Lynne Spears Encourages, Praises Britney

Lynne Spears has plenty to be thankful for.

In the year, she watched her famous daughter, Britney Spears, go bonkers but crawl back from the brink, and her less-famous daughter, Jamie Lynn Spears, scandalously get knocked up at age 16, only to get engaged and welcome a happy baby.

How did 27-year-old Britney rebound from a pair of forced hospitalizations and a string of erratic behavior, such as a quickly annulled Vegas wedding in 2004, an infamous head-shaving in 2007, and myriad bizarre dalliances with men?

"With a lot of love and care and help," Lynne Spears said Thursday evening, speaking to the U.K.'s GMTV via satellite from New Orleans, Louisiana.

"Sometimes you have to settle down. You have to stop, think. There's a lot of people that care about Britney and love Britney – and she's doing great now."

While the singer still hasn't regained custody of her two sons, Sean Preston and Jayden James, Lynne had only praise for her daughter's parenting skills.

"Oh she's a wonderful mother – she's funny, she's extremely affectionate," said the Spears matriarch, who's promoting her memoir, Through the Storm.

"[At] home, where there's nobody around, she's very normal."

Fresh off the success of her first single, "Womanizer," Britney is now in Europe promoting her new album, Circus. She's scheduled to go on tour next year.

"I think Britney's just ready to get started again," said her mom. "I think this is when she's most in her element."