We may grow not knowing our very own mother or we might not be able to be with them for so long, once a woman has her own child wrapped on her arms, she already becomes a mother and that feeling recognizes no end. The connection, the warmth of a mother's love cannot be utterly expressed by words or actions, for its definition is beyond words. Based on the internet dictionary, a mother is the female parent of a child, a woman who inhabits or performs the role of bearing some relation to her children, who may or may not be her biological offspring. We all know what kind of a woman our mother is, from the moment she wakes us in the morning saying it's already noon even if it's still so early in the morning just to make us get up, until the very moment the sun's radiance starts to fade which alarms her to be determined to make her family complete before she can peacefully fall to sleep. But what really are the roles of a mother? What are her influences to her child and the effects of her absences?
A Mother's Roles:
Mothers are timeless teachers in the classroom of life
- As we all know, before we start to take our steps on entering the very first school, our mother already make sure that we are already equipped and are capable to adapt in our new environment. Upon sending a child to school, a mother makes sure that her child will never get hungry by providing mother-made snacks, wearing a clean and neat uniform, well-groomed, and is fully secured in going to school, not spoiling her/him with money. As a mother does her utmost to nurture and teach her child, she explicitly makes the world a much better place. Women are actually granted an opportunity and a privilege by God to be His partner in bestowing life to another human being.
"God has given mothers the special gift of intuition because it gives her a strong sense of what is right for her children, what they are good at, how they may excel in the future what gifts and abilities she needs to make sure are developed in their lives as God intended."
Nora Avarientos, Executive Director of World Vision Development Foundation
Mothers teach us to believe in God
- Say I’m wrong if this isn’t true but every time we hurt or mistreat others, mother always make sure that we ought to say sorry, and whenever others hurt or mistreat us, she never fails to teach us how to accept and forgive. And every time we get naughty, she always makes the image or even just the name of Jesus scares us. The mother’s role as a light is stated in the following Scripture:
“My son, keep thy father’s commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother…For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and reproofs of instruction are the way of life”
(Proverbs 6:20, 23)
Mothers teach us to have confidence and belief in ourselves
- A mother is the greatest believer of her own child for she knows his/her weakness, much more his/her strengths. She always pushes us to go out of our shell but she never pushes us to our limits that we’ll get hurt or harmed at the end. She teaches us that sometimes it’s okay to fall because the moment we fall would be the moment we would learn how to stand again but on this time, we’ll be stronger and can’t easily get fall, again.
Mothers teach us the power of words
- We can’t deny it but sometimes our mother beat us with a stick that sometimes unintentionally made it rough. But we must always consider that our stubbornness adds the load of the burden and tiredness our mother battles with throughout the day, either at home or at work.
Mothers teach us to live out our legacy
- A wise mother appreciates that there are seasons in her life. By investing in her children’s lives, she will reap the rewards of their wisdom and good character.
The stay-at-home mom, in general, considers her role as a mom a full-time responsibility that includes of making sure her kids have clean clothes, a healthy meal, and an educational yet nurturing play environment.
The benefit of having a mother in the home is to have someone to care for children on a physical, mental and emotional level. Another benefit of having the female mother figure showcased in the life of the child is giving the child the opportunity to distinguish the difference between male and female and how they adapt to society and parental differences.
Her hobbies, educational skills and nurturing skills as a parent are the most imperative things to instill and share with the child. Her role as caregiver, confidant and disciplinarian are most commonly embraced in every culture.
Saikat Kumar Basu, Lethbridge AB Canada T1J 4B3
"I love the innocence of my mum, however, I want to inherit the quality of self-restraint from her. My mum and I are totally opposite. I have zero level of patience and it prevents me from making good relationship with family and friends. So, if I get to inherit any quality of my mother, then it would be the level of patience. I want to maintain a healthy as a well happy relation with all people like my mum does. One thing I have realized from her is that to be liked and to be loved, we should also acquire some level of patience."
Sanjiva Shrestha
"Being a mom means more than having given birth to a child. It’s loving and knowing a soul before you even see it. It’s carrying and caring for a life completely dependent on you for survival. It’s giving air to the lungs that grew within you, and sight to the eyes that will never see you as anything but mommy. It’s sleepless nights, its nursing scratches and scrapes, it’s being stern and protective. It’s teaching them to talk, to walk and to eventually run. It’s learning to hand your child to a stranger to let them teach what you cannot at times. It’s bracing them for a fall, and dusting them off after they do. It’s seeing them cry and not knowing how to fix it, so you sit on the floor and hold them and cry right along beside them. It’s teaching them that they are smart, capable, funny and giving them the security to do great things. It’s building their self-esteem, supporting their dreams and loving them unconditionally. It’s letting them go, letting them fail and teaching them how to get back up. It’s going without so that they don’t have to and being OK with it... It’s a blessing, a gift, a relationship that never ends and a love that never dies. It’s the best thing I have ever become, the greatest love I have ever felt and the best part about being me."
Jessica James
A mother is a selfless, loving human who must sacrifice many of their wants and needs for the wants and needs of their children and works hard to guarantee that their child is equipped with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to make it as a competent human being and perhaps being a mother is the hardest, yet most rewarding job that every woman will ever experience.
And as I’ve encountered several individuals who have grown of not having to have a mother or even getting the feeling of being loved of a mother, I could see them broke and mostly beyond repair, for its root dig deeper on their souls. The absence of a mother gives the presence of hatred, greed, and even the loss of self-respect and discipline. They even failed to appreciate what reality and life could offer. As I could see them every day as they follow to the same pattern of denial of unwanting the idea of finding or having a mother, makes them think that they’re tough and sometimes making them incapable to love and being loved.
The fundamental part of being a mother is still the divine mission allotted to women alone. These are some of our mothers’ roles, but what about our roles? Our mothers are worthy of all the love for risking their lives in childbirth, raising us through difficult times, and constantly guiding and loving us. For all these, we should give them our gratitude, our respect, and our trust. We should listen to them and constantly help them in whatever way we can.