Mums: Our topic in March

My mum is 93 years old. When I ask her how she is, she says that being old is no walk in the park. Sometimes her leg pinches, sometimes she feels dizzy. At least she's not bored. She watches the news every day, reads the newspaper and crime novels, a book in four weeks and then the next one.

My mum says there are good days and not so good days. You have to take it as it comes. A good day is when we talk on the phone. I tell her about our children, school, my work at Fritz+Fränzi. She listens attentively, asks questions. Says she's glad we're healthy. And how proud she is - of her grandchildren, my brother, my sister, of me.

There are two things that made my life beautiful as a child: My parents, who loved us. And the freedom they gave us children. I am grateful for that. Even though I know that my mum doesn't expect gratitude. And sometimes doubts whether she was a good mother to us. When I ask her what she would do differently today, she says: I would be less strict. I would worry less. And trust more that you will go your own way.

I believe that being a parent is the art of accepting that we cannot influence certain things. Above all, we can be there and provide support - and show our children what we think is right.

Our «Mothers» dossier explores the meaning of motherhood over the course of time. It does away with the image of the superheroine who can do everything and is always in the right place at the right time. «The exaggeration of motherhood is fatal,» writes author Virginia Nolan, «people put mothers on a pedestal - and judge them all the more harshly when things go wrong.»

A great, important text that I highly recommend.

Yours sincerely,
Yours, Nik Niethammer