Motherhood Quote by Ruby Wax

Ruby Wax turns the classic “impostor syndrome” monologue into domestic absurdism: the most basic role in the family, “mother,” still feels like a costume she keeps forgetting to put on. The line lands because it treats motherhood not as instinct but as a job with terrible onboarding. “I have to keep reminding myself” is a comedian’s confession disguised as a punchline; it admits a cognitive dissonance most parents are trained to hide. You’re supposed to feel authoritative, steady, grown-up. Wax gives you the backstage version: the adult is missing, and unfortunately you’re it.

The second sentence is the sly twist. Sitting at home, she feels like they’re “waiting for our mom to come home” - a child’s fantasy of rescue, but voiced by the person who is meant to be the rescuer. The “our” is doing heavy lifting, collapsing the boundary between parent and kid. She’s not narrating from a pedestal; she’s inside the pile of laundry and emotions with them.

Context matters: Wax’s public persona blends comedy with frank talk about mental health. Read through that lens, the joke doubles as a coping strategy and a critique of the myth that parenting automatically confers competence. It punctures the sentimental script and replaces it with something truer: adulthood isn’t a door you walk through, it’s a room you keep entering, surprised to find you’re still there. The humor isn’t cruel; it’s recognition - a way of normalizing the eerie feeling that responsibility arrives before confidence does.