As I'm cleaning house today there are all kinds of shows on about Mother's Day. One showed glittery crafts and projects that you can do with your children for a "fun Mother's Day activity". I'm pretty sure whoever came up with that statement has never had the job of cleaning up glitter. And it was probably a man.
I feel like it is my civic duty as a mother to let all of the world know that we don't want to do projects with our kids on Mother's Day. We don't even really want them to bother us. I love my children more than anything but I don't want to deal with them on Mother's Day. About 80% of you are thinking, Yes! Finally someone gets it. The other 20% of you are liars or just haven't reached that point yet. Just wait. It will happen.
Now I love my little darlings and do want to be with them on Mother's Day in a fun and drama free way. I guess I should clear it up for you dads that just aren't getting it yet. I don't want to referee, I don't want to wipe butts, I don't want to clean, I don't want to prepare meals, I don't even want to dispense medicine or think about planning something to do. Basically, I want to be a dad for the day. Can you make that happen?? Maybe just for 8-10 hours?
My kids are older now (14 & 10) so they are pretty self sufficient. Most things they can do for themselves or I just do because it's easier. I haven't had to wipe butts in several years but I did have to clean poop off the dog this morning. (I will not be doing that on Sunday.) When my kids were younger, they'd bring home handmade gifts or poems and I loved it. I even cried over a few. Moms eat that up. My husband would make a big deal of taking them shopping to get a gift. It was a production. The last few years I've gotten a mani/pedi gift card. I love it but where's the thought? I know he ran by the place on Friday on his way home and got it and that's fine. But then there's all the questions...what do you want to eat, where do you want to go, what should we do? Um, isn't that part of the "gift" too? I plan 99% of our family activities, I don't want to plan this one. Make some effort dads. Put some thought into it. We carried each of your children for 9 months and then birthed them...and for those of you with big heads...maybe throw in an extra gift!
What moms really want is to not have to do their every day tasks of being a mom. We grew humans for goodness sakes! Show us some love. And this is the part that gets fuzzy for most men....we don't want to do our daily task....which is code for WE WANT YOU TO DO THEM!!!! There's the secret men! When we say we "don't want to do anything" on Mother's Day, it really means that everything we aren't doing that day, YOU NEED TO DO! That doesn't mean just making the kids do it. You ALL need to do it. The morning after shouldn't be full of dirty laundry, a messy house, a sink full of dishes because we took a day off. When asked what we want for Mother's Day, we aren't going to list chores for you to do because most likely it's not going to happen. But that's what we want. We want to be pampered and loved and appreciated. We want to know that you see all the little things that we are doing on a daily basis to keep the children alive and the house afloat. We want you to notice and say thank you without us having to point it out. We want you to throw a load of laundry in and clean the toilet. We want you to prepare a meal and clean up afterwards and be patient when everyone complains about what you made and one is crying because he doesn't like brown rice. We want you to wash the dog and her bedding and wipe the poop off her fur. And we want you to just do it all with a smile because you love us and want us to be happy and to feel loved. We don't want you to point out how easy it was or how we've got it made because you did it all and it wasn't a big deal. Just do it and smile and move on to the next toilet. Then maybe the morning after Mother's Day won't be so bad for any of us.
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