What are mother dreams about?

You can gain insight from thinking about any dream, no matter how strange. Only you, as the dreamer, have final say on what your dream may or may not mean. Each dream is unique.

The DreamWell dictionary provides information on how each dream symbol appears in dreams in general. Finding how experience mothers in dreams can be a key to understanding its meaning.

Our emotions in dreams can help us understand its meaning. Pay attention to how you felt in the dream. Pay attention to how you feel about mothers in dreams. See how you feel about mothers now, in your waking life.

One of the most confusing aspects of understanding a dream about someone you know, especially someone close to you, involves separating the person from the dream character. They’re not one and the same, usually.

The character does not represent the person directly. This is important to know when you dream about your mother, because strong feelings can make you think a dream is speaking literally when really it is speaking figuratively.

The symbolism of a mother in a dream can be difficult to pin down, in part because of the wide variety of possibilities, and in part because of the difficulty of separating the dream character from the person you know.

Dreaming about your mom can connect with some aspect of your relationship with her. For example, a teenager dreams that he is in the passenger seat as his mother drives on a snowy road. They come to a bridge and she misses it, driving onto a frozen lake. The ice breaks and the truck sinks. The dreamer rescues his mom, then admonishes her for her bad driving. The dream symbolizes the poor decisions his mom makes and the fact that he has to rescue her from her mistakes. Their relationship is reversed. Instead of mom rescuing her son from making bad decisions, correcting his mistakes and cleaning up his messes, it’s the son who performs that role.

A young woman who moved away from home eight years earlier dreams that she goes to her mom’s house and just starts pounding on her. She then tries to leave and is blocked by her stepfather, so she returns inside the house and again repeatedly hits her mother. Hitting her mom is an expression of frustration about their relationship and anger at how she was raised. Her mom was neglectful and made many bad decisions when it came to the men she chose, including the stepfather in the dream.

Dreaming about your mom dying might mean you fear growing apart, sense it happening, or need it to happen. It is common for young male teens to dream about their mom dying, symbolizing the changes they go through as they come out from under her wing. In a figurative sense the old dynamics of the mother-son relationship are dying.

For males and females alike, this most important relationship goes through changes, which can feel like something about it is dying. Dreaming about parents dying is common when young people move out of the home and miss the direct support and care of their mothers.

For example, a twenty-something female dreams that her mom is buried in a grave. The daughter digs frantically to uncover her. She succeeds, only to find her mom’s body in a state of repose. She tries to revive her. The dream symbolizes the daughter’s perception and fear that she is growing apart from her mom, and it’s not because of an incident or negative feelings. It’s simply a process that’s happening as the daughter becomes an adult, and mom’s role in her daughter’s life changes. Attempting to revive her shows that the dreamer wants to revive the relationship.

The symbolism of your mom dying can mean that you are breaking her rules, going against her teachings or wishes, or doing something that is potentially a threat to your relationship. This figurative sense of “dying” can mean she would “die” if she found out what you were doing.

For example, a young man dreams that a meteor is about to hit the Earth. It’s an apocalypse. He goes to the basement and finds his mom hanging by a rope, as if she’d committed suicide. He leaves to get help, and returns to find his mom is fine, no longer hanging.

The dream symbolizes a situation he’s involved in, which his mom doesn’t know about. He’s selling dope. The apocalypse symbolizes his fear that she will find out, and it will cause major damage to their relationship. Hanging is an apt metaphor because strangulation can symbolize that something isn’t getting through to your head. For the dreamer, it means he’s ignoring the voice in his head telling him he’s taking too big of a risk. The basement setting is appropriate because basements are where things are put out of sight.

If your mom has been on your mind, or a recent interaction with her made a strong impression on you, then dreaming about her is likely to connect with it. For example, if your mom has been ill and you are concerned about her health, this is the sort of strong impression that is likely to come up in a dream. The situation will be exaggerated, so something like your mom’s nagging cough turns into a dream about rushing to the hospital and finding out she has pneumonia.

