SEASONAL FEATURE
MOTHER’S DAY, WITH MEANING The ads are everywhere. You can’t miss them. No, I don’t want a soda stream or a steam mop for Mothers’ Day, thank-you very much, Mister Ad Man. What I would love is for all mothers to stand in your power and own your worth. Being a mother can have pretty low status. There are so many influences for this, but we can be our own worst enemies around our worth. How often do you hear women say, “I am ‘just’ a mum,” or, “I am a ‘stay at home’ mum”? Really? What mother stays at home all day, every day? And you are never ‘just’ a Mum – you are the whole world to the little people you have grown. So, to have a day where we celebrate the power and delights of being a mother is special. This doesn’t have to be about fancy gifts – a HOT tea in bed and home-made cards will do just fine for most of us. Or, if you have school-aged kids, something from the Mother’s Day stall is very cute and thoughtful. We want acknowledgement from partners too, if we
have them. Dare they tell us ‘you are not my mother,’ and risk a very cold shoulder? We are the mother of HIS babies and he better get on board (at the very least, wrangle the kids for an hour or two)! Our expectations could be confusing to the original founders of Mother’s Day. You see, Mother’s Day began as a day of public activism for peace, not a celebration of ourselves as mothers. “In 1872, Julia Ward Howe, author of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic”, proposed an annual Mother’s Day for Peace. She wrote: “Our husbands shall not come to us reeking with carnage… Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs”. Although an official ‘Mother’s Day for Peace’ wasn’t declared in Julia Ward Howe’s time, we can still honor her sentiment in the way we celebrate Mother’s Day. This doesn’t take away from acknowledging the
20 PALMY PARENT . PALMERSTON NORTH PARENTS CENTRE MAGAZINE
