Mother’s Day:The Right Model for Today’s Generation

Line of multi-ethnic mothers holding their babies

Here’s a tribute to all good mothers this month! I want to especially thank my mother, Annette Green Elias, and my wife, Estraletta Andrews Green, for being two godly women in my life.  [I want to share an excerpt from one of my 2012 columns.]
With the media bombards us with unrealistic expectations for mothers, it is any wonder that today’s mothers feel under huge pressures to be perfect. Stay-at-home mothers feel  guilt of not provides financially as it takes two people to make ends meet. Working mothers feel the guilt of attempting to balance a career and a family at the same time. Any person worth any salt would recognize that mothers are often the glue that holds families together.   People don’t like people talking poorly about their mother even if she has many flaws.  In fact, no matter how unfit or imperfect your mother may be, she was still your mother.” Your mother might have been a bad cook. She might have been a drug abuser. She might have been a terrible person. However, her imperfection was not open to public display. We will examines a 21^st century motherhood model in contemporary society.
Good mothers are difficult to model. According to the US Census in 2008, there are over 82 million mothers in America. Eighty percent of them are between the ages of 40 to 44. Many mothers go about their business with little regard for their impact on society. As a matter of fact, the value of a good mother is often forgotten, except for the customary card on Mother’s Day. Not all mothers are built the same when it comes to character.  Some women are openly unfit or unprepared to be mothers. The notion of an unfit mother is legal definition which may vary from state to state. However, an unfit mother may be defined as a mother who fails to take care of a child’s basic needs related to the physical, mental, and spiritual state of a child.
Good mothers distinguish themselves with an unselfish behavior. They are the ones who go the extra miles so that everyone is properly taken cared of instead of their mental or physical conditions. In fact, true mothers like true fathers put their families’ needs ahead of their own. Of course, this selfless image runs counter to “ME” only culture. King Lemuel must have realized this fact when he outlined his motherhood model in Proverbs 31. The mother described in this passage is a loving wife, kindhearted mother, a champion of the oppressed, a business woman, a godly figure, and insightful advisor. The author notes about this woman, “Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.’” Therefore, character does count if an individual wants to use the right model for good motherhood.

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Today, many people take a good mother model for granted. Some people complain about their mothers and how they don’t fit today’s media model of an ideal mother figure. These unrealistic expectations cause some women to despair because they don’t fit this unrealistic expectation.  When there is a mother of unique character in society, she should be celebrated and cherished. In the daily grind of living, many folks lose sight of the positive influence of the right kind of mother. A good mother creates a legacy for future generations. Let’s hope that the positive model will never be forgotten.