On the other hand, your dreams can use the image of your mom to represent something about yourself, such as feelings, attitudes, beliefs, values, or character traits. Whatever it represents probably relates back to her, either something about you that is shaped or influenced by her, or something you see in yourself that you also see in her. The dream is not about her. Unless your life is tied very closely to your mother’s, the majority of your dreams about her will be of this variety.

For example, a young man dreams that he is at a friend’s house where his social group regularly gathers to kill time and party. He sees his mom’s car parked in the driveway, walks over to it, reaches under the passenger seat, finds a gun, and shoots himself with it. The dream scenario symbolizes his desperation as he tries to figure out what he wants to do with his life and how to take the steps to make it happen. Instead of working toward his goals, he wastes time at his friend’s house. His mom’s car is used in the dream because moms give their sons the ideas about themselves that they use to build their adult lives. The son can’t figure out how to move ahead toward his goals and ambitions, and it’s killing him inside. The gun is under the passenger seat of his mom’s car because his life is an extension of hers. He is her passenger.

You can have much in common with your mom, especially if you are female. In your dreams, she can represent something you two have in common. For example, let’s say that your mom is a whiz at event planning, and you are planning a surprise party. You dream about your mom organizing your house, symbolizing how you draw on the organization skills you learned from her to plan the party. You see yourself in her actions and behavior in the dream.

Or say that your mom is neurotic, worrying over every little thing, and you find yourself sweating the small stuff, too. In a dream she acts neurotic, and in her behavior you see yourself. It’s a trait you picked up from her.

Dreaming about your mom can mean you need mothering or nurturing. This can also be the case if you dream about a mother who is not yours. The use of the symbolism is most common when you are feeling down or in need of hope. Moms, ideally, pick you up when you are feeling down and give you hope for the future. Even if your mom is not this type of mom, it is still a common perception that can be used as symbolism in a dream.

The mom in your dreams can be the mom you wish you had.

Dreaming about your mom can mean you are playing the role of mother, either directly as a mother of your children, or indirectly as a mother figure. In these dreams, you play the role of a mother, or see that side of yourself projected onto a dream character. You can have mother figures in your life who appear as dream characters, too, such as a beloved teacher, coach, or female relative.

Dreams can mix and match people from the same maternal or paternal line, so someone such as a grandma, aunt, or sister can symbolize your mom, and vice-versa.

Pregnant women, or women trying to get pregnant, are known to dream about their moms as a way of preparing to be mothers themselves. Their moms are the closest examples they have for how to do it.

For example, a pregnant woman dreams about shopping for clothes with her mom and sister. Shopping symbolizes the preparation and decision-making related to her pregnancy. Her sister is also a mom, so the image of the three of them together shows that the dreamer is drawing on the example of her sister and her mom to help her have a successful pregnancy.

A mom in a dream, whether your mom, a mom you know, or a random dream character, can symbolize typical mom characteristics. Even if your mom is not a typical mom, you are aware of the common characteristics of moms, such as nurturing, warm, giving, self-sacrificing, supportive, and helpful.

Moms care for young children who can’t care for themselves, so a mom in a dream can symbolize caring for yourself, especially for the childlike parts of yourself.

For example, a woman dreams that she holds her mom in her arms and mom shrinks down to a baby. The dreamer recognizes in the baby her need to take care of herself, to mother herself, especially when it comes to caring for basic needs such as good nutrition, regular sleep, and emotional warmth.

See also: Babies, Bears, Children, Eggs, Family, Family homes, Fathers, Grandmothers, The moon, Orphans, Ovaries, Parents, Passengers, Pregnancy, Shrinking, Uteruses, Vaginas

This interpretation is from ""The Dream Interpretation Dictionary: Symbols, Signs, and Meanings" and is provided by J.M. DeBord aka "RadOwl". He is the author of several acclaimed books about dreaming, the host of The Dreams That Shape Us podcast, and is a moderator of r/Dreams, one of the largest dream sharing communities on the internet.