When you raise a 17-year old versus when you manage a 17-year old

Michelle Obama and Kris Jenner with daughters

Going through Facebook a short while ago, I stumbled on the pictures (insert) of Michelle Obama and Kris 'Kardashian' Jenner with their respective 17-year old daughters with the caption “When you raise a 17-year old, versus when you manage a 17 year old.” This got me thinking on how a lot of women, especially mothers, are letting down their guard when it comes to raising kids (specifically the girl-child) these days.

Attending a children’s party sometime last year, I was amazed to see a young child dancing suggestively and with abandon. The mother was watching with a wide smile, unabashed in the least by her daughter’s unedifying performance. She kept clapping excitedly, blissfully unaware – or uncaring – of the disapproving glares of other mothers, because the little girl’s dance moves depicted nothing other than VULGARITY – twerking/twirling/wriggling around her wire-like waist, with dance moves which would make Beyonce and Shakira green with envy.

Back to the picture above, about “raising vs. managing a child,” what is your opinion of this picture? Teen Kardashian is trying to be a diva *already* and a celeb in front of the camera – and barely looking at her mum, while teenage Malia Obama is being a child, as she laughs sweet-naturedly into her mother’s ear, as if sharing a girls-only secret, and giving the impression of a happy and properly raised child than a ‘managed’ one. Thus for some people, raising a child could be either a motherly calling or simply a business or a chore. 

In the end, motherhood is a matter of choice – not a matter of chance.