If you read about how Mama Guilt loves to offer unending “helpful”observations —even about the inconsequential moments—you may have noticed a few things: First (and as my family jokes when one of us is in an especially talkative mood), she has a LOT of words. A whole lot. There’s always more where that came from. Second, her suggestions usually back me into a corner that impossible to escape. I’m a bad mom if I go in one direction, and I’m also a bad mom if I go in the other direction. She loves to put me in the damned-if-I-do-damned-if-I-don’t position (and sometimes that feels literal-but more on that later). She also has a knack for pointing out that any difficulty I’m encountering could have been very easily avoided (evidence that I’m not particularly bright), and that the person who should have done the avoiding is me (evidence that I’m not very intentional about my choices). That, of course, necessitates that she move on to reminisce on all those other times