Mothers and daughters who struggle with their relationships as adults often repeat the old patterns of control and rebellion from childhood. The fear of growing up to be like one's mother has long been so common among Western women that it has a name matrophobia.

The best gift a mother can give a daughter and, as she becomes an adult, that a daughter can give her mother is permission to be herself. The daughter can be who she wants to be because the mother is who she wants to be, and increasingly mothers are understanding that. If daughters have trouble navigating being an adolescent, it's often because they don't know who they are. They're sacrificing themselves to fit in. All that spunkiness they had as a little girl goes out the window and they lose touch with their internal compass.

It's important to be your own woman, but also to have some compassion and understanding of other people, otherwise your life could be too narrow.

Also check out the mother & son relationship or fathers & daughters and father daughter wedding songs.