Momagers

I came across a word that was new to me twice last week. First, it was used to describe the mother in Ken Baker’s new book How I Got Skinny, Famous, and Fell Madly in Love (which I’ll review sometime next week, but it doesn’t come out until May). The main character’s mother is intent on making sure her daughter becomes famous and manages her modeling career, diet, and extracurricular activities. Part of that plan includes getting her other daughter a reality television show.

The second time I came across that word was in an episode of American Idol. This use of momager seemed to be more benevolent as the mother and daughter seemed to share a loving relationship, unlike the one in Baker’s book.

So, as I sat here this afternoon making a calendar of Emery’s activities for the week, which include orchestra practice, a flute lesson, a singing lesson, a fencing lesson, and play practice, I wondered if I am a momager or a stage mom or a tiger mom or something else. In all fairness, most of these practices last a half hour to an hour and play practice is only for the next two months. But, it does take careful planning to make sure there are no overlaps.

So, I looked up the word momager. Here are a few online definitions:

 From Wiktionary: Etymology[edit]

From blend of mom and manager.

Noun[edit]

momager (plural momagers)

A manager who is also one's mother.

From the Urban Dictionary

Mom who is managing her family and life in a loving way.

Momagers lead their family in a loving and sane way.

And according to the HuffPost Celebrity, the term was trademarked by Kris Jenner, mom and manager of the Kardashien family.

And, stage mom? The mother of an actor. Well, technically Emery does act.

Tiger mom according to the Macmillian dictionary is “a very strict mother who makes her children work particularly hard and restricts their free time so that they continually achieve the highest grades.” Unfortunately, I don’t focus enough time on making Emery get good grades.

I’m not a soccer mom because I make Victor help out with the transportation and practicing parts. And there are so many other labels applied to moms that one could spend hours analyzing them. In fact, there’s probably a Cosmo-type quiz somewhere on the topic which could give me an answer.

So, what do we call parents like me? I think our good intentions to prepare our children for life by showing them that the skills they learn in extracurricular activities such as “practice makes easier” might lead to something else less desirable (some scholars focus on the relationships between social class and parenting styles, which are hard for me to admit might be true). While I see artistic endeavors as the few spaces where Emery can be clever, perhaps an afternoon on the couch playing video games is just as beneficial.

It might be that it's time for a new category--the ProfessorMom who agonizes over what type of mom she is and looks to research to tell her. 

Emery's comment: ding!  ding!  ding! correct! she is a professormom who agonizes over what type of mom she is and looks to research to tell her! and for bonus points, what is the capital of alaska?