Parents today constantly question their attitudes toward their children, and they fear that they will get lost in the labyrinth of rules about child-raising. This book is the result of a three-way discussion about the archetypal loving mother - the cliché of the overbearing Jewish mother who loves too much and makes everyone feel guilty. The butt of countless jokes, the Jewish mother has been popularised in fiction by Philip Roth, in the cinema by Yves Robert, and in the theatre by Paul Fuchs in How to Become a Jewish Mother in Ten Lessons. Yet should this figure be reduced to a cliché - or should the Jewish mother be regarded as the ultimate incarnation of motherhood, and even of femininity?
Three specialists in family relations examine this fascinating archetype and ask what it means to be a mother.

Aldo Naouri is a paediatrician and the author of many best-selling books such as Les Filles et leurs Mères and Les Pères et les Mères.
Sylvie Angel is a psychiatrist, systemicist and psychoanalyst. She is the author of, most notably, Ah, quelle famille!, Décrochez! and Comment bien choisir son psy.
Philippe Gutton is a psychoanalyst specialising in adolescence. He teaches at the University of Aix-en-Provence and is the author of Le Pubertaire, psychothérapie et adolescence.