Dear moms, you are amazing and your hard work doesn't go unnoticed. You do more than you even realize and make small and simple differences every single day. I hope you listen to this episode and internalize the things this panel of children has to say about their own moms, because I guarantee your children would say similar things about you! They see you. They want to be like you. And they love you unconditionally. Keep up the good work moms. No other job is more important than yours.
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Jen: Hello and welcome to the Parents’ Place, a podcast put out by the Family Place for parents to develop skills that will strengthen families and provide tools that will help each of us in our parenting efforts. No matter our skills, we can always use reminders that help us work towards a safer, happier home. I'm your host, Jennifer Daly, the education director at the Family Place and my co-host is Sara Hendricks, a family educator at the Family Place. Every week, we will interview professionals that will provide valuable information that will make a difference when you apply it directly to your life. Thank you for joining us. Now, let's get started with today's episode. Welcome to the Parents’ Place podcast, I'm your host, Jen Daly,
Sara: and I'm your co-host Sara Hendricks.
Jen: Today we have a very special episode. Mother's Day is just around the corner and we wanted to do something special for all moms. The demands we put on ourself every day and the perceptions we have can be hard. We often pick out all of the negatives and feel like there's very few positives that happen throughout the day. We also feel sometimes that what we do as mothers doesn't make a difference. Today, we have very special guests. We have asked some amazing kids to come and remind us how amazing moms are and how much moms mean to them.
Sara: OK, so let's get started with our first question. So, we have six kids here with us, and they vary in age from eight up to age fifteen, so we're super excited to hear their perspectives of moms. So, our first question is what superhero power does your mom have?
Child: Well, I think my mom has a superpower of just being patient with us. I think that's very important when it comes to motherhood. Just being patient with us and listening to us and everything that we do and say she takes notice and that comes as a good thing and also a bad thing sometimes.
Child: I think a superpower my mom has is she's going through a lot, especially this year and COVID. She's gone through a lot. But. Even when she's going through a lot she's always there for her kids because she knows being a mom can be really hard. So just knowing that she's going through a lot with her pregnancy and my grandma and everything going on during COVID, she's there for me and my brothers and is patient with us. So, I think one superpower that my mom has that has shown a lot this year is she's going through a lot but can be can always be there for her kids.
Child: I feel like my mom's superpower would be love because she's always there to help me when I'm sad and can help me whenever I need it.
Child: I feel like a superpower my mom has is mind reading. Nothing gets past her. You can't lie. She always knows like everything.
Jen : Our next question is, what is something you feel like only a mom can do.
Child: For me, one thing that I think my mom can only do or moms can only do in my point of view is I feel like more just for a girl point of view are different. But for my mom, I think me going through a lot of emotions and going through a lot with school and my own health and everything that is going on with my body and my emotions with me, I guess I should say my mom is always there for me, and I'm always feel comfortable saying everything to her. So, if something happened at school that I don't think I could tell my dad, I'd always know my mom could be there. So, I feel like with my mom and what mom's only have is, and my point of view is a daughter going to their mom talking to them about these kind of things. Because some things I share with my mom, I really don't. It's not that I'm hiding it from my dad. It's that I don't feel as comfortable as I do with my mom.
Child Something that I think only moms can do is give birth to someone. Something that I think that my mom can only do is keep secrets from why you don't want to share with others.
Child: Something I think only moms can do is like sympathizing with their kids and like talking them through things and helping them feel like safe and comfortable.
Child: Something that I think my mom and all moms can do is they can do anything, basically. They've had the struggles of giving birth, and they can basically do anything in the entire world. And not basically a lot of people can do that.
Child: Something I think moms can do is cook dinner.
Sara: OK, our next question what's a talent that moms have?
Child: Oh, a talent that moms have is juggling so many things at once, like taking their kids to like sports, school, having to deal with what they had experience at school and like outside of the home, and then also their own personal lives. And I feel like it's pretty difficult to do.
Child: I feel like helping them because my mom can help people in every way she needs or whenever they need.
Child: How do they find the time? That's the real question here. How do they find the time to do everything that they do? And what she said, it just kind of works all well together because her mom is amazing and they have just they all work together so well. And yet they still find time for us to take care of us, which is kind of amazing.
Child: A talent I think especially my mom has, is always making her kids happy. She could be going through anything in the world, and she sees any of our kids sad in one moment and she'll stop whatever she's doing, cooking, taking care of the kids, the other kids doing really anything on a phone call. And she'll stop her whole life just to make her kid happy because she thinks that everyone in the world deserves to be happy. And I agree with that. So, one talent I think my mom has is making her kids happy.
Child: A talent that moms have is cooking dinner. A talent I think my mom has is giving us more and more work so she doesn't have to do too much.
