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to substantiate her claim regarding David’s behavior. The inference here is that many
mothers experience parent-adolescent conflict and therefore, Jan is not alone in her
difficulties. Jan's final comment about her son appears to remove her from any potential
criticism relating to her role as the 'good mother' (line 467). Her son's behavior is
linguistically formulated as an external problem that she will have to put up with, rather
than a relational issue that she may have some influence over. If her son’s behavior is
caused by an ‘external’ problem then Jan, as his mother, cannot be held entirely
responsible for his actions.
It's the guilt thing: Balancing 'self' needs with family roles.
The following example taken from the teachers' conversations again reveals the
dialectical dilemma in balancing professional and maternal roles.
Extract 7
80
Dee: there's so much happening at school so you come home at the end of
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the day and you're just actually wackoed (.) an we're all rushing round like
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(1.0) but I got in last night at quarter to six (.) I never get home before
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five thirty now (.) and er I had to rush Richard (her youngest son) off
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somewhere (.) so I walk in there's a mess in the kitchen (.) so I go
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immediately launching into Kevin (her eldest son) telling him what I
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think an then little Richard who seems to sort be the er the
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youngest one seems to be dragged up (.) the other two would help me
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when they were younger ( voice sounding tearful ) but Richard's been
Convention