I recently came upon the story of a Michigan mother who was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to relentlessly and anonymously cyberbullying her own teenager daughter. While reading comments about this true story—which has now inspired a film—I was struck by how difficult Mother’s Day can be for people who have complex and traumatic experiences involving their mothers. After all, as one comment on the story read: “mothers are often [their child's] first bully”.

For mistreated children, adult or not, Mother’s Day can be a particularly difficult holiday because the idealized image of the mother-child relationship, one of care and sacrifice on the mother’s end, is extremely pronounced and may be completely incongruous with one’s own experience with their mother: The depiction of idealized motherhood can impose a profound sense of grief and confusion for those with difficult or non-existent relationships with their mothers. Further, these depictions of the idealized mother-child relationship can remind people of what they feel they should have—a nurturing, loving, and........

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