What is a Jewish Mama?

A Jewish Great Grandma, a Bubeleh

So what is a Jewish Mama?

 

According to Wikipedia, the stereotypical  Jewish mother is “ a nagging, overprotective, manipulative, controlling, smothering, and overbearing mother or wife, one who persists in interfering in her children’s lives long after they have become adults.”   Or is  a Jewish mother one that a warm,  plump woman that always has a pot of chicken soup boiling on the stove?

We all have mothers.  But not all fit in the same mold. 

I am now a mother, am I like the old European Jewish mother that came over at the turn of the cenury?  Am I the mother that nags, “put your clothes away, do your homework, wash you face!”  Or am I the soccer mom that drives all day long from one activity to the next? 

Honestly, I have three kids.  I seem to yell put this away, clean up, eat better….but I also help with school activities, work and drive from activity to activity.   I must confess I do love kickboxing, that isn’t too typical right?!

 It isn’t easy being a parent.  Our roles today are similar but so different to those of our grandparents.   Our worries are more global– out of the family business and neighborhood to the future.  What awaits the world and our kids?  It is fearful but also encouraging, knowing that we will continue on our lineage for years to come.

How do you like those pictures of my great-grandmother and grandmother?

What kind of mother are you?