Having your mom as your best friend seems nice in theory — and it’s certainly romanticized in television shows such as “Gilmore Girls,” “Jane the Virgin” and “Ginny and Georgia.”

But psychologists warn that this kind of relationship can do more harm than good.

“I think a lot of people see these kinds of relationships on TV and wish their mom was ‘cooler,’” Dara Winley, PhD, LMFT , a Chicago-based therapist and assistant professor at Adler University, told SELF .

Psychologists warn that such relationships can actually be an unhealthy connection that negatively affects the child.

It usually involves the child taking on a more supportive, adult role in the family that a young person shouldn’t have to. 3

In psychology, this is called parentification. Parentification is a role re

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