Always In Her Mind

A few days before Mother's Day, I found two hand-drawn cards from the Dolly.

I also received little craft flowers she made from school and additional ones that she made at home. She did not wait till Mother's Day to present them to me. She did not feel that I deserved only one. In fact, I had about 4 or 5 on separate days until I had to hint to her to make something else.

What a sweet little kid! Such a heartwarming thought to know that I am always in her mind!

Other than that, this Mother's Day was like any other day.

No one else in the family said anything special or different to me or did anything to show their appreciation for me as their mum.

I don't think for a second that it was because I am a lousy mum or that I have failed as a mum and hence did not deserve any Mother's day celebration.

But it did make me realise that there is one area that I need to work harder on - to teach my boys how to be grateful and show appreciation.

To be fair to them, I don't think the boys knew in advance the date of the Mother's Day.

Now that they are in Upper Primary, the school teachers do not remind them or suggest they make cards or little crafts for mum, unlike the times when they were in kindergartens and lower Primary. The fact that my boys do not watch any TV or listen to radio programmes, they are not exposed to commercials either. They rarely enter malls or retail outlets, hence again, they are unlikely to be exposed to any advertisements that suggest Mother's Day is round the corner.

Unless, of course, someone in the household (in our case, there is only one other adult) reminded them of the date and nudged them into action to show appreciation for mum. Apparently, no one did. Hmmph!

They were oblivious that their sister was busying working on multiple Mother's Day gifts. They also did not connect the dots when the entire extended family had a meal one week earlier to celebrate my mum's birthday and Mother's Day.

It is not the receiving of gifts that I am after. In fact, I don't want them to ever spend a cent of their savings buying any gifts for me. It is the thought that counts. To know that they take the effort and time to think of what to say or do or make for me and to learn to show appreciation and understand the importance and reasons of showing gratitude.

But in this department, I think we have failed miserably. Sigh. Gotta try harder!