Reading Response #4 - Tannen

Tannen’s account was interesting. I had really never thought about the differences between a mother/daughter relationship and a mother/son relationship until now. Tannen gave several insights on what she believed was going on between the mother and daughter and showed that they were interpreting each other wrong. While one was just talking with a regular message, the other was focusing on the underlying metamessage. In doing this, problems arose and arguments were started. I believe that the kind of relationship you have with your mother is going to depend on a number of factors. There can be the way you were brought up, any amount of physical or emotional trauma that affected the path towards adulthood, or just being influenced by things around you.
I agree that it is probably difficult to communicate mother to daughter, but like I said…it depends on the people. No one person is alike and therefore some people are going to interact different than others. From personal experience, I find that the mother/son relationship can be a difficult one as well. It can still be strong, but there are several occasions where a clash is bound to happen. It is impossible to predict how people are really going to interact with each other over a lifetime. Things happen, people drift apart, love occurs, and harsh break-ups as well. All that is for sure is that after so many years of upbringing; a mother is always there for her son or daughter. The motherly instinct is eminent.