Every year around this time, I hear a familiar experience from the moms I work with as a psychotherapist. Despite working themselves to exhaustion trying to meet the expectations of being a “good mom,” their inner critic still manages to point out where they’re falling short. The calendar fills, the to-do list doubles, and every commercial, school event, and family gathering whispers the same message: Make it magical. Make it meaningful. Make it perfect. This pressure isn’t personal to a rare few, and it’s not imagined. It comes from deeply rooted cultural myths about what a “good mother” is supposed to be — myths woven into Western culture for generations.…