Growing up, there were always those girls who had the “cool” moms. Even if they didn’t wear Juicy tracksuits and have happy hour from 4-6, they were still so cool. Girls with the cool moms didn’t have a curfew or get grounded for bad grades. They got chauffeured around to their Starbucks dates before they could drive, and they even got to have boys in their rooms! They had no rules, and their moms didn’t care what they did because they were just that cool.
And then there were the rest of us. Got a C on that test? Grounded for weeks. Good grades didn’t receive rewards or praise, they were expected. Not only were there early curfews, but there were calls to our friends’ moms to make sure we were exactly where we said we were at all times. “I can’t. My mom said no” was ingrained in our vocabulary. Those of us without regular moms looked at the girls who had cool moms with envy. I would have killed to have had a cool mom that let me do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted.
As it turns out, it’s a really good thing that we didn’t have the cool moms. A six-year research study from the University of England showed that girls who had pushy moms who nagged them actually turned out to be a lot more awesome than the girls with cool moms. Not only were they a lot less likely to become teen moms, but they had way more successful professional lives as well. They were statistically more likely to attend a university after graduation and then earn more money after they graduated with their degrees.
So after years and years of complaining, I guess I finally have to admit the one thing I swore I would never say – that my mom really did know what she was doing after all. I must have had my terms mixed up as a teenager because setting us up for success in high-paying jobs isn’t something a lame mom would do. It’s definitely something a cool mom would do. Now let’s go to happy hour together..
[via Daily Mail]