Coming to terms with a farm mom who is difficult to deal with may not be what you were expecting to read. After decades of coaching farm families, one might expect that farm moms always are collaborative and willing to negotiate what is best for all members of the family. Recently, the word “narcissist” has become part of the language of farm clients. I am not a psychologist, so labels are not for my coaching work. “Counselling is about recovery; coaching is about a discovery”. A narcissist is someone who really focuses on their own needs and wants without much thought about what others are needing or wanting.
Mother’s Day is typically a celebration to honor your mother. Farm women live out giving and serving the needs of their families over many seasons of hard times and good times. The issue I want to address is the “What if?” question. What if you have a difficult mother who is stalling decision-making for transferring assets to the next generation? What if your mother has a huge debt and is not willing to seek out financial assistance or mediation? What if your farm mom refuses to seek outside farm advisors’ expertise to help get the management of the farm or ranch back on track?
Stephan Poulter, author of the Mother Factor- How your Mother’s Emotional Legacy Impacts your Life mentions the ME FIRST type of mother, along with the perfectionist, unpredictable, best friend and complete style of mothering. He also wrote the Father Factor. Poulter suggests many tools for decreasing anger and co-dependence with your mom.
As a coach, it is hard to watch unresolved anger between the generations, especially when you have facilitated tough conversations.
- Come from curiosity. Be curious about what is going on for your mom. How old is she? What might she be afraid of? Is she emotionally well? What kind of support is she asking from you?
- Would your mother consider professional counseling help or therapy? Would you be willing to go together? If things don’t work out, are you willing to let go and walk away?
- Do you understand or know much about how your mother was treated by her parents and their succession plan? Is there a story she is telling herself that she has not been able to share with you?
- What is the meaning of money to your mother? Bruce Sellery’s work in Moolala, why smart people do dumb things with their money, explores what money means to different people. Does she have crushing debt? Is she so overwhelmed she is having a hard time knowing where to start to get more financial stability in her life?
- What would your mom like YOU to do differently? You can change your response; you cannot pressure anyone else to change theirs. Can you take suggestions or direction from your mother and then let her know if she has reasonable or unrealistic expectations of your behaviour?
- Are there family secrets that need to be uncovered? Has someone made a vow or a promise to do something for one of your siblings, and only mom knows about it?
- Is mom trying to keep her dead husband’s memory alive by listening to her husband’s voice in her head? Did she make deathbed promises that are no longer workable?
This winter I have met young ranchers who don’t want the debt-load of their parents. They have a mom who likes to “look like she is wealthy, but the truth is there is a lot of debt”. I have another young farmer who has tried counseling and was advised to walk away from a mother who doesn’t work to change behaviour for a healthier relationship. Another son has chosen not to challenge the poor choices of his mother and ignores the impact his volatile mom has on his spouse.
If you can shower love and blessing on your mother this year, be grateful for emotionally sound relationships. Those of us who are motherless can choose to model great listening skills for the wounded around us who are longing for better connections to family.
We can also work at exploring the other person’s perspective. What does it look like to be in mom’s shoes this year? Show her grace and empathy.
Can we learn to share our emotions respectfully, saying, “Wow, I had no idea what was really going on for you, “tell me more. It feels good to get a better understanding of your journey!” Expressing emotions is a positive conflict behaviour.
Reach out. “Would you like to talk? I’ll listen.” You don’t have to fix the other person; you just need to be present with their story.
Adapt and be adaptable. I thought I was hosting a large family gathering, only to find out that I was just cooking the ham and coming to another house to celebrate. This was a miscommunication with no blame or judgement. I work to live on a drama-free farm.
“Just because there is drama, does not mean you have to attend the performance.”
Seek to build on the good. If you are having a hard time finding a Mother’s Day card that is reflective of the reality of your relationship, you might want to use a blank card. Can you be grateful for the good things your mom has given you or taught you? If words are too hard, maybe just a simple clutch of flowers will convey a degree of caring or offer to do a small chore to lighten mom’s load.
Every farm mom who reaches out to our team is looking to find better communication to get family harmony. It’s tough when some family members are not willing to do the work to change the language or make repair conflict hurts to build a legacy for the farm family.
I pray you to have a Happy Mother’s Day on your farm.
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Elaine Froese, Certified coach. Click here for resources.
Recently I had the pleasure of doing a podcast with two young farm moms of the Midwest Farm Wives podcast. Listen to it now on
Stitcher or Apple.
We have a tool called the Conflict Dynamics Profile, which you can do online to learn about your strong conflict behaviors and your hot buttons. My hot buttons are folks who are aloof and or unreliable. Go here to find out more.
Invite Elaine to speak at your next event, virtually or in -person. Visit here for the IN-LAW webinar on June 11.
Did you enjoy When it is hard to honour Mom what can I do? You might want to check these articles out too:
How to Be Present With Family (and Why It Matters)
Rejuvenating Roles of Women in Agriculture
Farm Mom: The Important Lessons She Has Taught You
Awesome advise Elaine. I struggled with my relationship with my mom, until I learned where she came from and how that shaped her. The last years of her life with dementia I actually built a relationship with her and now am able to say that I loved her. Through many struggles God worked things out ! I’m thankful for this.
Wise words and a relief to hear. Mother’s Day is hard when the relationship we dream of is not our reality.
The YouTube video is so beautiful Elaine outdoors in the crisp May frost with the ice weighing heavily on the branches. It’s from your heart to all of us who fortunately have or ever had mothers, we owe them our respect, understanding and gratitude. Thank you for sharing this and your wisdom of experience.