Week 5 Reading Response 1

Tannen's account of mother/daughter relationships can be summed up by saying that comments, questions, or actions coming from someone who is held in such high regard can have much stronger effects on the receiver (the receiver being the daughter). I agree with Tannen's article mostly out of personal experience. I feel that these strong types of feelings arise not just in mother/daughter relationships, but also in conversations with either parent, be it son/mother, father/daughter, etc.. As a kid, we look to our parents to teach us right and wrong. By doing this, we look to our parents as being almost all-knowing when it comes to how we should act. As we grow older and more independent of our parents, we begin to decide for ourselves what is right or wrong based on our life experience and build confidence of our own knowledge of said right and wrong. When parents question this knowledge or reassure it, it is easy to react with strong feelings that either you've done right or resentment towards your parents for criticizing your decisions made as an independent adult. As far as mother/son relationships go, there is no difference. I react the same way to my mother and father when it comes to the issue of the way they view who I am, positive or negative. The only case where there is a possibility for a difference is if there is a noticeably stronger connection to either of the two parents, or the lack of a father or mother figure, in which case, it being mother or father wouldn't matter at all.