Ah, Mother's Day. That glorious day when mothers kick back and relax ALL. DAY. LONG.
Yeah, right. In real life, Mother's Day is very different, and cartoonist Adrienne Hedger has made a series of cartoons that capture the day as it really is — at every stage of motherhood.
Hedger told BuzzFeed, "The very first Mother’s Day is weird and fun because you’re still like, 'Wait, I’m a MOM?' But your infant has NO IDEA it’s Mother’s Day. People were wishing me well, but I was like, 'OK, thanks, I have to breastfeed again now.'"
A few years later your kids start to give you gifts...but there's a bit of a learning curve for them:
Kids get really pumped up to give you these gifts, which is super cute:
But at this phase you should not expect to sleep in:
The best part, Hedger says, are the notes kids write. "They're so adorable and sincere—even with the misspellings."
Later on, kids get a little more ambitious and crafty, which can be a problem:
Sometimes — though they mean well — they end up just making more work for you:
"The good news with older kids is that you can play the 'Mother’s Day card' all day long," Hedger says. "You just say, 'Hey, it’s Mother’s Day!' and usually they feel obligated to do whatever you tell them to do — wash the dishes, walk the dog, clean their bathroom."
Hedger says she's learned to lower her expectations. "I don’t mean that in a bad way — it actually leads to a happier Mother’s Day for me. The problem early on was that I had a mindset of: 'I shall DO NOTHING! I shall be waited on, hand and foot!' And when that didn’t happen, I felt resentful."
In the end, Hedger says, the thing that makes a good Mother’s Day is feeling appreciated. "I just want a sincere gesture of thanks. I want to know that my efforts are noticed by my family."
