At the blog, Make Love Not Debt, the discussion by Him and Her is finances and relationships - a thorny and combustible subject to be sure. Recently, a post by her lit a torch that ignited a firestorm in the personal finance blog world.

Her hit the publish button in anger and haste after a conversation with her mother. A massive outpouring of comments ensued which ranged from supportive and offering helpful advice to damning and judgmental. Although both Him and Her wrote helpful and clearer-thinking updates, one thing came through much more clearly in the comments... probably because no woman likes to face the fact... we become our mothers. And how we handle finances is no exception.

From the comments...

It sounds like your parents have made some bad financial mistakes and are passing that tradition on to you. Why don't you break the cycle

Please, allow yourself to separate from being a daughter to being an adult on your own.

I believe that Her and Him are working hard and are on a path to not repeating her parents mistakes and I applaud Her for her painful honesty on her blog.

I think much of the reaction was driven by our love/hate feelings about what our parents teach us and the ways in which it shows up in our lives, even if we don't want to acknowledge those manifestations. It is so much easier to judge someone else's life than to examine ones own, let alone share it, and share it with total strangers no less.

Mapgirl almost did but ...

I had this huge post written about my relationship with my parents and with money, but I don't think I want to brave the moonbats on the internet to post it here.

I'm with Mapgirl, but fortunately there are braver souls than I.

Wanda at well-heeled and everything shares some thoughts on The Bank of Mom and Dad

Madame X shares the financial genetics she received from her mom (and the post has a link to her previous look at her dad's contribution)

And Amber at Yellow's Green shares her money education from her parents

How about you? What did your mother teach you about money and have you become her? Is that a good thing or not so good? And if the latter, how are you going to break the cycle and create new lessons for your daughter?