Mothers’ Day plans for procrastinators!

Mother’s Day is around the corner. The inventors of this concept have added that extra little stress to our already hassled lives, which our mothers would rather smile at, wave off and ask us to not bother about.

So there are approximately 48 hours from now, in which you can do something that will make the first woman in your life feel extra special. But you have been incredibly busy with work, partner, kids, social commitments, and to be brutally honest, procrastination, to plan anything exceptional.

Fear not. I am not sending you on a guilt trip now. In fact, I am presenting here some easy ideas to deal with this situation, depending on the type of mother you have on your hand. And all pocket friendly ones, at that!

There are essentially 3 types of mothers

1.       The young mother who is parenting a brood between 0-12 years of age. She is essentially fussy, and worried about everything from food to exams to PTA meetings to school brawls, to Whatsapp mommy groups. She is connected to the WWW and is perpetually stressed

2.       The mid-life mother who is parenting a brood between 12-25 years of age. She has pretty much given up on you. And you have given up on her. Your unbalanced hormones and irresponsible friends have made you very difficult for her to handle. You live your own life and she is happy as long as you are healthy, happy and back home every night.

3.       The retired mother who knows that you have found your companion. And she will need to find reasons to keep herself busy in different ways now.

 So here we go!

For the Young Mother:

She can be your wife, your sister, your daughter or your best buddy.

She has been hands-on, day in and day out. Here is what you can do for her.

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Give her a break. Baby-sit for her and book her a spa session or maybe two.

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Just let her SLEEP. As much as she wants to!  You have no clue how sleep deprived young moms can be. This is probably the best gift ever! (I told you, my ideas are VERY pocket-friendly!)

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And while she is asleep, dig into all yours, and hers, and your friends’ Facebook, email, et al for photographs of the mom and baby and simply copy them to a disc. Cellotape a few nice flowers on the cover of the disc, and write “I Love you, Super Mommy!” on it (See! My ideas are also time-efficient!). If you start a little early, you can get printouts of the photos, stick them to a long colourful ribbon in chronological order and decorate her room with it. Guaranteed to make her go "Awwwwwwwww...!"

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  End the day with an order-in dinner and snuggle up together for a nice movie at home. (Anything from Raising Helen to PanicRoom). She is a Ninja mom at this stage.

The mid-life mother

She probably feels very uncool at this stage, where friends and career have taken priority in your life. She is happy to see you independent. And feels a little empty, now that you don’t need her as much as before

•           Make her feel like a rockstar! Buy her something from your generation. A cool T-Shirt and cap with something smart printed on it, perhaps! One that you can wear with her, click a selfie and post all over social media. Trust me, she will feel young all over again!

• Gather your siblings and friends and sing to her songs like “Maa” from Taare Zameen Pe, and that absolute hidden gem of a song “Mumma” from Dasvidaniya. Do the same for your friends’ moms too! Plan a burger and pizza party with all these moms. Watch the animated Pixar’s Brave, or English Vinglish. It is good to make her feel that she has been right and you've been something of an ass for some years now.

 The photo idea works here too.

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As for dinner, ask her to teach you that recipe of hers which you love the most. Someday, you might yearn for it, when she isn’t around. And she will be happy knowing that you will not be deprived of your favourite dish in her absence.

The retired mother:

She is smiling and watching you, and is obviously, very proud of you! She is secretly looking forward to see you go through all tribulations that she faced when she raised you. There is not much she wants now.

Do just one thing.

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Make 2 glasses of her favourite beverage. Hand one to her, and take one yourself. Place your head in her lap. And ask her to talk.

Ask her about how naughty you were. Moms love to reminiscence (Hell! I am only 38, and I love to reminiscence!) Ask her what incidents in life made her happy, proud, sad, angry, worried. Ask her about her school days, her carefree time. Listen carefully, observe closely how her expressions change. Take your cues. Ask where she wants to go this year. Perhaps to the places of her childhood? Or wants to connect with her old friends? Ask her if she wants to visit ‘phoren’ (and then work hard so you can fulfil that dream at the earliest)

Ask her what still worries her. Because however old you may become, this pillar of strength in your life will continue to worry. And while we will love her every day, she needs to be spoilt, pampered and given a huge emotional release at least once a year.

After all, the best gift your mom ever had was you! J

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The formatting of this post is totally (#$%*$(%*!!! I don't know why! But don't tell my mom that I typed *those* words.