Inside: With Mother’s Day coming up, what to get mom for Mother’s Day is on everyone’s mind, but the Mother’s Day gift moms of littles really want (and so desperately) need can’t be bought at a store. And the nature of the holiday itself makes us feel too guilty to even ask for it.
As a blogger, I use Pinterest all the time to promote my blog posts and share good stuff with my readers there, and what do I see this time of year?
- Mother’s Day Gift Guides
- Mother’s Day Brunch Ideas
- Mother’s Day Crafts for Kids
What’s so terribly ironic about these posts is that us moms will be executing most of this Mother’s Day stuff ourselves!
WE are the ones searching for it.
WE are the ones reading it.
WE are the ones budgeting for it (so very ironic).
WE are the ones sending gift guides in our hubby’s direction.
WE are probably the ones putting together the brunch for a holiday that celebrates US.
Mother’s Day: the one holiday that is supposed to be all about moms, but ironically, it somehow adds pressure to moms, especially when you still have little ones in your crew.
Related: 40 Gifts for Minimalist Moms That Won’t Cause Anxiety
The Mother’s Day Gift Moms of Littles Really Want
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Let’s start with the fact that Mother’s Day is a bit of a clutter nightmare.
Your sweet kiddos get excited as Mother’s Day approaches, crafting their little gifts or buying yet another dollar store mug with Daddy’s dollars. These cannot be given away because kids remember EVERY SINGLE MUG they ever bought you.
They eagerly anticipate you opening their gifts as soon as you get up on Mother’s Day morning. Let’s be real, they probably woke you up (no sleeping in on Mother’s Day for moms of littles!).
And as much as I love my kids gift-giving spirit, a lot of the gifts (after they are admired and the thank-you’s said and the hugs given) are quite honestly going in the “Mom’s box of things the kids gave her that she has to keep” box.
I’m a minimalist mom, and so many of those crafts, little trinkets, and dollar store gifts are….it makes me wince to say it: clutter. As moms, we are already so stressed out by clutter, and the one holiday about us unfortunately adds to that stress.
While I love coffee mugs, I had to quietly tell my husband at the end of Mother’s Day last year: no more mugs!
Receiving gifts graciously (even unwanted ones). I’m working on it.
I love my kids! I do. I love them so, so much.
That’s why Mother’s Day is such a strange holiday.
It’s about moms, yes, but it’s also all about the little people who made you a mom in the first place.
Which is why it’s super awkward to ask for the one Mother’s Day gift moms of littles need most.
Related: Unwanted Gifts – How to Be Sensitive, but Not Keep Gifts You Don’t Want
The Mother’s Day Gift Moms of Littles So Desperately Need
Those little people? The ones who made us moms? We love them SO much, but they are a LOT of work.
Rewarding work. But still work: very, very exhausting work.
So what I really want for Mother’s Day, and what I am almost one hundred percent certain every mom of littles also wants, is something that feels the opposite of what this holiday is supposed to be about.
It feels so anti-Mother’s Day to even ask for it.
But on behalf of my fellow moms of little ones, I’m going to tell you the one thing we so desperately need, but probably feel too guilty to ask for:
The Mother’s Day gift we all want is just one day off. One. An entire night and day to ourselves.
We want to go somewhere we can get a full night’s sleep.
We want a room where someone else cleans up after us, for a change.
We want to drink a hot cup of coffee and have it actually be hot.
We want to pee alone (really, it’s not too much to ask, is it?).
We want to order what we want at a restaurant, though sometimes it’s hard to remember what you want because you have spent so long cooking what everyone else wants (and will actually eat).
We want to read an entire book cover to cover because we can’t put it down, and we can do it entirely guilt-free.
We want to shower for longer than two minutes (because that’s how long it takes the toddler to do ALL THE CRAZY THINGS).
We want to just sit and think full, complete, and uninterrupted thoughts.
We want to have time to think about how we’re doing. We spend so much time thinking about how everyone else is doing.
We want to go away and not get called an hour later with a broadcast that the baby needs to nurse (right after we started to relax).
The list could go on and on.
Related: Christmas Present Ideas for Moms That Support Small Business
The One Mother’s Day Gift You Need? Please: Ask.
As moms, we give of ourselves so much. We think about others day in and day out: what they need, what they want, how we can help them.
We give and give and give, so rarely asking for anything in return.
We give so much that we hesitate to ask for the one Mother’s Day gift that will probably make the most difference, that will make us better moms.
So as I write this, I am trying to work up the courage to ask for the best Mother’s Day gift anyone could give me. It might need to be scheduled later on this year, after the youngest is a little older, but I so desperately need it.
And if you’re reading this, mom of littles, I know you need it, too.
Maybe the best and bravest thing you can do this Mother’s Day is not hand your husband another gift list, but to hand him a single sheet of paper with just one thing on it.
I know we’ll be better moms because of it.
P.S. But if they have to get me a physical gift, I’ll take this Starbucks coffee mug that I don’t have yet, please. Even minimalist moms have their guilty pleasures.
Yes yes and yes!!! LOVE THIS!!
I messaged this link to my husband ???
Awesome!