Ernest Hemingway’s mother once wrote him about how she thought a son and mother should have a relationship.  She said,

Every child that is born to her enters the world with a large and prosperous bank account, seemingly inexhaustible.  She child makes withdrawals but no deposits during all the early years.  Later, when the child grows up, it is his responsibility to replenish the supply he has drawn down.  Hemingway’s mother then proceeded to spell out all the specific ways in which Ernest should be making “deposits to keep the account in good standing”: flowers, fruit or candy, a surreptitious paying of Mother’s bills, and above all a determination to stop “neglecting your duties to God and your Saviour, Jesus Christ.”

Ernest Hemingway