UPDATE: Today Anne was talking to her mom. Anne “Mom I just wanted to let you know that the herbs I take I checked into and they are safe” Her mom “I know you told me yesterday and I don’t care that you take them” Anne “But you acted like you cared when you asked me originally” Mom “I didn’t even care back then. You explained to me yesterday and today that they are safe and I believe you”. Of course Anne called me and I told her yes you can finally believe your mom does not care if you take the herbs and yes she believes you that they are safe. MY QUESTION: Do you agree/concur with me on both counts?

FIRST PART: My friend Anne takes alfalfa tablets and kelp tablets. Her mother is in her 80’s and doesn’t believe in taking any type of supplements and thinks her daughter takes alfalfa and kelp as weight control because her daughter is weight conscious. Any way tonight at dinner her mom said “If the weather is bad tomorrow I am not going to go out because I don’t want to fall” Anne said “Mom I wont let you - the ice will make it too slippery” Her mother “Listen since we are taking about don’ts do you really need sweet-n-low in coffee, it is chemicals.” Anne “You know mom it is funny in the morning for my first cup of coffee I don’t use sweet-n-low. The chocolate syrup I use in milk and the pancake syrup isn’t artificial” Her mom said “That is different, if you were going to use syrups with sugar in it, but the ones you get are not easy to get” Anne said “Oh” Anne thought that was the end of the conversation - WRONG. Her mom said “Listen don’t get mad at me but do you really need your herbs - your thin enough. You want kidney damage” This got Anne really mad and she yelled at her mother and they had some fight. What got Anne mad is how dare her mom tell her that it is wrong to take her herbs. And what could her mother possibly mean by thin enough. I mean she was always thin. MY QUESTION: (1) do you think Anne overreacted; (2) when her mother said you are thin enough would you take it to mean her mom didn’t think Anne was always thin?

Anne is now an adult. What she puts into her body is her own business. Her 80 something mom learned about herbs and artificial sweeteners in a different way and has a different take on the subject.

Overreaction? Maybe, in the light that even though the mom is the mom, Anne is now a grown up and can make choices as to what she will react to. Mom is set in her ways and sounds as if she is losing a bit of memory. They are two different people, with different ideas learned at different times. What is being argued about is not important. Why do tensions arise between mothers and daughters?