Towards the end of the press release for a recent survey published by Coldwell Banker and BabyCenter ("Moms Today"), we are told the following: "13 percent of moms think Reese Witherspoon is the quintessential Modern Mom."

I have no problem with Reese Witherspoon, but what exactly makes her a "quintessential Modern Mom"? (For the record, I didn't add the emphasis on the word "quintessential.") The fact that she's divorced? Rich? Won an Oscar? Of the next two famous moms mentioned, Jennifer Garner (12 percent) has spent a lot of time in public with her offspring. But Brooke Shields (10 percent) had a very public thing with Tom Cruise when he got mad at her for having the nerve to take anti-depressants to treat post-partum depression. (To be fair, Tommy C did eventually apologize for that.) So I would have thought Brooke would've taken the top mom spot, but no.

Statements that rank parents using words like "quintessential" always seem strange to me. "Who would you most like to be for a day?" or "Which mother do you think is a good role model?" -- neither question is Earth-shaking but at least they make sense.

One positive thing I suppose is that none of the celeb-mothers listed are train wrecks, a la Britney. Which celebrity parent(s) do you like?

image: Wikipedia