Just because you cannot move in shops for the cards, flowers and chocolates rolled out weeks in advance of Mothering Sunday, it does not mean we have to turn our backs on a celebration which honours our mothers.
Mother's Day is a lovely tradition which I think is very important to mark in our own special ways. We do not have to buy the most expensive cards, the biggest bouquets of flowers and max out the credit card. The smallest token can just as easily be enough to tell our mothers we love them because it is very much the message that counts.
I'm sure many people have that sinking feeling when they go into a shop and see the Mother's Day card stand and think 'oh no here we go again', another card I need to purchase along with the birthday cards, the Christmas cards, the Valentine's cards and so on.
It can be a little pressured to have to show your mum you care on a set day. A lot of people would argue they show their mother their love on many days of the year and don't have to be called to order.
However, it isn't Mr Clinton Cards who decreed Mother's Day should take place every year on a Sunday in March.
The celebration has its roots in antiquity. One of the earliest historical records can be found among the ancient Egyptians who held an annual festival to honour the goddess Isis, who was regarded the mother of the Pharaohs.
A later incarnation of a holiday to honour motherhood came from Europe. Early Christians used the fourth Sunday of Lent to honour the church in which they were baptised – known as their Mother Church.
It was a clerical decree in England in the 1600s which broadened the celebration to include real mothers. It was known as Mothering Sunday and was an especially compassionate holiday towards the working classes. Servants and trade workers were allowed to travel back to their towns of origin to visit their families. Mothers were presented with cakes and flowers.
Mother's Day still in my opinion holds a very important place in our society. I think it is very important to set aside a day, if nothing else to draw attention to the fantastic job mums do.
Before becoming a mum myself I have to say I saw mums out and about pushing their children around in their pushchairs and thought, you've got the easy option there. As I slave away day to day at work dealing with all the stresses and strains that come with a pressured career, there you are going to the park, ambling round the shops and sitting drinking copious cups of tea with other mums in Costa.
Now I realise I couldn't have had it any more wrong. Nothing has ever been harder work for me than looking after my own daughter. I have a new found respect for mothers. I see them out and about now and think how are you doing this job? It surprises me what a range of women fulfil this role. It is not like other jobs where there is usually a certain character who is good at it. With motherhood there are all types of mothers with very different personalities and outlooks on life, all trying to do the best they can in their own individual ways.
Then there are some mothers who have to perform well beyond the call of duty and they certainly deserve a national day. I'm talking about single mothers who through no fault of their own are having to bring up a number of children single-handed. It must be such a terrible weight on their shoulders, especially if their partner has died and they had no choice but to pull themselves up and carry on with life.
I was watching the news recently when they were talking about the latest soldier killed in conflict. They had the wife of this soldier bravely reading out a statement in tribute to her husband and what really touched me was how when the camera flipped back to the newsreader he said it was the wife, who had been left behind to bear the grief of losing her husband while continuing to bring up their children, who was the real hero and this rang true for me. I had never actually thought of it in this way before. It is the women left behind who have the hardest job.
In this day and age there is this 'craze' I will call it for people having time off work for stress. I'd like to invite them to look after a few young children for a week and then they can compare just how that rated compared to their day to day job. As a mother there is no opportunity to say, no sorry I'm far too stressed out to do this job today. The children can fend for themselves – I'm retreating under the duvet. It just can't happen.
Mothers really are the heroines of our society and yes shops do try and cash in on this celebration and yes it does heap a whole lot of guilt and pressure on the shoulders of sons and daughters already up to their eye balls in the pressures of modern life. But I think this is even more reason for everyone to take a day to reflect on what is really important in life and to give their mother's a little token of their appreciation and a whole lot of love.
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