What You Deserve on Mother’s Day

A gift from my 16-month-old son

I wanted to write a quick post about what you deserve on Mother’s Day.

This post is truly a reminder to myself. However, I have a difficult time saying what I deserve if I write it directly to me.

So, I’m writing it to you.

Here is everything you deserve today:

1. A nap

A 20-minute nap is so well-deserved. Make it a good one – put on the white noise machine, wear an eye mask, get into pjs. You’ve earned it.

2. A mental break

You deserve a break from the endless mental tasks today. The planning, the prepping, the worrying… Take a break from the immense cognitive effort you’ve exerted ever since becoming a mom.

3. A treat

I know you’re trying to limit single-use plastics and buy frozen fruit because it’s cheaper and eat less saturated fat and read instead of binge a whole season of Love is Blind and put sunscreen on every two hours. I know.

But today, you deserve a treat.

You deserve the latte, the fresh raspberries, the Netflix marathon.

You treat your son. Today, you can treat yourself.

4. Compassion

You strive to be compassionate towards your family, friends, coworkers, patients, and that exceedingly slow bicyclist taking up the entire road instead of using the bike lane.

This is a reminder that you deserve compassion as well. From others, and most importantly, from yourself.

Yes, it did suck when you made your son a nice meal this morning and he windshield-wipered it all over the floor.

Yes, it is hard to juggle your many roles and responsibilities all the time.

Yes, life can sometimes be extremely tough.

I get it.

5. To ask for help

You’re allowed to ask for what you need help with today. And also every other day, but let’s start one day at a time.

You get to ask for help with chores and decisions, and you deserve to ask for exactly what you need.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you beautiful mamas out there.

Stay well friends,

Dr. Kuhnow