Mother’s day is around the corner. How many moms reading this feel like you need your family to step up and make it a special day? After all, what is life without mom, right? We do everything for our little ones. Some of us give up our careers to raise our children with intention and purpose. Others use all the energy they have after a long day of work to be present with their kids. I know a lot of working moms who also homeschool their kids full-time. Moms are so impressive that way. No matter what kind of mama you are, it is acceptable to expect appreciation for everything you do for your family. In fact, I’ll take it a step further and suggest teaching your children to show appreciation, and here’s why.
When we ask our children to take the time to celebrate a person, we are teaching them to show gratitude. Children need to learn to appreciate any service they recieve, whether it is from their teachers, their gym instructor, their aunts and uncles who babysit, or their grandma who prays over them. When we teach them to appreciate, we are also teaching them to honor and acknowledge that someone else is serving them, and because of it, their life is good.
With this thought, let me segway and speak to reality. There is a saying – You can lead a horse to the water, but you cannot make him drink. This saying applies to our children. Our words of advice and guidance get lost with our children, and the application of expected behavior is diminished. The likelihood of being treated like a queen on a day dedicated to you is pretty slim unless you have thoughtful, grown-up kids, and trust me, they do exist. Every year on Mother’s day, my sisters and I would plan a day of no work for my mom. We would wake up before she did and lay out presents we bought with our pocket money, write poems & cards, play a cheesy ‘Mama’ song, and shower her with lots of love when she walked into the living room. We would cook up for the day – my older sister would make the meal, and I would bake something. We did this every year since we were capable of it.
But let’s get back to expectations versus reality. I would love for my children to do special things for me on my birthday, mother’s day, holidays, or when I am sick. A few days ago, I asked my kids if they would make Mother’s day special for me. I told them they could tidy up without being told, keep the house neat, obey the first time around, and I may have even hinted at breakfast in bed. I told them if they needed to pull it off, they would have to wake up early since I am the earliest riser in the home. My oldest got super excited and talked about putting an alarm at 4 am and coming up with a plan to pull it off with dad. This is me building up my expectation.
But then there is reality. I may wake up to nothing special. I may have to make breakfast for my kids like I do every day and get into morning struggles with eating their food. I may not get any presents or cards. And I may likely have a feeling of unappreciation.
This is where I want to give you a word of encouragement. To those who may not have a fabulous celebratory day, your WORTH IS MUCH MORE THAN ALL OF THIS. Our worth comes from living out our purpose – what God called us to do, and there is a father in heaven who sees our every work and knows what it is like to mold little people into wonderful human beings. I love this verse from Luke 12:6-7 that reminds us that God sees our worth and we are more valuable than even the sparrows that he created, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.”
Your children will one day recognize, appreciate, and verbalize what you have done for them. But for now, let’s give our kids a reason to celebrate. Instead of taking the day off – Hug them, relax your rules, get on the floor, build bridges and towers, and be a fun, goofy mom for a day because it is MOTHER’S DAY, and you can choose how you spend your day with your children and make it a memorable one. (Psst… For those who do get to take some time to relax, pamper, and do something away from kids, that is a special gift too so enjoy your time).
Happy Mother’s Day!!!.
