Mother’s Day 2017: Kids ask mom everything they want to know

Some of the younger children got a little help from mom and dad. But what came through every one of these interviews was love — and a special bond between mother and child.

Here are some more excerpts from the interviews. (Go to www.myajc.com to see more of these interviews and to check out more interviews with Atlanta area moms and their children, including AJC managing editor Monica Richardson and her daughter, Lyric).

Atlanta chef and restaurateur Asha Gomez and her son, Ethan Gomez-Palayam, who is 11.

Gomez recently closed her Old Fourth Ward restaurant, Spice to Table, to focus on a new tea venture.

Gomez’s most recent cookbook, “My Two Souths: Blending the Flavors of India Into a Southern Kitchen,” was named one of the best cookbooks of 2016 by the AJC, The Washington Post and The New York Times.

Ethan: What is a moment when you are proud of me?

Asha: You make me proud every day, Ethan, every single day. I love when you accomplish things that you thought initially were a challenge for you, but then you come out of it and you are like I did it, and you put the hard work in. And your kindness makes me proud. I love how kind you are, even to strangers.

Ethan: When I came to you as a child, what did you think? What were your feelings about having a new kid?

Asha: This is a special question. Mommy always wanted children. But mommy also always knew mommy would adopt. And that was the only way I wanted to have children was through adoption. I say this all the time: Whether a child is born from the womb or a child is born from the heart — like you were born from mommy and daddy's heart, it is the same kind of love. There is no difference. … I like talking about adoption because I think it is so beautiful. There are almost 8 billion people in the world, and we found each other. If that isn't special, I don't know what is.

Jenn Hobby, Star 94.1 radio host, with husband Grant Rivera, superintendent of Marietta City Schools, and daughters, Lauren, who is 4, and Reese, 18 months old. 

Sitting with her family at the AJC,  Hobby shared the flowing thoughts about motherhood with us. 

Jenn: When Lauren and Reese grow up, I hope that they remember how much I love them first and foremost. And that they can never do anything wrong that would make me not love them. I hope they remember laughing a lot and I hope they remember a childhood (with) a lot of fun memories. … The hardest thing about being a mom, I think, is just realizing your heart's walking outside your body now, and I think the hardest is loving them and supporting them but not being scared of them getting hurt in any way (pause) 'cause they have my heart.

Lisa Washington, CEO of B’Tyli Wellness and Beauty Co. in Atlanta, and her son Julian Jelks Jr., who is 30.

Julian: What advice can you give me about being a father and how can I improve my relationship with their mother?

Lisa: I think it is so important that your children see that you love their mother. That is going to teach your son how to be a husband and how to be a father. And how to be a great father is that you love the mother. And that is going to teach your daughter how to attract a man that is going to love her because she's seeing you love her mother.

Julian: What is the proudest moment for me and my brother?

Lisa: The proudest moment of being Tyler's mom was to see him decide to become a Christian and follow God at a very young age at 16. My proudest moment with you is to see you live and to see you here, and talking to you every day because there was a time we didn't talk. Months would go by and we wouldn't talk. We (now) talk about all of the things I believed about you, and you are in it.

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