Celebrating Mothers, Not “Mom” This Mother’s Day

Mother’s day can be a painful reminder of a horrible childhood if you had an abusive or neglectful mother.   While the rest of the world is making brunch reservations or planning to serve up breakfast in bed with homemade mother’s day cards, you may be feeling a familiar seething in your gut.

 

So what to do? You can try to stick your head in the sand and ignore the day, but it may be more therapeutic to be less accepting of your pain, and instead take back some of the joy you deserve!

 

We know that giving gratitude each day improves our feelings of well being, so how about giving appreciation to the other mothers who do deserve being recognized and appreciated.

 

Did you have a special aunt or grandma who mothered you? After all, being a mother is really more about having a certain caring attitude more than it is about a bloodline. Reach out to them this Mother’s Day instead.

 

Let’s honour the world’s mothers who fight for women’s rights so our daughters can grow up in a more equitable world with more access to education and opportunities than ever before.

 

This Mother’s Day, give pause and think of the ‘mother’ role models that did inform you of how to mother your children, even if just characters in a movie, or a friend you admired. Gratitude to them!

 

And how about you? Can you celebrate yourself? You should! I bet you are doing better than you know! Celebrate the fact that while not perfect (none of us are), you are mothering your own children in ways that perhaps you were not. And that alone, is worthy of a stack of pancakes and a mimosa!

 

Happy Mother’s Day