WebParenTips - The Online Parenting Newsletter
                  vol.3 no.5, May, 2002 

               HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Talk about diversity! When Mother's Day was established in 1914 there
was only one kind of mother. She stayed at home with her children and
was always neatly aproned as she cheerfully and lovingly did her
housewifery and child-rearing chores.

Today, in addition to traditional mothers, we have mothers employed
full-time, mothers who work nights while their husbands work days,
mothers who work part time, mothers who work out of their homes,
adoptive mothers, single mothers, lesbian mothers, handicapped mothers
And let's not forget the millions of single fathers raising their
children as well as the millions of grandparents raising their
grandchildren.

They all deserve a salute on Mother's Day! All mothers --and all those
who raise children-- work hard. All mothers --whether they stay at home
or go to a job-- work especially hard today because of the complex,
rapidly changing world in which we raise our children.

Raising children is a 24/7, 52-weeks-a-year, no-paid- vacation job for
which we have precious little training and for which, on balance, we get
little in the way of thanks.

But there are many rewards. Cherish your Mother’s Day cards, especially
the hand-scrawled ones from your kids. Cherish their special loving
gestures no matter when it occurs. My daughter, for reasons we have both
forgotten, once handed me a paper with a pin through it that read "Good
Mommy Medal" which I still have in my possession.

There is no job on earth more important. Sad that many government
policies seem to undervalue the importance of mothers. One example: the
job of mothering is not covered by Social Security.

Let me wish every reader out there involved in raising our children a
Happy Mother's Day!

Let's work together politically to ensure that pro-child and pro-family
policies replace our archaic notions about mothering today.


Happy Parenting,
Marilyn Heins, M.D.

NOTE: There are New ParenTips on the website. See:

ParenTips


For comments, suggestions or requests for future topics
please write: 
info@parentkidsright.com


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Dr. Marilyn Heins is a Tucson pediatrician, parenting
columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, author of the book,
ParenTips, as well as a mother, stepmother and grandmother.

She is available for workshops and lectures to groups of
parents, teachers, and grandparents. See:

Dr. Heins' Lectures
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=


Subscribe to WebParenTips


STOP receiving WebParenTips

More parenting information can be found in

Dr. Heins' book, ParenTips