I am so, so grateful that I had my mother as MY mother.
The more I experience the parenting side of the child-parent relationship, the more I appreciate my mother. I remember back to the many, many childhood memories of my maternal mentor. There was no instance when my mother put her own interests above the long term interests of her children.
When my children were toddlers, they frequently asked one of the most common questions of their contemporaries; “Why?” As I observed other parents eventually respond to their children with, “Because I said so” and “Stop asking so many questions”, I would smile as I remembered my mother’s responses of, “Good question”, and “Never stop asking questions”.
When other parents would say, “Don’t fall”,
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- My mother would say, “Be careful.”
When other parents would say, “What if you fail?”,
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- My mother would say, “You can do it!”
When other parents would ask, “What are you watching?”,
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- My mother would ask, “What are you reading?”
When other parents would ask, “What do you want now?”,
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- My mother would ask, “How can I help?”
Some people say that the child selects their parents. I imagine many people may not easily ingest that concept. I am not an expert on that subject but I can sincerely say, in retrospect, if I could pick anyone to be my mother, I would certainly still select my mother.
My mother taught us to ask:
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
My mother answered:
We
Are
Here
Now
Love
Thank you, Mother. I love you. I always will.
