In celebration of Mothers Day, coming this Sunday, we wanted to share this opportunity to reflect on that special someone who has cared for you in your life. Or to take the time to feel great about the care you are providing for someone else. Johnson & Johnson (J&J) has launched a fun way for us all to do that…it’s called For All You Love.
For All You Love is a celebration of the selfless and unconditional caring of caregivers, including moms, and all the ways they care for those they love, by J&J. You can watch the introductory ad For All You Love below… it’s very sweet.
As part of their commitment to the health and well-being of moms and kids worldwide, J&J is also planning to donate $25K this Mother’s Day to Save the Children® too. So, this was definitely something we thought it would be fun to be a part of!
To participate, I wanted to share my own personal tribute to my mother. We would love to also hear your personal tributes, in the comments section, so feel free to share.
In addition JOHNSON’S® Baby has established JOHNSON’S® Baby CARES Care Cards. This is an exciting opportunity to not only share positive messages of encouragement with other moms across the country, but you will also be supporting Save the Children®. Facebook at . For every card sent, shared or liked, JOHNSON’S® Baby will donate $1.00 to Save the Children® (up to $150,000) to benefit early childhood education programs that foster education and reassurance for new moms!!!
Reflections of my mom – Thank you mom for making mistakes!
Each Mothers Day I love to do two things: 1 – reflect on some of the best lessons my mother taught me and, 2- consider how I can use those lessons to be a better mother to my kids. This year I am reflecting on her mistakes. And some of the big ones too!
My mom was a good mom. Not in that “spending lots of time with my kids”, and “baking everything from scratch” kind of way that Pinterest has a sneaky way of making us feel equals ‘great motherhood”. But in that “she tried her hardest” kind of way. Really, what other way is there? My mom made lots of mistakes, and she allowed us to make many of our own too. But she always loved us. She never stopped trying. And did I say she was a great mom, not just in spite of her mistakes, but also because of them.
So, why would I spend a day of tribute to her reflecting on her mistakes – and the big ones at that? Simply put, because I am a mother now too. It gives me great comfort in raising my own kids to know that my mother raised three of us successfully. Yes, through all of her imperfections and all of our imperfections, we made it…together.
Trust me, there are plenty of wonderful and amazing stories I can tell you about my mom. She was a pioneer in many senses, and through very difficult circumstances. She made a way, when sometimes it seemed like there was no path to carve out. She provided for us without a highschool education, let alone a college one. She worked in an almost all male workforce, when there were no sexual harassment laws on the books. She live through a very abusive marriage, when there were no laws to protect her. She did it all with strength, dignity and grace. And without bitterness. I think that part is worth repeating. She did it without bitterness.
My mom taught me that gossip was an ugly thing, to tell the truth even if it gets you in trouble, to respect others and give generously (even when you don’t have it). She taught me to forgive, and she was always the first one to reach out to mend a broken fence (and still is). But she also made many mistakes, as you can imagine, trying to deal with all of the pressures she was under. I don’t see any reason to get into what the mistakes were, as we all have our own we can just fill in the blank with.
The point is this: a mothers guilt is a strong emotion. It can keep us up at night. It can cause us to coddle our children, or live under tremendous stress, and on and on. I don’t know a mother alive who has not felt that guilt. So this mothers day I plan to thank my mother for teaching me that my children are more resilient then I give them credit for. That God willing, they too will laugh at the blunders I make with them, the way we all sit around and laugh at some of the things my mom did. That like I do with my mom, they will remember more of the good then the mistakes. That the mistakes will be an opportunity for us all to grow and learn and reconcile with each other. That my mistakes (and how I handle them) will be a guide for my children in how to ask for forgiveness when needed, and how to extend it to those who need it from me. There are so many wonderful lessons I learned, not just from my moms mistakes, but how she tried to correct them afterwords. To learn from them and to grow through them. We live in an imperfect world. I am an imperfect mom. My kids are not perfect either. And I love that about them. I love that about my mom. And I am grateful to have those in my life who can love me through my mistakes.
If there was one gift I could give my mom this Mothers Day, that money just cannot buy, it would be to free her from that dang old mothers guilt. Mom – you were a good mother. Your mistakes and how you handled them have been one of the best life lessons for me. Thank you for making mistakes and showing me how to work through them.
Wishing all of you mothers and caregivers out there a very special Mothers Day!
And don’t forget to share your own tribute, here in the comments, as well as at JOHNSON’S® Baby CARES Care Cards (and you will be supporting Save the Children too!).
Disclosure: This post is sponsored by J&J, but all opinions and thoughts presented here are my own.
