Once they reach a certain age, lots of women find motherhood exhausting, but not Brooklyn-based Nina Keneally. The 63-year-old still has lots of “mothering skills” that she’s actually more than happy to rent out through a unique service called “NeedAMom.” Her motto is “When you need a mom… Just not YOUR mom.”

    A former theatrical producer and drug-rehab counselor from Connecticut, Nina now spends all her time using her motherhood experience and her associate degree in counseling to help millennials in New York. For US$40 an hour plus expenses, Nina will listen to all your problems, offer advice, help you plan and shop for a dinner party, sew your buttons back on, bake you a cake, and do all sorts of other things a real mother might do. She’ll even buy and wrap a present for your actual mother. Nina and her husband moved to Bushwick, Brooklyn, from Connecticut two years ago, after 30-odd years of raising their own two sons. And she realized early on that young adults back home were different in many ways. “Connecticut millennials have other goals — it’s all about jobs, houses, permanent relationships,” she said. “They go into a young middle age. Here, it’s a more bohemian, artistic lifestyle.” But more freedom also leads to more problems, and Nina often found herself counseling millennials who reached out to her in yoga studios and cafes.

    “As I started to live in the neighborhood, do yoga and frequent coffee shops, I’ve noticed that a lot of young people in the neighborhood wanted to talk to me about what was going on in their lives,” she said. And that’s how NeedAMom was born. It’s a fairly new business and she’s had about six clients so far, all from Bushwick.

    Nina doesn’t have a fixed price list yet, so for now, everything she does for you will cost US$40 an hour, right from bringing you chicken soup when you’re sick to watching a movie with you. But she draws the line at cleaning. “Don’t expect me to clean your closet or do your laundry,” she said. “I’m not your maid!”

许多女性到一定年龄后会发现当妈真累人。但纽约布鲁克林的尼娜•吉妮莉可不这样想。今年63岁的她仍身负多种“母爱技能”，而且更乐于通过特别的“NeedAMom”服务出租出去。她的名言是“当你需要妈妈……但不是亲妈的时候”。

尼娜曾经是康涅狄格州的一名戏剧出品人、戒毒顾问，而今她凭借着做母亲的经验和准心理咨询学士学位，全身心为纽约的千禧一代提供帮助。只需每小时40美元（加上其他花销），尼娜会倾听你的问题、为你提供建议（绝不会出现“我告诉过你”之类的话）、帮你筹划晚宴并购买相关物品、给你缝扣子、烤蛋糕，以及任何亲妈可能做的其他事情。她甚至可以给你亲妈买礼物并包好。

历经30多年将两个儿子抚养成人后，两年前尼娜和丈夫从康涅狄格州搬到纽约布鲁克林的布什威克。她很早就意识到老家年轻人和纽约人在很多方面不同。“在康涅狄格州，千禧一代的目标不同 — 围绕工作、房子和稳定的恋爱关系”，她说。“他们早早步入中年状态。而这里，人们更加放荡不羁、更加文艺”。但更多自由也带来更多问题，尼娜经常会给瑜伽室、咖啡馆里认识的千禧一代解答疑惑。

“我住进小区后，做瑜伽、去咖啡店的时候注意到邻近的许多年轻人喜欢和我谈谈他们的生活”，她说。

而这就是NeedAMom的起源。这是一项新服务。到目前为止尼娜有6名客户，均来自布什威克。

由于目前还没有固定的价目表，尼娜的服务暂定40美元/小时，从为病床上的你端来鸡汤到陪你看电影。但对于打扫卫生她一概谢绝。“别指望我给你打扫壁橱、洗衣服，我可不是女仆！”

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【咨询服务】zīxún fúwù counseling professional guidance in resolving personal conflicts and emotional problems

【千禧一代】qiānxǐ yīdài millennial a person born in the 1980s or 1990s, especially in the United States