In a friend group, you'll often have someone who takes charge and acts like a mom. They take care of everyone and are always reliable, but you can also have people who believe to be doing that but are really just moderating your actions in annoying ways instead of helping you. Which one are you?
If you're the mom of the friend group you will be making sure that everyone is happy, taken care of, that everyone has food when they are hungry, and you're essentially putting everyone before you. Everyone is constantly asking you for help and advice and you happily oblige. A mom will usually be the one to set the ground rules for the night if everyone is going out clubbing or drinking. Who will be the designated driver? How many will we be having? What time do we have to get back by? These are all things that the mom will have handled throughout the entire night.
A mom will often check in on you to know you're doing well and they'll even coordinate your schedule with theirs every now and then so that you can hang out and talk to keep each other up to date. Everyone appreciates the mom. Still, the mom in the friend group is meant to be protective and caring, but not overbearing. Once they border on overbearing, that's what they become... a mod.
A mod (or moderator, if you will) can be associated with a mom because there are similarities between the two. As stated, a mom can become a mod once they've begun getting on everyone's nerves. Moderators are more about the control they have on everyone and care for following the rules instead of optimizing enjoyment for the group. There's a sense of relief felt when the mod is not present within the group - when that happens, you know it's too late.
If you're constantly having people begin to complain about your behavior, tell you that you shouldn't be so on top of them and that you're becoming too much to handle, then you need to reassess what you're doing. At the end of the day, you may think you're at the head of the group by being a "mom" or "mod", but it's important to recognize that you own no one and that everyone is their own person. You're not actually a mother to these people, or a moderator, so keep yourself in check before you're put in your place.
For me, I just like to have fun and do my own thing. No mother or moderator for me, please.
