Mother’s Day

For many families around the world and throughout history, it has traditionally been the mother who has the often thankless job of keeping the family and household running.

Starting with lending their bodies to house babies before they are even born, mothers have a tendency to give up a lot for their families and are rarely given the accolades they deserve.

So, Mother’s Day is the perfect opportunity each year to remind Mom how much she is loved, appreciated and noticed. (Of course, she will certainly be happy to be appreciated at other times of year as well!)

So, get ready to learn about and celebrate Mother’s Day!

How to Celebrate Mother’s Day

Mom really deserves some accolades and love on this day! Mother’s Day can be observed and celebrated in a variety of ways, for people who have mothers, those who are mothers, or just those who are looking for a reason to celebrate!

Take a look at some of these ideas for celebrating the day:

Show Appreciation to a Mom

One of the best things about Mother’s Day is that it is a reminder to let a mom, mother, mum or mommy know how much she is loved and cared for!

This can be done through a simple phone call, text message, card or letter.

And it doesn’t have to be limited to a person’s own mom either. This is a great day to let any woman–mom, grandma, aunt or friend–know that she’s had a positive impact on the world around her.

Get Outside with Mom

Because Mother’s Day takes place in late spring, it’s an excellent time to get outdoors and enjoy the beautiful weather!

Maybe this means taking a simple walk in the park with Mom, or going on a hike in the mountains. Or it could mean heading to the garden store to pick up some flowers, plants or trees that can then be planted in the garden or placed in containers on the patio!

Watch a Mother-Daughter or Mother-Son Movie

Spend some quality time with Mom by hunkering down with a feel-good film around the theme of a mother’s relationship with her daughter or son. Go ahead and pop some popcorn and then try out one of these movie titles to get started:

• Because I Said So (2007). Starring Mandy Moore, Diane Keaton and Lauren Graham, this film features an over-zealous mother who interferes in her daughter’s love life.
• The Blind Side (2009). Based on a true story, this movie starring Sandra Bullock and Quinton Aaron shows the way that a woman who was not his birth mother can still care and love a young man.
• Mama Mia! (2008). This fun, musical comedy based on a Broadway show stars Meryl Streep and Amanda Seyfried and features the relationship between a single mother and her daughter searching for her father before getting married.
• Little Man Tate (1991). A family drama starring Jodie Foster, Little Man Tate features the story of a working-class mom and her seven-year-old son who is a genius.

Throw a Party for Mother’s Day

If the mom who is being celebrated loves to be surrounded by the people she loves, then this is a great time to have a little family get-together to celebrate mom.

Choose a theme that would speak to Mom, whether it’s a garden tea party, a costume party, a board games party, or a rave with a disco ball.

Whatever the chosen theme, all it takes is some clever decorations, tasty food that she would enjoy (homemade or catered in), her favorite music, and perhaps some entertainment that would bring her delight. Whatever is chosen, be sure to put the people she loves most on the guest list!

Create a Playlist for Mother’s Day

What better way to show a mother how much she is loved than to make her a playlist of her own? Spotify, Pandora or even an old-fashioned mix tape filled with tunes that she’ll enjoy throughout the year.

Here are a few songs suggestions to get started on that playlist for Mom:

• Turn to You (Mother’s Day Dedication) by Justin Bieber (2012). Released two days before Mother’s Day, this one is Justin’s song for his own mom.
• Decatur, or, Round of Applause for your Stepmother!by Sufjan Stephens (2005). From his album called Illinois, this song is a tribute to the often difficult job that it is to be a stepmother.
• The Wishby Bruce Springsteen (1987). This song by ‘the Boss’ tells the story of the way that his mother sacrificed to buy him a cheap guitar when he was a little boy.
• Nobody Loves Me But My Motherby BB King(1971). Beginning as just a short fragment that opened up for an album, this song eventually grew into a rather famous one.

Share Memories About Mom

Those who have lost a mother might still want to observe the holiday by taking flowers to her grave, enjoying some of her favorite pastimes, looking through old photos and simply sharing the memory of her with family members.

History of Mother’s Day

Though the celebration of mothers can be traced back to Ancient Greece, part of the tradition came about in the United Kingdom and Europe as a celebration during Lent, called “Mothering Sunday”.

