I do not remember how old I was. I only remember the mother of some neighbor child giving me a hard slap in the face. I do not also remember why. I only know I cried about how unfair it was. My mom used to work back then, and when she returned home that evening I remember telling her about it all, crying, and how she ran to get back at that woman, barefoot, forgetting to put her shoes back on. I still laugh about it i everytime I remember. This is how motherhood should be..barefoot. Another “barefoot” memory I have is about my father. I must have been around twelve. It’s a terrible memory about how me and my friends hid in a local store from some punks who followed us, and how they waited outside for us to get out. I remember calling my father from the store’s phone and asking him to save us. And I remember how within ten seconds my father’s dark red car appeared outside the store. He burst out from the car he drove over the punks, barefoot. They scattered immediately and my dad chased them on streets, barefoot. I remember the faces of my friends, full of admiration.
When it comes to your children, “losing it” is the most empowering feeling of the world. At that moment you can do anything. You can jump off a cliff, you can fight with a tiger, you can turn into anything and anyone. Is there a better instinct than protecting the one you care for so deeply?
From protecting I mean not only their body. Wanting to protect them means to protect their bodies, their souls, their hearts, their minds, their past and their future. I think parents are responsible for raising their children as independent and unique beings, for teaching them healthy nutritional habits so they can protect their health and care for themselves, for being discipled but not oppressive, for respecting their children’s individuality,  always asking for their opinion, giving them a modern education and reading habits, for informing them about the dangers they can face in a way they can understand, for giving them unconditional love and compassion, for never comparing them to others and never forcing them to be like others. Everyone talks about how hard motherhood is, and yes, it is very, very hard. And no matter how much you tear yourself apart to be a good mom your little monster won’t even care for a long, long time. Until they get their own little monsters and they avenge you 🙂 But motherhood is not about expecting something in return. Most of the time, it’s simply platonic.
I don’t think motherhood is simply for women. To be a god mom has nothing to do with your sex, intelligence, religion, race, kind. There are much better mothers than humans, for example like dogs taking care of small kittens. There are humans taking care of disabled animals better than some with their own disabled children; there are older sisters and brothers who are much better at parenting their siblings than their own mothers and fathers, there are amazing men who are much better mothers than their wives. Think about male penguins and sea horses and how they protect their babies. There are humans who even refuse to do that. Today, let’s not forget about them. Today has more meaning than making flower, home & kitchen appliances , cosmetics and textile salesmen richer than ever. To all compassionate, brave, good-hearted beings who are mothers to all kinds of creatures…Happy Mother’s Day!