Growing up, didn’t you always hear your parents, especially mom say: “I’m your mom, not your friend!”
Singer/actress Brandy, 31–mom to 7-year-old Sy’rai–says she believes the exact opposite. “I love being a mom and I’m raising her in a different way than how I was raised,” Brandy admits to Parade.com.
If you watched A Family Business (season finale airs June 27th), the hit VH1 reality show starring Brandy and her family, it was hard to miss the strained relationship between Brandy and her momanger Sonja Norwood. Brandy says she does some things similar to how her mother raised her, but she prefers to be Sy’rai’s friend first.
“I’m a friend first. I believe that just being there for my daughter as a friend more than ‘I’m in charge…’ causes her to be more open with me as a person. That’s just what our relationship is. Of course, there are times when I have to discipline her — I’m mom. But there’s still that nurturing and love there that we have. I know I’ll probably get flack for being a friend first, but it really works. She’s really honest with me. I’m just teaching her how to trust herself. I tell her all the time that my life is not your life — you have your own life.”
Do you there may be something significant to being your child’s friend first, then mom? Does being mom always come first?