While the tradition here was more about churchgoers visiting with their “mother” church on this day, it eventually morphed into something more like Mother’s Day, except it usually happens in March.

The modern version of Mother’s Day in May was started in the United States in the early 1900s. The original impetus behind the day was the work of Anna Jarvis, who had the idea of a day for honoring mothers after her own mother died in 1905.

The first day was organized in 1907 as a worship gathering at an Episcopal church in West Virginia. Later, Jarvis becomes a bit upset by the commercialization of the holiday.

By 1914, the day was made official when US President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure declaring Mother’s Day to be celebrated on the second Sunday in the month of May.

The day has gained popularity throughout North America as well as other parts of the world, although it is not always celebrated in the month of May.

Facts About Mother’s Day

Matrescence: The Overlooked Transition Into Motherhood

Anthropologists and psychologists use the term “matrescence” to describe the long, gradual transition into motherhood, comparing it to adolescence because it involves sweeping hormonal, neurological, social, and identity changes that can last for years after birth.

Researchers have found that pregnancy and early parenting reshape brain regions involved in empathy, emotion regulation, and threat detection, which may help mothers respond more sensitively to their infants but can also make them more vulnerable to stress and mood disorders. 

Pregnancy Permanently Alters a Mother’s Brain

Neuroimaging studies show that first-time pregnancy is associated with long‑lasting reductions in gray matter volume in specific brain areas related to social cognition, such as the prefrontal and temporal cortices, and these changes are still visible at least two years after birth.

Rather than indicating damage, scientists believe this pruning may make the brain more efficient at understanding and responding to an infant’s needs, and the degree of change has been linked to how strongly a mother bonds with her baby.  

Mothers Perform the Majority of Unpaid Care Work Globally 

Across countries and income levels, women, particularly mothers, carry out the bulk of unpaid care work, including childrearing, cooking, and cleaning, with time-use surveys compiled by the International Labour

Organization showing that women perform more than three‑quarters of all unpaid care hours worldwide.

In some regions, women do over four times as much unpaid care as men, which limits mothers’ access to paid employment, reduces lifetime earnings, and contributes significantly to gender gaps in pensions and economic security later in life.  

Motherhood and the “Second Shift” in Paid and Unpaid Work

Sociological research on dual‑earner families has documented a “second shift” in which mothers who work for pay often return home to a disproportionate share of housework and childcare.

Even as women’s labor force participation has risen, national surveys in the United States and Europe show that mothers continue to spend more time than fathers on routine, time‑sensitive tasks such as bathing children, preparing meals, and managing schedules, a pattern that persists even among couples who say they value equality.  

Maternal Mortality Highlights Global Health Inequities

Maternal mortality, defined as a woman’s death during pregnancy, childbirth, or shortly afterward, has fallen worldwide since 2000 but remains strikingly unequal, with about 70 percent of maternal deaths occurring in sub‑Saharan Africa according to the World Health Organization.

Most of these deaths are considered preventable with timely access to quality health care, skilled birth attendants, contraception, and emergency obstetric services, illustrating how a mother’s chances of surviving pregnancy often depend more on where she lives than on medical knowledge alone.  

The “Motherhood Penalty” in Earnings and Employment

Economists have identified a “motherhood penalty” in many labor markets, where women’s wages and promotion prospects decline after having children, even when their qualifications and job performance are similar to those of men or women without children.

Studies from the United States and several European countries find that mothers are often perceived as less committed or less competent employees, while fathers may actually receive a small “fatherhood bonus,” reflecting how gendered expectations around caregiving continue to shape economic outcomes.

Adoptive and Non-Biological Mothers Often Show Similar Caregiving Biology

Research on adoptive mothers and nonbiological caregivers has found that many of the hormonal and neural signatures associated with caregiving can emerge through close, repeated interaction with a baby rather than pregnancy alone.

For example, studies show that adoptive mothers can have elevated levels of oxytocin, a hormone linked to bonding, and that caregiving fathers and non‑gestational mothers in same‑sex couples can develop brain activation patterns similar to those of biological mothers, underscoring that maternal behavior is shaped by experience as well as biology.