First, let’s talk a little about the origin of this day because learning new things is fun!
England in the 1600’s
“Mothering Sunday” was started on the fourth Sunday of Lent, it was an annual opportunity for Christians to visit their hometown church. Over time, it morphed into a day that children working afar as domestic servants came back home to spend time with their mothers and family.
Time is the best gift of all, the most precious of things we have to offer.
Late 1800’s
Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis worked hard to better the lives of many women, she raised money to aid in improving health and sanitary conditions in many homes. She was a social activist who spoke out and created need based change in her community.
Throughout all of this she birthed 12 children with only 8 reaching adulthood, but this never held her back. She continued her work in the community even after she suffered the loss of 4 children to disease. Some might say this may have pushed her onward.
1900’s
Ann Marie died on the second Sunday of May in 1905. After she passed away, her daughter Anna made it her mission to make Mother’s Day a holiday — not only to honor her mother, but all mothers.
1907
Anna held a celebration to honor her mother giving out white carnations which become a symbol of the holiday. Florists jumped on this opportunity and raised the price of the inexpensive carnation to a preposterous amount. Anna soon came to resent that this simple holiday meant to honor mothers and spend time with them, was being exploited by companies trying to profit from it.
Now
Everywhere you look companies advertise their products as the perfect gift for mom hoping to increase their revenue. While a lot of these are wonderful and thoughtful gifts maybe we can use this quarantine to go back to the simple roots of why Mother’s Day was started.
It was meant to be a celebration of the home and all the sacrifices that mothers have made for their young.
Simple and sweet
Time is the most valuable gift you can offer. Call your mom, have a ZOOM meeting with her, or write her a handwritten note. It’s the simple things in life that mean so much.
If you are a Dad reading this trying to figure out how to make this day special with stores being closed here are few simple ideas.
- Send the kids out to pick dandelions or wildflowers to create a cute bouquet.
- Have the kids draw some pictures.
- Encourage them to write a simple note or create a Mother’s Day sign.
- Have her favorite coffee or tea hot and ready.
- Make her breakfast.
- Take a group photo to capture this moment.
- Do something with her that she loves to do.
The simple things in life are the ones we carry with us.
