her model of her ideal child- and an extension of herself and her ego - then she is just going to turn nasty.

God that's awful. She had a child (presumably) because she wanted one. Awful.

How much is she being paid to write this self-absorbed drivel?

The 'A Letter To...' series is a reader contribution thing; people send in the letters they'd like to send/maybe have sent. Sometimes to people who have died, or ones they'd never send but want to get it off their chest.

Actually, I am sounding too pious. Of COURSE sometimes you resent it. Of course. But you don't express it to your child in that sort of manner. (I don't think those letters articles in The guardian are ever meant to be said out loud though to be fair- it's a venting mechanism).

Dear mum

This morning when you asked me to tidy my room, I was fed up and tired, I am sorry I shouted at you but you are the only person I feel safe with. I get confused and anxious all the time and some times it comes out angry, I know you will always love me. Expectations keep going up, school is hard now. They are always testing us. You always help, and you seem to want to do things fOr me but it always has to be when you want them done. I don't mind my messy room, why does everything have to be perfect?

I do my best but sometimes I want to be happy doing my own thing not what I am meant to be doing, all the weekend it is "do this", "do that", "we have to go now!" "We will be late!", on and on, it is too much. I feel all these emotions like you want me to grow up, but you want to be in charge, I didn't ask you to do everything. I get fed up but if I say anything then you get angry and if I don't say anything I get angry, sometimes I fight with my brother because I am all frustrated... it is hard being 10. I love you.

When she says she does not want to make him feel guilty she's fibbing, isn't she?

"...it's what I want for you that is deserving of respect...". What a fucking silly notion. I would like my disabled son to be toilet trained. Do that mean he should respect me for it?

What a pompous, self-serving, stealth boasting woman. Her poor son

in response to a couple of above questions - I believe that anyone with a letter published in this section gets £25.00 and, yes, she does say in her letter that she loves her son.

I was taken aback by it, too. And now I wonder what she might write when he's a teenager.

If you're on here, Mum of the 10 year old, - please try to enjoy your child. Kids can be stroppy at any age (same goes for us) - that goes with the territory. But they're also infinitely lovable.

I sympathise with her, but those thoughts are things she needs to examine, challenge and then discard, when she realises how unfair she is being to him. Luckily it's anonymous.

She's a parent. Most children don't 'get it' until they become parents themselves (some then carry on and believe they are superior to their own parents who did things differently). Noone becomes a parent for feet kissing thanks!

She says: "When you were born, I asked for the midwife to leave your umbilical cord attached to me for as long as possible so that you could get all of the precious stem cells that travel along it."

Is there a basis for this in medical fact?

Oh, he'll definitely read that and decide he needs to do better.

I like that bigmouth

I hope she knows that, deep down

I would cry if my parent read that letter to me! She did those things out of choice, how can she somehow make it all his 'fault' by saying she did it for him?

She breastfed, but she could have bottle-fed. She gave up her career but (maybe) could have continued?

It's all very cheesy and over the top, hopefully never meant for her son to actually read!

Namechanger

No, it's a vent, I think. But it's interesting that she got as far as sending it to the paper