Is Mom replaceable?

When our children are little, we assume the daycare provider is just as good as we are at understanding our babies.

When our children go to school, the teacher naturally knows what's best.

The teens loudly defend their friends as their best and only confidants.

And who can compete with a loving spouse?

Wait, Mom. You're needed much more than you think.

In the early years, for example, a recent study at the University of Illinois has shown that secure mother-child attachments predict good friendships.

Dr. McElwain, the lead researcher of the study, found that “in a secure, emotionally open mother-child relationship, children develop a more positive, less biased understanding of others, which then promotes more positive friendships during the early school years.”

Similarly, your children have better self-esteem when they feel secure in their relationships with you.

Lastly, teens and young adults may leave from you for increasing lengths of time and for far-flung places, but their ability to separate depends on a secure attachment with you.

Attachment leads to independence.

Detachment leads to anger and estrangement.

So keep the phone lines open, Mom. Your children are calling!