Why We Celebrate Mother’s Day

President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed May 9, 1914, as the first Mother’s Day.  The President encouraged all Americans to thank mothers across the country for their loving sacrifice. Mother’s Day wasn’t Woodrow Wilson’s idea.  The first celebration was held in 1908 thanks to Anna Jarvis who was not a mother. Anna Jarvis later railed against the commercialization of Mother’s Day but was unable to stop the trend toward gifts and guilt.

You see, her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis,  organized “Mother’s Friendship Event” in the late 1800s to raise awareness the lousy sanitation systems and high infant mortality rates of that time.  Reeves Jarvis was joined by other powerful women of that era including Julia Ward Howe, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Elizabeth Smith founders of the American Women Suffrage Association. 

Above the titles of wife and mother, which, although dear, are transitory and accidental, there is the title human being, which precedes and out-ranks every other.

Mary Livermore

Care Can’t Wait Movement

Age and gender are less important on mother’s day instead, it is the willingness to protect and nurture vulnerable people that distinguishes those we honor this day.  Our twenty-first century lives are complicated and changing at a faster pace than any other time in human history.  Our families are changing as well.  How or who defines what constitutes of “family” today?  Is it two parent families, single-parent families, blended families, multigenerational families, and families of choice are just a few new family structures.

Care is at the center of our families, communities, and economy

White House Event Promoting Care

Consider the recent White House event called the Care Can’t Wait Summit.  The organization’s April 18^th press release reads:

“A comprehensive care infrastructure is not only critical to our economic resilience but is also key to building a sustainable future where everyone can thrive. Investing in all aspects of the care economy — childcare, paid leave, home- and community-based services, and direct care work — is what people across the country need and deserve. Today’s announcement is an important step in embedding care in all aspects of federal policymaking. The Care Can’t Wait Coalition, care advocates, and caregivers look forward to continuing to work with the Biden Administration and Congress to make sure that care is accessible, affordable, and attainable for everyone in the U.S.”

Mother’s Day Gift For All

This year you have the opportunity to add your voice to the rally cry.  I encourage you to take a moment and write to your legislators asking for their support the American Jobs plan which includes four hundred billion dollars for home and community-based services the build the strong national care infrastructure that the nation lacks today.

No doubt that the current national debt talks do complicate this request for new spending, but the lack of social supports are harming families and other vulnerable people.  This investment in basic social services has the potential to dramatically reduce the high cost for healthcare, which is consuming a large portion of the national budget.  Proactive, locally accessible, and low-cost community-based care is infrastructure we need. Send your message of support to congress by clicking this button.