The Rewards of Motherhood

Being a mother and homemaker are jobs that are largely without accolades. There is no Honor Roll for those with the cleanest houses or most delicious meals, no 4.0 GPA reflecting the all-nighters you pull tending to sick and fussy children. There is no applause at the end of your bedtime stories or lullabies. There is also no “Most Valuable Player” award for being the best playmate, no company email sent out with your impressive statistics of how many diapers you changed in one day, how many loads of laundry you do in a week, and how many meals you put on the table day after day. There is no hope of promotion, no matter how many school concerts and sporting events you attend, and no pay raises, no matter how many homework assignments you help with. You can expect no tips as a full-time chauffeur and no commission for how many vegetables you get your kid to eat. In fact, sometimes all you can hope for is an occasional “thank you,” and even that can’t be depended on.

I’ll admit, I sometimes miss the praise and recognition of academia and the job force. But then I think about my own mom. The way she always kept me fed and taken care of, allowing me to experience childhood and develop in the greatest comfort possible. The way she listened to me ramble about my day whenever she took me home from school, elevating my joys and alleviating my sorrows. The way I could always count on her to be in the stands or auditorium to see me perform, boosting my confidence and showing me that I’m important. All her little acts of service, all those meals and diapers and homework sessions and long nights, all the games we played and the conversations we had, all added up to teach me the most foundational truth of my life: that I am loved. She is the reason I am here and the reason I have succeeded in so many aspects of my life (which, by the way, includes being a 4.0 Honor Roll student and top-performing employee). And then I think, “If I can do for my children what my mother did for me, then that is reward enough.”

Many spend their lives striving to be noticed and appreciated by the world, but these temporal accolades last only a lifetime. Mothers spend their lives shaping the worlds of those who may or may not notice or appreciate it, and the fruits of their labor last forever.

I hope we will all strive to appreciate our mothers more, not just on Mother’s Day but every day. And for those mothers who may be feeling worn out or unappreciated, just know that your selfless life of service will have an invaluable positive influence on not just your children but on countless other individuals as well. And that, at least to me, is reward enough.