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VIEWS & REVIEWS: Liam Farrell The mother ship has come in BMJ 2008; 336: 392-a [Full text]

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It has already happened!

Esther T Waterhouse   (18 February 2008)

Mother

Hugh Mann   (9 May 2008)

Re: Mother

Dr.Herbert H. Nehrlich   (14 May 2008)

mother

Liam Farrell   (15 May 2008)

It has already happened! 18 February 2008
Esther T Waterhouse, Consultant in Palliative Medicine Leicester LE3 9QE Send response to journal: Re: It has already happened!	I was interested to read this satirical view on the future of mothering, with prediction of the need for qualifications. You may be interested in the UK's first Masters Degree in Parenting, being offered at De Montfort University, Leicester. It covers everything from 'the theory and practice of parenting' to 'the application of theory in parenting practice'. I wonder whether this is beginning of the future that Liam Farrell predicts? Competing interests: None declared
Mother 9 May 2008
Hugh Mann, Physician Eagle Rock, MO 65641 USA Send response to journal: Re: Mother	Look at me with loving eyes Lavish me with lullabies Tickle me till I'm in stitches Nourish me with kisses And good wishes Competing interests: None declared
Re: Mother 14 May 2008
Dr.Herbert H. Nehrlich, Private Practice Bribie Island, Australia Send response to journal: Re: Re: Mother	Mother Of Mine She's still around as the indifferent are so fond of saying. It took decades for me to realise that I may have reason to be, in more ways than one, seeing myself as a chosen, what would prompt the gods to bless me in such manner? Yes, she is getting old, fractured femur was part and is still parcel, as the indifferent say, wouldn't leave the bed or give up that blasted fetal position, she assumed I would take it in stride, which is, needless to say an idea of great exotic value, I mean, a mother, in bed being pampered and pitied, give me a break, it was I who needed the stroking. Well, she is doing more than, much more than doctors and those cranky nurses had thought she was capable and willing of, and Amen to that. I knew it, always have known these things, all along so to speak. Can't say I'm pleased now, fronting the high care room, and that little bundle of pallor, whose only ambition is the lift, which, God willing, will take her, one day before the winds of change or the presence of that grim one could say number three, up again into her own place, two balconies, a home of beauty, her very own, and here I stand, keeping my nose and the other senses oblivious to the malodorous ambience, loaded with a basket of Lindt's best, Even found some of that blackberry, complete with rhubarb jam she so likes, Mars bars, something she took home in eighty two from the Yanks, a nice visit it was, general was with her, back to the Fatherland where they knew and stock countless shelves with it. You thought of everything, what a nice I knew she would say that, a nice boy, well, I replied, in the usual tradition, you raised the boy now, didn't you. Sergeant of a nurse had to butt in, yes we, Mother and I know, we do, of course, she can't have all this right at the moment, it's an advance for the move upstairs, must be prepared, whole family always, and still, subscribe to that, be prepared. She dosed off again, even a slight snore, feeble but with its own pesky presence, it did add a new dimension to all this silence, strange though, you could have assumed that they were all dead down here, oldies, in the case of the mother of mine, though, undoubtedly a goodie. Can you say greatie? Competing interests: None declared
mother 15 May 2008
Liam Farrell, GP Crossmaglen Co Armagh BT35 9HD Send response to journal: Re: mother	to quote Ernie Wise; When i was young my mother did for me She combed my hair and made my tea Competing interests: None declared