Jen: Moms are sneaky that way. What do you love about your mom?
Child: I just love her overall personality and how she handles things. She has all these things, and yet they can. She can stop time just to take care of you or whatever kid she's taking care of. And it's just so special when you get to have that moment with your mom because I personally don’t like to share a lot my mom with anybody for that matter of a fact. And it's just it's nice for when you do want to share something with her. She's always there and you can always listen to her, and she has good advice too.
Child: I think it would be herself because every mom is perfect, just the way they are, especially mine. And others.
Child: With my mom I can't really say one thing I love about my mom. All moms are special their own way. And I wouldn't change any mom for how they are. But with my mom, I really do truly love her in every way possible. I can be a lot sometimes and stress her out. But even when she's not the happiest with me, which is not often because she's always happy with me, I feel like she's always there. And so, I feel like there is not really one thing. It's her all of her personality and everything she does for me,
Child: Something that I love about my mom is that she says yes more than my dad.
Child: There's plenty of things that I could say that I love about my mom, but the main one is how patient she is with me. And it's like every day I go through a lot going to school, sports, and then she goes through a lot to with work and everything, but she's still so patient with me.
Child: One thing I love about my mom is she's willing to spend money on me, like for my sports and clothes.
Sara: OK, so our next question is why is it important to have a mom?
Child: This one is kind of easy for me because just having them and knowing that you can trust somebody no matter what. Like, they're always going to be there for you. There's there is no doubt in my mind that my mom is never going to stop being there for me and I just feel like she can do so much more. But sometimes we're a lot. And so, she just likes to focus on us too much sometimes, and she likes to give us chores and lots and lots of chores. She just focuses on us all the time. That's what makes her just kind of amazing.
Child: I think it because I think that my mom is the best in that she can do things that no mom, what else do.
Child: I think it's important to have a mom because, well, my parents are divorced, so my mom's super important to me because I live with her and I'm with her the most like more than my dad. And so, I think it's really important because she's always there for me and playing sports. Like after I do something good or something, the first person I hear is her, though she's always cheering me on. She's I don't think she's ever missed one of my games or anything like that. And yeah, it means a lot.
Child: It is important to have a mom so someone can take care of you. It is important to have a mom because the dad always burns the dinner.
Jen: Always burns the dinner!
Child: To me, having a mom is important because with all the questions it gathers up, why your mom is important is because she's always there for you, for whatever she will never not like you for any decision that you might have made that were bad decisions. She's always there through thick and thin with you. She's always there through hard moments and non-hard moments. She's always just caring for you and will always care for you through hard situations. When people stop being friends with you or you just have a hard time in life. Your mom will always be there for you, no matter what.
Jen: So why are you thankful for your mom?
Child: Here's a fun fact about me since third grade I was bullied and that was fun. Not fun, but I and first and second grade I kind of didn't have any friends, and throughout seventh grade, I just had a bunch of fake friends and they hurt me a lot. And so most of the days I would come home and I would just end up crying to my mom for hours. And I think that's one thing that I find very important about her in that I appreciate a lot that she would just hold me as I cried because I knew that at least I have one person to go to (and my dad too) that care about me and she's just always been there for me, and it's really nice to have her.
Child: I am thankful for my mom because, like I said earlier, she's always been there for me and I don't think I'd be where I'm at today if it wasn't for her, like taking me to sports, always being there to support me.
Child: I think I can do it with, I think I can trust my mom with it because they can always help you when you have hard times. And when I was in first grade, there was
Child: was this person who would always be mean to me and make me feel bad about myself, and then when I felt like I had a friend he would betray me. My mom is the only person
Child: Who would help me feel better in the hard times.
Child: I'm thankful for my mom because without her, I really don't know where I would be today because I have gone through a lot with life, with anxiety and friends and my parents being divorced. So, I've gone through a lot, but I'm really thankful for my mom because through everything, she's always taught me that we can fight through anything in the world together. So, I feel like the most important thing that I really need in my life is my mom. So, I'm really thankful for her, for everything she's done for me through all the hard times.
Child: I'm thankful for my mom because she lets me do stuff like she'll let me play with friends and she'll let us go fun places. I'm thankful for my mom because she tries to make me laugh a lot but most of the time she fails.
Sara: Well, you'll get a chance to share things that your mom does to make you laugh, but that's a question a little bit later. We've heard that cooking and eating is very important to us kids. So, your next question is what's something your mom is really good at cooking?
Child: Well, for me, for the life of me, I cannot cook. I have no clue how, but I have messed up eggs, just a plain omelet. I cannot cook. I'm trying to though, and I'm no longer allowed in the kitchen, though. So that that's fun. But she can cook anything, just anything she puts her mind to, except for cakes. Don't eat her cakes, you know? Trust me on this one.
