Don’t Shower Me In Gift$ For Mothers Day

I’ve read a lot of stuff over the past week about great Mother’s Day gift ideas. From a variety of price points to appeal to a wide variety of mom’s, there sure isn’t a shortage of things women like. If I could make a living off of shopping year round then I wouldn’t skip a beat to take it on. Heck, I told my husband the other day that it would only take me about 5 minutes to spend $400 – all in one store. I could probably spend $1000 in 10 minutes. Year round I window shop, browse online, always comparing one item to the next looking for the best deal. So when Mother’s Day comes around I could have a list 10 miles long of all the things I would like, easy.

But when did Mother’s Day turn in to Christmas? Christmas is already heavily commercialized, as is Valentines Day and every other holiday where businesses can convince you that you should spend money to show the people you love how much you love them – because to them love has a monetary value.

Don’t misinterpret what I’m saying, I’m not a hypocrite – I love getting gifts and buying stuff, I am a woman after all. But what we’re showing companies is how easily we’ll buy into their ideas and their bottom line.

I don’t know about you but I hate commercials, driving down the interstate and seeing billboards everywhere, listening to the radio only to be bombarded by advertisements instead of music – isn’t it all a bit much? After following last nights Manny and Floyd fight, it dawned on me…there was no real winner except the business that advertised during the fight; it was like watching a really long commercial. But I digress.

Now, my family isn’t poor and we’re not wealthy, we’re somewhere in the middle class. We can afford the things we need and some of the things we like but we don’t jump at every opportunity that knocks on our door to shower each other with gifts. Birthday’s aren’t a big celebration and major holidays are just with the three of us. But there is no shortage of ways to show each other, or tell each other, how much we value one another.

Did you know that Mother’s Day shares the same holiday with Clean Your Room Day? I don’t think that’s a coincidence either. So here are some ways you can show your mothers, biological-step-adopted- and everything in between, how much they matter.

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1. Be Quiet When You Wake Up

My daughter is 9 and she hasn’t gotten any quieter in the morning from when she was 5. When she wakes up the whole world is going to notice. I don’t know about you but I value every minute of sleep I can get. My daughter does know, however, that the sooner she gets ready for the day, the sooner she gets her tablet. (Gasp!) So she is quick about either getting ready and being loud or “forgetting” to get ready and just going straight for the tablet. Either way there is noise involved.

2. (Surprise, Surprise) Clean Your Room

Heck, you could even clean mom’s room because the odds are while she was so busy keeping the rest of the house clean she didn’t have time to get to her own room that day.

I frequently remind my daughter to tidy up, though it’s not always necessary because she isn’t that messy of a kid, and hope that she learns one day that her room is a reflection of her personality – and a haven – let it show the best side of you. Why would you want to relax in a pile of dirty clothes and dust piled up on the clutter?

3. Don’t whine about the days activities (or lack there of)

There is no shortage of things to do in our house and there should also be no reason why anyone should say they’re bored. We’re the kind of people that enjoy staying in and not running about town. Pop in a DVD, watch some Netflix, play outside in the yard – pretty easy to please. But my kid is like any normal kid, she likes jumping in the car and going on adventures – her need for excitement is unquenchable. It may seem like I’m about to ask for a lot but…can we just do nothing today, stay in our pj’s and eat crap food? Don’t cook me a special breakfast, don’t plan a fancy dinner. Thanks.

4. Remember Your Manners

Why Good Manners Are Good for Your Kids.

• Good manners impress people. Your children will get positive attention and respect. Politeness is a sign of strength not weakness.

• Good manners build self-esteem. When you respect others you respect yourself and that makes a person more confident.

• Good manners are attractive. Other parents and adults prefer kids who are polite and so do school teachers.
• Good manners make others feel good. We all benefit when the people around us are more caring, respectful and compassionate to each other.

My daughter has a ton of friends in the neighborhood and I watch over them as they play, so I’ve become very familiar with each of them and consider myself almost a second mom to each of them. If you are in a similar situation you would understand that it’s easy to spot a kid with manners. I’m not talking about the little quarrels kids get it, naturally. But just their overall attitude. The kids with the bad manners don’t come around that often, nor will I go out of my way to get my daughter to play with them – and this isn’t about just me.  There’s nothing fun about it for anyone to have to associate with another kid who is just plain rude and you probably wouldn’t be okay with me lecturing your kid about manners.

For my daughter, I would just hope that she would remember her manners – when I’m looking and when I’m not.  Not just because it makes me happy but because it’s setting her up for success and building her confidence.  Having manners and being a pushover are not the same thing.

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We all have different ways of showing one another how much we care. Not just because it’s a holiday – but because family matters, family is important. When you take the time to show one another it reinforces that invisible bond.

How will you be showing your love for you mom this Mothers Day?

Xoxo,

Megan