'MKR's Anna and Jordan saved my relationship with my son.'

Anna and Jordan are by far my favourite team competing on this season of My Kitchen Rules because they have the exact relationship I want my son and I to have. I think my son wants it too because he is always saying that when he is older he wants us to be on the show together.

Of course he’ll have to start displaying affection to me in public again before that happens. He’ll have to do much more than give me a dismissive head-nod as I drive off feeling empty and despondent.

Hopefully by watching Anna and Jordan he’ll be reminded that it’s okay to love your mum and to show it. Loving your mum can be cool.

Watch some highlights of Jordan and Anna (courtesy of Channel 7). Post continues after video… 

Jordan even calls his mum “Mama”. I die. So cute.

Anna, 55, has been married to Joe for 30 years and Jordan, 24, is one of four sons. Anna says she loves them all equally however it’s clear that she and Jordan share a special bond, brought together by their love of cooking. My son and I cook together often. It’s a truly bonding experience. I’m passing knowledge onto him and he takes it and makes it his own.

Philip, 12, and I would do so well on MKR, if we ever got on the show. Philip loves watching Anna and Jordan too because we share a similar background to them. They are from a Maltese and Italian background and my son and I are Italian, so we totally understand the culture. It revolves around family, feeding and food.

During their pre-show interview Jordan says, “Mum is probably my best friend”. Gosh darn could these two be any sweeter? And by golly I want that too. I want exactly that relationship with my son Philip.

We used to be much closer than we are now.

Confessions- Your first thought upon seeing your new baby. Post continues after video…

For the past couple of years my son has started drifting away from me, but only in public. At home we are as close as ever and he is as affectionate as ever but whenever we leave the house he won’t touch me and will barely talk to me. He won’t even laugh at things I say. At home he laughs and hugs me and smiles at me and tells me he loves me without me prompting him.

In public he acts as though he can’t stand me.

Anna and Jordan have arrived just in time to save us. I want what they have and if Philip wants that kind of relationship too he’s going to have to start showing me affection again. We’re Italian for goodness sake. He’s lucky I don’t force him to kiss me hello and goodbye and hug before he gets out of the car each day.

In my family if you didn’t kiss people you loved hello and goodbye and hug them regularly you were going to get a slap on the head.

Slap on the head… “Hug your sister, that’s better”… another slap on the head just for good measure.

I want to ask Anna how she raised Jordan to be so comfortable openly displaying his affection for her. Here he is on national television, on one of the most-watched shows, telling everyone he loves his mum “this much”, holding his arms wide and then giving her a kiss on the cheek.

Some people probably think they are too close and Jordan’s affection for his mother is way overboard. They, like me, are just jealous. Completely and totally jealous.

I hope they continue to do really well on the show.

I wonder how Philip and I would hold up if the stress of being on a reality TV cooking show became too much. If I started crying would I get public Philip who would roll his eyes and walk away, or private Philip who would envelope me in a massive and prolonged hug.

We’ll see.

I did get a hint that Anna and Jordan don’t have a perfect relationship (who does?), with Jordan confessing during their MKR interview that they do sometimes bicker in the kitchen. He says, “We yell at each other and bicker. We don’t really agree.” Then Anna says, “I think it’s our European blood, we just get hot-blooded and quite opinionated. But we don’t hold grudges.”

That’s good then. I feel a little less upset about how Philip and I bicker and fight now. Maybe that’s a sign of a close relationship.

I just wish I could get him to hug me in public.

“Loving your mother is nothing to be ashamed of,” I lecture him moments before he hops out of the car for soccer practice. In-car Philip who never forgets to hand me a piece of our favourite Doublemint chewing gum whenever we drive anywhere is very different from out-of-the-car Philip who won’t even acknowledge me as I do laps of the soccer field while he trains. Not even a, “Hey Mum.” Not even a glance my way.

I can almost see his brain at work, saying…Be cool, don’t look at Mum, be cool, don’t let anyone see how much you love her…

Jordan says that while he does sometimes challenge her, he knows that his mum is the boss. At the end of the day, Anna’s word goes … sometimes,” he said on the MKR website. Anna added, “He does challenge me and it’s not a bad thing. Sometimes it pushes me out of my comfort zone because I’ve been cooking for a long time. Like the other day he said, ‘Let’s do a kale pesto.’ And I said, ‘I don’t think so.’ And when he did it, it was really good. I think sometimes because I’ve been doing it a certain way for so long I become stagnant.”

Awww….

I know, enough already.

To mothers and sons everywhere. May you be close, remain close and have that closeness shown to you in public, if not on national TV. I’m sure Philip is just going through a phase and I’ll get him back eventually, whether or not we end up on My Kitchen Rules together.

*Featured Image: Screenshot via Channel 7/MKR