Lifetime poll shares women's thoughts on mom
Sure we all focus on the most important woman in our lives — mom — on Mother's Day.
But do we really know what she is thinking — about her own role as a mother, how celebrity moms are representing the maternal calling, or how well their own mothers did the hardest job in the world?
Lifetime Television, the most popular women's network, recently polled nearly 1,000 viewers nationwide, many of them mothers, to help answer those questions. Their findings were often insightful, sometimes surprising and usually fun.
The majority (77 percent) believe that it's harder to be a mother today than it was when they were young girls. Still, few would apparently be willing to trade places with their mothers. More than a quarter (26 percent) were glad they didn't inherit their mothers' neuroses. Eighteen percent didn't want mom's fashion sense and 10 percent were glad they didn't inherit her physique.
And respondents were almost evenly split on whether their own mothers were good at giving advice. Thirty-one percent said their mothers were good at giving parenting advice, while nearly as many (28 percent) said their mothers were "horrible at giving advice." Perhaps not surprising, a mere 2 percent said mom's best pearls of wisdom were about sex.
Far and away, the one chore momers would gladly surrender is cleaning the house, with 59 percent saying they abhor the chore. In fact, by nearly a 2-to-1 margin, respondents would rather have a maid than a personal trainer.
Respondents had a lot to say about celebrity moms, too. Oscar-winner Reese Witherspoon can add "Hippest Mom" to her list of accolades, thanks to the women polled, who chose her for the distinction over other famous moms, including Kelly Ripa, Kate Hudson and Jennifer Garner. Respondents also predicted that Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Aniston would be the celebrities most likely to become pregnant this year.
The Lifetime Women's Pulse Poll also found that women looking for a "Mr. Mom" to clean their house and take care of the kids selected Tim McGraw, beating out "Dr. McDreamy" (Patrick Dempsey from "Grey's Anatomy"). But when the vacuuming's done and they're looking for someone to tuck them in at night, Matthew Fox ("Lost") and Ricardo Antonio Chavira ("Desperate Housewives") were the chocolate on the pillow, edging out Usher and Simon Cowell of "American Idol."Finally, while they may not represent life in real suburbia, Teri Hatcher's character Susan Mayer and Felicity Huffman's Lynette Scavo were the favorite "Desperate Housewives" moms.Throughout the month of May, Lifetime premieres a new movie every day — 9 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 5 p.m. Sundays — with singer Martina McBride hosting the month, including the network's Mother's Day movie festival airing 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday. The marathon will be highlighted by the 5 p.m. premiere of "Honeymoon with Mom," starring Shelley Long, Jack Scalia and Virginia Williams.
