'The new celebrity mum trend I can't get my head around'

Khloe Kardashian did it. So did her sister, Kim. And earlier this week, Australian supermodel Nicole Trunfio did it too.

I’m talking about this new trend on Instagram where mothers proclaim their babies are their “best friends.”

“You don’t know this yet but you’re my best friend for all eternity,” wrote Khloe Kardashian underneath a photo of her six-month-old daughter True last month.

Excuse me, what? Eternity is a long time, Khloe. Are you two still going to be besties when 19-year-old True tells you she hates you and is going out drinking with her friends?

Look, I get it. When babies are that age, all squishy and lovely, they’re spending a lot of time with you - 20 hours a day would not be an exaggeration.

It’s an intimate relationship, especially if you’re breastfeeding. Even if you’re not, they’re so vulnerable and helpless and the attachment is so strong that it feels right to be able to call them your best friend.

In all seriousness, I understand it on that mother-daughter level, too. I did get lost in my own daughter’s eyes when she was a baby, and fantasise about how close we’d always be, because we were so close then.

Yet some of these mums are still calling their daughters their "besties" even when they’re no longer babies.

Kim Kardashian West called North her “best friend for life” when her daughter turned five in June this year.

Meanwhile, screenwriter Kelly Oxford celebrated her 10-year-old daughter’s birthday on Instagram last week by referring to her daughter as her “ride or die.” 

LISTEN: The latest episode of our parenting podcast Honey Mums is a must-listen. (Post continues.)

It’s exactly that – just one more expectation for girls to be the emotional caregivers of their families.

I remember the girls in high school who were “best friends” with their mums and it was a bit hard to watch. The mum wanted to know which boys we liked, and she wanted to share which boys she liked, too – often over a couple of rum and Cokes.

The entire scenario was very Amy Poehler in Mean Girls: “I’m not like other mums, I’m a cool mum.” Yeah, I’m sure you are.

Even if you’re not a “cool mum”, expecting to be “best friends” with your daughter for eternity is still a bit of a stretch, because even though you’ll always love her, you may go through really short periods where you can’t stand her. And that’s OK, because you have proper grown-up friends to lean on when that stuff hits.

It reminds me of that old trend in wedding speeches where the bride or groom would get up and say “You’re not just my lover, you’re my best friend, too.” Uh, no. Just because you like that person for who they are, and you get on really well, it still doesn’t make them your bestie. It makes them your spouse.

That’s the thing that separates friendship from a mother-daughter relationship: it’s a two-way street. If I want to vent about life, I go to her. I don’t vent about life to my kids, because that’s too much for them to hear at this age. I’m there to make them feel safe, not bitch about their dad’s dirty socks!

So mums, please – call them your special people, your beauties, your gifts. Fall in love anew each day. But spare me the b-word, please. Or don’t. Either way, it won’t be my kids I complain to - I have Jessica on speed dial.