| A day out with Mom is one way to celebrate how much she means to you. |
It is often said that it’s difficult to measure the immense love a mother has for her children. Until a woman becomes a mother herself, it’s challenging to convey just how the heart expands in order to comfort and love the child that she helped create.
With all that Mom does day in, day out and week after week, it seems that only one day dedicated to thanking her for all the tears she’s dried, smiles she’s shared, and sniffles she’s sat through just isn’t enough. Still, that’s what families across the country do once a year.
Just because Mother’s Day comes and goes rather quickly, the gifts and gestures offered to Mom can last much longer. Why not try some of these ideas?
•Help others in need: Explain to Mom how her help throughout the years has inspired you to help others less fortunate. Give her a token of your thanks, but say that you’re also donating time or money in her name for mothers who aren’t as lucky as she. Perhaps there’s a battered women’s shelter or a teenage pregnancy support center. Maybe there are mothers who are homeless. There may even be someone right in your neighborhood who can use a helping hand.
•Memory jar. Create a memory jar that’s filled with memories that you’ve had with your mother, such as the time she dressed up with you for Halloween; when you gave her the chicken pox; when she would “free” you from your room after punishments. Write these recollections on slips of paper and place them into the jar or other container. You can decorate the jar and print the sentiments on decorative card stock, depending upon how elaborate you want to make it. Mom can pull out a slip of paper every day and be treated to wonderful memories.
•Video commentary. Take out the video camera and interview children in the family of all ages. Ask them what they love and cherish most about their mother. The video can include tips of advice, passed-down recipes and other family traditions. Watch the video on Mother’s Day as a family. Or Mom can pop it in anytime she needs a pick-me-up.
•Photo scrapbook. Gather loose pictures that you’ve taken through the years. Compile a scrapbook album of your favorite moments.
•Don’t forget new moms. Send flowers or a gift to a new mother in the family. It’ll mean a considerable amount to her, even if you aren’t her child.
•Crafts for young kids. Handcrafted gifts are par for the course with young children. A clever idea is for Dad or an older sibling to help a young child trace his or her hands on a piece of construction paper. Cut out the hands and poke a hole in each paper hand. Attach a long length of string to each hand, representing the outstretched arms of the child. Enclose the hands with a note indicating that these hands show that: “I Love You This Much, Mom.”
There are many other ideas for telling Mom how special she is. Naturally, store-bought gifts, child-made breakfast or dinner, a meal out at a restaurant, or even a mother-child day planned are wonderful suggestions.