I do not have a legitimate reason to hate Mother's Day.
I have a lovely relationship with my mother, as well as my mother-in-law.
I am a mother to three pretty great kids, and all things considered, I have a good relationship with them.
I didn't struggle to become pregnant.
I never lost a pregnancy.
I tell my husband exactly what I want for Mother's Day, and he buys it for me. (This year....a chainsaw.)
I refuse to get up during the night with the middle child or get up in the morning with him on Mother's Day, and my husband does it.
The is nothing for me to dislike about this day.
But I loathe Mother's Day as much, if not more than, Father's Day.
I hate it because it is a day to celebrate, to sentimentalize motherhood, an experience that is, at least for me, all full of conflicted feelings.
Motherhood blows at least 70-80% of the time (sometimes 99.9% of the time if it is a really bad day or week).
And yet, I wouldn't change it at all.
How f*cked up is that?
It sucks, but I wouldn't change it?????
It is a day in which, because it is a thing, I feel like I should, maybe a little bit, be worshipped. And I am, sorta, with the cards and the gifts. But I don't want to be worshipped because 1. that is ridiculous and 2. that means tomorrow, when I'm not worshipped, I'm just gonna be pissed off. I will be thinking to myself, "Yesterday you were all sweet to me and today you're screaming at me because I put the corn flakes into the pink bowl instead of the orange bowl." Mother's Day is false worship. It is worship because someone, somewhere, in some office noted the date on every calendar that is printed in the country. My family doesn't thank me because they feel honestly compelled to do so. They do it because a date on the calendar makes them feel obligated.
This is why I hated attending church as a kid. I did it because I had to, not because I wanted to. Which is a lot like motherhood. I do it because I signed up for this, even though I didn't know what I was getting into, and now I have to do it.
Celebrating Mother's Day is like saying, "Thank you mom for falling into the same trap everyone does which is thinking motherhood will be different for them. Thank you for not walking out on me when I was a complete pain in the butt. Thank you for not murdering me in my sleep and screaming at me any more than you did. Thank you for not allowing your resentment of how I stifled your life in various ways to boil over and completely eff me up as a person."
Do you see why I hate a day honoring this? For me, it brings up all kinds of weird feelings about how society thinks I should feel about motherhood and how I actually often feel about motherhood and how, in spite of all those feelings, I can't imagine my life without being a mother to these kids.
I have a lovely relationship with my mother, as well as my mother-in-law.
I am a mother to three pretty great kids, and all things considered, I have a good relationship with them.
I didn't struggle to become pregnant.
I never lost a pregnancy.
I tell my husband exactly what I want for Mother's Day, and he buys it for me. (This year....a chainsaw.)
I refuse to get up during the night with the middle child or get up in the morning with him on Mother's Day, and my husband does it.
The is nothing for me to dislike about this day.
But I loathe Mother's Day as much, if not more than, Father's Day.
I hate it because it is a day to celebrate, to sentimentalize motherhood, an experience that is, at least for me, all full of conflicted feelings.
Motherhood blows at least 70-80% of the time (sometimes 99.9% of the time if it is a really bad day or week).
And yet, I wouldn't change it at all.
How f*cked up is that?
It sucks, but I wouldn't change it?????
It is a day in which, because it is a thing, I feel like I should, maybe a little bit, be worshipped. And I am, sorta, with the cards and the gifts. But I don't want to be worshipped because 1. that is ridiculous and 2. that means tomorrow, when I'm not worshipped, I'm just gonna be pissed off. I will be thinking to myself, "Yesterday you were all sweet to me and today you're screaming at me because I put the corn flakes into the pink bowl instead of the orange bowl." Mother's Day is false worship. It is worship because someone, somewhere, in some office noted the date on every calendar that is printed in the country. My family doesn't thank me because they feel honestly compelled to do so. They do it because a date on the calendar makes them feel obligated.
This is why I hated attending church as a kid. I did it because I had to, not because I wanted to. Which is a lot like motherhood. I do it because I signed up for this, even though I didn't know what I was getting into, and now I have to do it.
Celebrating Mother's Day is like saying, "Thank you mom for falling into the same trap everyone does which is thinking motherhood will be different for them. Thank you for not walking out on me when I was a complete pain in the butt. Thank you for not murdering me in my sleep and screaming at me any more than you did. Thank you for not allowing your resentment of how I stifled your life in various ways to boil over and completely eff me up as a person."
Do you see why I hate a day honoring this? For me, it brings up all kinds of weird feelings about how society thinks I should feel about motherhood and how I actually often feel about motherhood and how, in spite of all those feelings, I can't imagine my life without being a mother to these kids.
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