You and I have something in common. We were once babies and we each had a mother.
Having a baby is hard work. Looking after a baby once you’ve had it is even harder. I have 5 children and my wife has worked very hard looking after them. I wish I could say the same about myself. Dirty nappies, sleepless nights, never ending washing, not to mention the emotional wear and tear. Love is being committed to being committed, but love always exacts a price.
I have some good news for you. You have a chance to thank your mother on this Mother’s Day. Millions of Australians will wake up on Sunday to thank their mothers for being committed to being committed to them.
We at Dads4Kids salute the mothers of Australia and ask the fathers of Australia to appreciate their own mum and also the mother of their children.
Dads4kids in the past has come under fire for running a campaign to support and honour mothers, (I suppose in much the same way as when our Dads4Kids TV ads are aired) but we take heart from the words of George Orwell, “We have now sunk to a depth at which re-statement of the obvious is now the duty of intelligent men.”
Motherhood has also been demeaned quite heavily over the last few decades. Ann Crittenden, an economics reporter for the New York Times, became a mother later in life and wrote a book about her experiences, ‘The Price of Motherhood: Why the Most Important Job in the World is Still the Least Valued’
Ann’s words are powerful:
There’s a certain lack of respect or regard for mothers’ work as highly skilled, incredibly valuable labor. At the heart of it is a failure to understand that this is really the central work of the modern economy, which is based on highly skilled, creative, entrepreneurial people. Economists used to consider land, labor, and capital to be the three main inputs into economic wealth. Now they are saying that two-thirds of national wealth is actually created by ‘human capital’, which are the skills, abilities, and creative entrepreneurship of people.
If the child development research is true, then human development begins on day one. And the most important person forming these skills and capabilities is the person raising this child directly, most often the mother. We have completely ignored this central role that mothers play. So it’s not a stretch to say that mothers are the most important producers in the economy. And if so, we need to put much more respect and real value on the work. It’s the only job I know of where you have to pay to do it, you don’t get paid to do it. You pay a price economically to create an enormous amount of economic values, and I think that’s wrong.
Dr Peter Cook, in ‘Mothering Denied – How our culture harms women, infants and society’ points out that where mothers are replaced by commercial daycare operations, children suffer in a number of different ways.
When fathers are taken out of the picture children also suffer. It is exactly the same with mothers. For this reason the Dads4Kids Fatherhood Foundation has run TV and media campaigns to support mothers and we will do so again. Check out this announcement about a Mother’s Day TV campaign from our archives. I will give the last word to the mother who wrote to us about our adverts:
I am just wanting to express my sincere appreciation as a mother for your recent television ads for Mother’s Day. These ads are just gorgeous. Some women’s groups should take a leaf out of your book – most of them are very one-eyed and anti-men. Good on you for showing some maturity and realising that children need both of their parents in their life and not pushing an all-male agenda . .
. . . Congratulations! I am very impressed. I think your organisation is one worthy of much support.
Lovework
Make your mum’s Mother’s Day special.
Dads make sure your children do the same for their mother.
When we lift up others we lift up ourselves in the process.
‘Honour your mother and father and it will go well with you, and you will live long in the land.’
Yours for Valuing Mothers
Warwick Marsh
PS: Entry to ‘Train the Trainer’ closes at midnight, Tuesday 9 May 2017. For men who want to achieve extraordinary results for their children, grandchildren and in the process help to change the world. The Train the Trainer Summit is open to a small number of approved applicants who are committed to facilitating the 10 week ‘Good to Great Fathering Course’.
Apply here.
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