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Mothers are extraordinary

What a strange Mother’s Day this will be. For many of us whose parents are in the (ahem) vulnerable age bracket — sorry, Mom — the past few weeks have been spent worrying about our mothers in a way they normally worry about us. And unless our mothers are in our households, we’re not able to plan in-person visits, or take them out to dinner.

Mother’s Day brunch via video conference call, maybe?

At least we can have gifts, flowers and cards delivered.

But let’s talk for a minute about what is going on for the women who still have school-aged children at home. The ones who have become teachers –many while still working their own full-time jobs, are trying to become experts in child psychology while they deal with their own emotions during a pandemic, are trying maybe to stretch a thin budget to feed a housebound family while access to groceries has changed …

Moms (and the women who fill that role for so many kids) are superheroes. We already knew that. What they are accomplishing now is an extraordinary reminder.

One mother of two young children I know was lamenting the poor attitude of her son. So she put on her thinking cap and tried to figure out his unusual behavior. It takes a lot to step outside your normal thinking and see things through the eyes of a first-grader who does not understand his own emotions.

But then she said she thought she had it figured out. He hasn’t seen another kid his age in two months.

“He’s probably sick of us!” she said. Not with any malice. Just trying to figure out the best way to get through to her son. It would have been so easy to indulge a knee-jerk reaction and discipline him without empathy.

She and millions of other moms are having to work through problems like that several times a day right now.

How do you talk to a child about the “new normal” when you are struggling with it yourself? How do you tell them they are safe, secure and loved, keep them learning and fed, help them play and grow … all while trying not to panic?

This week alone, we have news that one in five American workers is now unemployed, there are “murder hornets” in Washington state, and it might snow as much as 8 inches in New England … a third of the way through May! It would be easy to retreat.

Moms don’t.

Yes, plenty of them have a strong partner at home who is doing a lot more heavy lifting right now, too. The teamwork is fantastic to watch.

But particularly for those who are on their own during this insanity, this holiday is a reminder of how much we owe to moms.

Thank you, ladies. Everything we are watching you do for your kids right now makes me feel much better about the future they will create for us.

They are learning about strength, adaptability, resilience, creativity and the will to carry on, from you.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Christina Myer is executive editor of The Parkersburg News and Sentinel. She can be reached via e-mail at cmyer@newsandsentinel.com

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