Happy Mother’s Day
May 7, 2010
Mother’s Day is this Sunday (in case you’ve been hiding under a rock for 3 weeks and have missed the billions of internet, radio and television ads, as well as water cooler discussions). In my world, I get wished a happy mother’s day throughout the weekend. My day care is awesome about preparing the most wonderful mother’s day gifts any kid could ever dream of making – I look forward to them every year and often display them in my home or office. My husband is wonderful about helping the kids pick out cards and decorate them, and I usually get some very pretty flowering tree or bush planted in my yard, which is wonderful. Then we also visit our families to wish our mother’s a happy day.
So here is where my confusion comes in. It’s “Mother’s Day”. I’m a mother, so it must be “my day”. And if it’s my day, then how come I don’t get to do what *I* want? I’m a mother to wonderful 1 and 3 year old boys. I also work full time. Although time management experts would probably disagree with me, I manage to find approximately 3 hours each week all to myself (and I pay dearly for it the next morning when I say up too late to enjoy that time). So what is it that I want for “my day”? Peace and quiet. I want a day where I get out of bed when I want to get out of bed. Where I make tea for myself and no one else. Where I can lounge in my bed or on my couch or on my porch and read or watch tv or do whatever I feel like doing. I want a day of peace and quiet with no crying, no screeching, no yelling, no poopy diapers, no butt wiping, no cooking, no picking up, no cleaning. I want a day where I don’t have to talk to a single soul if I don’t want to. Where I can take a bath in my whirlpool tub if I want (in 3 months in my new house I’ve managed 2 baths – and one was in my bathing suit with the kids). But, society tells me that as a mother, this is not what I “should” want. I should want to spend the day with my smiling children and husband. I should accept my macaroni necklace* with a smile and then go about packing everything up for our day-long trip through other mother’s houses.
So I can only conclude that this day is mis-named. It’s not really “Mother’s Day”, it’s “Mother’s Celebration”. It’s a day we celebrate and appreciate mothers, but it’s not their day. It’s not a day for mothers to do what they want, because I bet if we took a poll 99% of mothers would say (in one form or another) that what they really want is a day off.
So, I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend of celebrating mothers, but remember, when you’re wishing them a “Happy mother’s day”, it’s not really “their” day. I think next year perhaps we’ll celebrate grandparent’s day instead, and then give Zach and me the day off on Mother’s/Father’s day.
*it is important to note (especially for my day care providers reading this) that I have never received a macaroni necklace. The artwork I do receive is always awesome and greatly appreciated 