Child: I feel like my mom is really good at cooking pasta or watermelon or ice cream because she's always the best cook that I know. And she’ll always be the best cook I know. So, I am never let down in her cooking.
Child: My mom does not cook very often. We are to go is either pizza or just going out to eat. My mom doesn't cook as much, and I feel like I don't really have a favorite food. But when she cooks, it's really good because she knows how to cook. She doesn't know how to cook anything in the world, but she does know how to cook the simple food. And when she does cook it, it's really good because we don't always get that because she doesn't always have time or she's like, she's always with the kids, so it's harder to cook when you're with kids. But when she does cook, I really do like it and it's good.
Child: I think my mom is really good at making lasagna because any time my dad does it, he always burns the noodles and no one eats. At my house, my mom usually cooks all the meals. And if we like have like waffles or something, and that's when my dad cooks it. But most of the time my mom cooks.
Child: I'm really busy with sports a lot. So, when I get home, it's pretty late. And usually my mom doesn't end up cooking because she's pretty busy too. So, I mean, but when she does cook, usually on Sundays, it's pretty good. But throughout the week, she's really good at ordering Domino's.
Jen: What does your mom do that makes you laugh?
Child: This is the kind that's really easy for me, just impersonating my dad. Just it's amazing.
Child: My mom that does something that makes me laugh. She can always joke around about things, which is my mom. So, I love her so much, and the what she does makes me laugh.
Child: My mom definitely isn't the most mature person that I know. She likes to make a lot of jokes about things. But one thing that makes me laugh a lot is like she'll hear me talking with friends and like the way that we talk. And she’ll try to impersonate that and say stuff like homie or dawg or whatever.
Child: That's one way my mom tried to make me laugh is she tries to be funnier than my dad, even though she knows she never will.
Child: I'm a really easy person to make laugh because I don't know. I just I laugh for everything and anything. My mom doesn't really joke around at home, but whenever she does something funny or she'll say something funny in Spanish or really anything that I just point out that it's funny or she thinks something's funny that my brother did or something like that that always just is funny to me. So that's when she makes me laugh. But she never really tries to make me laugh because she doesn't really have any jokes.
Child: My mom doesn't usually make me laugh, but she tries to a lot. And when she does, it just makes me learn stuff so I can make other people laugh.
Sara: OK, so we have one question left. If you could give your mom any gift in the world, what do you think would mean the most to her?
Child: If I could, I would just give her the entire world because she means the world to me. But I think if we were to be real, clean room, yes, or more importantly, a clean house.
Child: Something that I think my mom would really like is obedient children. I think something that my mom would really like was a clean house because she always has all these people leaving their stuff around and my friends always come over making a big mess and me forgetting to clean it up so she'd probably want a clean house because she never gets one. One thing I would give my mom is me, so she can give more work to me.
Child: I don't really have one gift I would give my mom. I would give my mom the world because I think she really does deserve the world for everything she's done for work, for our family, for really anyone she sees, our community. She's done a lot. I feel like, so my family is really lovey dovey. So I think one thing she would really, really, really like, besides giving her the world, is a really big hug and a lot of kisses.
Child: There's a lot of things that I think my mom would like, and I think she deserves a lot of things like the world. And yeah, there's funny things I wish I could give her. But like, one thing I can give her is just being a good kid and listening to her whenever she needs.
Sara: Well, mom's there you have it. I don't know about you, but I have felt all the feels in this episode. I have laughed, I have cried, and I hope if nothing else, this episode has brought a smile to your face. We wanted this episode to be something that just brings you some joy and helps you recognize how important your role is in your child's life. And sometimes, as moms are really hard on ourselves, but our children are forgiving of us and see the best in us, and we want you to see that as well. If you have any questions or if you have children that you think would enjoy participating in an episode like this for Father's Day, you can email us at parents@thefamilyplaceutah.org. You can also find us on social media. Jen Daly - The Family Place or Sara Hendricks - The Family Place. Thank you so much for joining us. We hope that you have a happy Mother's Day and we will see you next week. Thanks again for listening. The Family Place is a non-profit organization in Logan, Utah, with a mission to strengthen families and protect children. We call ourselves starfish throwers. If you're unsure what that means, refer back to our introduction episode where we explain it. The good news is you can be a starfish thrower too by subscribing to the Parents’ Place podcast and liking our social media pages. If this episode resonated with you, please share it with others and help us get our message out to more people. Also, be sure to check the show notes for links to information referenced in this episode. That's all for now, but we'll catch you again next time on the Parents’ Place.
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