Mother’s Day is coming up this Sunday (REMINDER ALERT!!!) and I have a Mother’s Day confession to make.
I don’t really like it.
Okay. Okay. Don’t get me wrong — my husband and kids always treat me so well on Mother’s Day — gifts and love and everything they can possibly do to make me feel appreciated and special.
But for some reason, Mother’s Day and New Years Eve seem to go hand-in-hand in my mind — it’s always such a HUGE buildup for usually a bit of a letdown.
Let me explain.
Mothers have high expectations on Mother’s Day. More than anything, they want to have a day where they don’t have to think about a single thing all day long. Meals have been planned by someone other than you and are also made and cleaned up by someone other than you. The children are well-behaved all day long — no fights over Legos and no three-year olds smearing toothpaste all over the bathroom mirror. Everyone takes naps when they should, including you, and you get to kick your feet up (maybe with a fresh pedicure) and read that book you’ve been trying to finish since 2006.
Oh wait. What’s that I hear? It’s reality. And she’s knocking at my door. HARD.
Mamas know, and especially mamas with young kids, that no matter how hard your sweet husband or partner tries to make your day perfect and no matter how much you try to ignore the normal chaos and take a day for yourself, the likelihood of it actually happening is slim. Hence the big letdown.
Mother’s Day is marketed to Mothers as a day to, essentially, take the day OFF from being a mother. But the truth is that it should be a day to celebrate BEING a mother.
As much as I would love to go hide at the spa all day long and pretend like I don’t have three (lovely) children who wake me up multiple times every single night, what I’ve found makes for the best Mother’s Day is to have a pretty normal day, with normal expectations. That way, when the kids do let me sleep in for an extra hour on Sunday and when I get to sneak out an grab a quickie mani-pedi while the baby sleeps, I’m delighted.
To all my fellow mamas in the Girl Power Hour community — wishing you the best of best for Mother’s Day. I hope that it’s filled with pampering and luxury from the little ones in your life. Or at the very least, that you get to go to the bathroom by yourself.
Mamas — What are your plans for this weekend? Have you ever had Mother’s Day let down?
photograph by the talented andria lindquist.
Katie Kavulla
When she's not chasing after her three young kids or overcommitting herself to the PTA, Katie can be found building her professional career as a blogger and freelance writer. She is the creator of Being5 (www.being5.com), a lifestyle and parenting blog, and contributes regularly for other local and national blogs and publications. On the Girl Power Hour Blog, she writes as Undercover Mom, the life as a double agent -- stay-at-home mom by day, busy working woman by night (and sometimes naptime too!). Katie lives in the Magnolia neighborhood with her family and has a mild obsession with coffee, shoes and inside humor. Follow her on Twitter @being_katie
* This post is from a Girl Power Hour featured blogger. It is not written, edited or endorsed by Girl Power Hour. The authors are solely responsible for content.
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