It makes perfect sense that you would always flub in front of your mom; in general, people perform better in front of a neutral or slightly hostile audience than a friendly one--even if they feel more comfortable with friends and family. I think that makes the whole concrit point: if the consensus is that it's not okay to criticize so that we all feel 'safe,' then the writing suffers. And I believe furiosity already made the point that whatever else it may be, LJ is a public forum on the internet, not your living room. So it's not 'safe' anyway.