Their Bad Mother

Bad Grandmas, Bad Grandmas, Whatcha Gonna Do?

Wednesday June 10, 2009

I know that this is terribly, terribly wrong, but I totally laughed when I saw this:



I mean, seriously. I know that it's bad to talk back to police officers, I know that it's bad to curse at police officers, I know that it's bad to go 75 in a 60 zone, I know that it's bad to break the law in general, but still: she's a tiny little bad-tempered grandma and that makes it funny. (Up until the part where she gets tasered. That's not so funny.)

Also: she could be my own mother.

My own mother wouldn't shove a cop, I'm pretty sure, so the comparison isn't perfect, but she's pretty contrary and so I could totally see her talking back. I could also see her making a vibrator joke about his taser (is that a stun gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me, officer?) She's just that way. She's bad.

But she's bad in a good way, and that makes her - has always made her - awesome. And her badness - her wonderful badness - has inspired me to embrace my imperfections as the things that make me who I am, the things that make me a wonderfully strange and imperfect mother. Not the kind who makes vibrator jokes - although I reserve the right to do so in my dotage - but 'bad' in my own way. Bad in the best way.

Which doesn't involve breaking the law or cursing at police officers, but it does mean flouting, to some extent, prevailing social conventions. Mothers shouldn't curse? Mothers shouldn't complain about the being bored? Mothers shouldn't get frustrated with their children? Mothers shouldn't love their husbands with a different - and sometimes greater - kind of intensity than they do their children? Fine. I'm not that kind of mother. And if that makes me a bad mother I will - as I said over here the other day - embrace it fully. Because if my own mother is any kind of model to go by, bad mothers are pretty awesome.

They just need to look out for the tasers.


Advertisement
Comments
Kellee
June 10, 2009 3:53 PM
http://notsosmallthings.blogspot.com

Here here. I had to laugh, too. Especially when she said "I wasn't combative. I wasn't argumentative. That was a lie." Helloooooo, saw the video. I think we should resist tasering old women, of course, or anybody, for that matter. But she kept trying to run into traffic. Craaazy.

Anyway, I ABSOLUTELY agree with what you said about yourself as a mother. Mother's are people, too. Their personalities don't just disappear when a kid pops out. I'm glad that you can not only accept but embrace those parts of yourself. That makes you awesome. :)

Stacy C.
June 12, 2009 12:26 AM

I'm proud (I think) that this happened in my town. Wish I could meet that woman and tell her she has some fans out there...

Della
June 17, 2009 3:19 PM

*giggling*.... um, did you totally just imply that HBG is in her dotage? Because it kinda looked that way :)

Also, you are full of WIN for using fun words like dotage that are so awesome they distract me from the entire rest of the post.

Post a Comment

By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.



Please type the text you see in the box below to verify your post and help us prevent spam. You have a limited time to type - you may wish to compose your comment in a separate document and paste it here upon completion.

Type the characters you see in the picture above.

Advertisement

Search This Blog

feed icon Subscribe

RSS Feed

Receive updates from Their Bad Mother

About Their Bad Mother


Catherine Connors is a mother, writer and recovering academic who traded the lecture hall for the playroom and discovered that university students and preschoolers have much the same attention span. In addition to Bad Mother blogging at Beliefnet, she is, among other things, the author of HerBadMother.com, the moderator of Her Bad Mother’s Basement, the co-founder and co-editor of WeCovet, a contributing writer/editor at MamaPop and BlogHer, and most recently (deep breath) founder of and contributor to Canada Moms Blog. And in her spare time… oh, wait. She doesn’t have spare time. But she’s okay with that.


Read Her Full Bio

Tweet Tweet!

Advertisement

Advertisement


About Beliefnet

Our mission is to help people like you find, and walk, a spiritual path that will bring comfort, hope, clarity, strength, and happiness. More about Beliefnet.

Legal

Copyright © Beliefnet, Inc. and/or its licensors. All rights reserved. Use of this site is subject to Terms of Service and to our Privacy Policy. Constructed by Beliefnet.

Advertisement

Report as Inappropriate

You are reporting this content because it violates the Terms of Service.

All reported content is logged for investigation.