A good mother is a smiling mother. She is without foibles and oddities. Her hairdo is practical yet feminine. Her jawline is distinct but soft. Her clothes are fashionable but practical. She is confident and also vulnerable. She is a subtle filigree of implicit contradictions, because although we like our stereotypes, we like the tensions better as long as they are unobtrusive and of little consequence – that is, they don’t get in the way of her being and doing what we expect of her.