Mother's Day Guilt | Teen Ink

Mother's Day Guilt

February 29, 2012
By ndafonte0618 SILVER, Milford, Massachusetts
ndafonte0618 SILVER, Milford, Massachusetts
6 articles 0 photos 0 comments

Mother’s Day should be used to celebrate and honor all of the mothers in our lives. Instead, it is a day that is utilized to release the guilt we feel for how poorly we treat our mothers. In our society, mothers do not get nearly the amount of appreciation that they deserve. On Mother’s Day, our society tries to treat mothers exceptionally well for that one day. They should be given great admiration on a daily basis.

My grandmother often told me that mothers are not treated the way they should be. I always heard what she said, but I seldom listened. It finally occurred to me one day that what she said was true. Mothers break their backs by attempting to please everybody. In return, they receive very little credit and gratitude. But, on Mother’s Day, they are given what they deserve. On the following day, we all treat our mothers inadequately once again.

The way Mother’s Day is used can be compared to the Jewish Day of Atonement. In Judaism, the Jews spend one day a year repenting for all of the sins they have committed. Then, they proceed to carry on the rest of the year committing sins all over again. It seems as if they feel that by apologizing, they have a clean slate. Then, since they are so holy and pure, it is okay to sin because they were remorseful on the Day of Atonement. In a similar fashion, our mothers are treated with respect and care on Mother’s Day and then brutalized immediately after the day is over. The Jewish Day of Atonement and Mother’s Day are both used as scapegoats for the wrongdoings we carry out on all other days of the year.

The daily schedule of a mother entails a vast amount of activities. They do many things that are not obligatory, but they feel it is necessary. They usually cook food for their entire family, clean their home, wash and fold laundry, and take care of anything else that is in disorder. In addition to all of that, some mothers even try obtain a profession! We do not understand how difficult it is to manage all of these tasks. They also have to take care of themselves and maintain physical and mental health. With all of these commitments, it is a mystery to how a mother can complete any day.

The proper way to celebrate Mother’s Day would be to do something superfluous for our mothers. For example, we could make breakfast or give flowers. This is not something that would normally be given to our mothers, but they would adore the fact that we went out of our way to do it for them. Doing chores and assisting our mothers would make life a lot easier for them. But, it should be done all the time. Other than giving them something extra, our mothers should be treated with great thankfulness everyday.

Mothers all over the world work extremely hard to please us. In return, we pay them very little reverence. Mother’s Day is taken advantage of in order to make us feel as if we treat our mothers fairly. We give them more devotion on this day than any other day so that we do not feel guilty. Although, we should feel very guilty for the way we typically treat them. We should praise motherhood on Mother’s Day, rather than merely showing deference towards our mothers.


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