Normal, in our house, is like a blanket too short for a bed--sometimes it covers you just fine, and other times it leaves you cold and shaking; and worst of all, you never know which of the two it's going to be.
Jodi PicoultRead
Real mothers don't just listen with humble embarrassment to the elderly lady who offers unsolicited advice in the checkout line when a child is throwing a tantrum. We take the child, dump him in the lady's cart, and say, "Great. Maybe you can do a better job." Real mothers know that it's okay to eat cold pizza for breakfast. Real mothers admit it is easier to fail at this job than to succeed.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the challenges of motherhood and the acceptance of imperfection in parenting.
Jodi Picoult's quote emphasizes the realities of being a mother, illustrating that real mothers understand the struggles of raising children and do not take unsolicited advice too seriously. It portrays the humorous yet honest acceptance of the imperfect moments in parenting, such as dealing with tantrums and unconventional meals, indicating that it's okay to be flawed and to know that parenting is challenging.
Themes
MotherhoodParentingImperfectionChallengesRealism
In practice
Example use cases
During a parenting seminar, I shared a quote about the realities of motherhood to connect with other mothers.
More from Jodi Picoult
All quotes →Whether it was power they sought, or revenge, or love-well, those were all just different forms of hunger. The bigger the hole inside you, the more desperate you became to fill it.
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she told me she'd be a phoenix." The image of the mythical creature rising from the ashes glitters in my mind. "They don't really exist." "She said that depends on whether or not there's someone who can see them.
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for 100,000 (dollars), you [can] flatten a house with a wrecking ball. Imagine how much less it [takes] to destroy something than it [does] to build it in the first place.
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But if you seek forgiveness, doesn't that automatically mean you cannot be a monster? By definition, doesn't that desperation make you human again?
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when you [lose someone], it feels like the hole in your gum when a tooth falls out. You can chew, you can eat, you have plenty of other teeth, but your tongue keeps going back to that empty place, where all nerves are still a little raw
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