# Non-mother on Mothers' Day **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 29, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747 "2010-04-29T15:02:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2010, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/21 "2010-04-29T19:28:59Z")
> [@pbbth](#): > > Whenever I feel down I celebrate a celebrity’s birthday and it always makes me feel much better. I love this idea for days that would otherwise suck. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2010, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/22 "2010-04-29T19:51:02Z")
On Mother’s Day, let her sleep late, bring her breakfast in bed, and then spend the afternoon having hot monkey loving in every room in your home. Ya can’t do that when you have kids… ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2010, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/23 "2010-04-29T20:25:51Z")
Some wonderful suggestions. I would like to do them all, but that might be a bit conflicting and confusing (not to mention somewhat expensive and cause us to overeat a bit). Great ideas! ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2010, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/24 "2010-04-29T20:30:19Z")
**Oakminster** ’s idea isn’t expensive. And you really can’t do that when you have kids. Or a dog. And overeating? Bah. It’s one day. Don’t worry about it. When it comes to hot monkey love, Hershey’s syrup and strawberries are calorie free! 😃 Good luck: it sounds like she’s got a keeper! ---
**Author:** ![Dogzilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@Dogzilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogzilla)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2010, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/25 "2010-04-29T20:36:49Z")
> [@Juliana](#): > > **Oakminster** ’s idea isn’t expensive. And you really can’t do that when you have kids. Or a dog. And overeating? Bah. It’s one day. Don’t worry about it. When it comes to hot monkey love, Hershey’s syrup and strawberries are calorie free! 😃 > > Good luck: it sounds like she’s got a keeper! 😕 You could still sleep in, have breakfast in bed, and have hot monkey lovin’ all afternoon if you have a dog. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2010, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/26 "2010-04-29T20:38:12Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > 😕 > You could still sleep in, have breakfast in bed, and have hot monkey lovin’ all afternoon if you have a dog. I can’t. We have a puppy. Puppy nose in weird places just doesn’t work. And she howls if she’s alone. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/27 "2010-04-30T16:59:34Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > Some wonderful suggestions. I would like to do them all, but that might be a bit conflicting and confusing (not to mention somewhat expensive and cause us to overeat a bit). Great ideas! Well, one per year, then. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pbbth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@pbbth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pbbth)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/28 "2010-04-30T17:07:17Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > I love this idea for days that would otherwise suck. It really does work wonders! I have a former roommate who still does this too. The first time it happened when we lived together went something like this: **Roomie** : Why do you have chocolate cake? **pbbth** : Today is Carol Channing’s birthday. **Roomie** : You are celebrating Carol Channing’s birthday? **pbbth** : Yep! **Roomie** : … **pbbth** : _eats cake_ **Roomie** : Happy Birthday, Carol! _gets out plate and fork_ ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/29 "2010-05-01T00:44:34Z")
I’m sorry. You sound like an awesome Hubby to love your wife enough to ask. There are so many great ideas already. This is what I would do. I’d turn it around. I know a woman that lost both of her sons and Mothers Day was awful on her until she started doing something for other peoples kids. She wraps gifts for the Children’s Christmas party and decorates. I also had a Great Aunt that lost 10 babies at birth to the RH factor. She did so much for us it was like she was our ‘other’ Grandma. The Catechist director and her husband can’t have children so she said planning the religious educations of children helped her. Have you ever thought about sponsoring a child in our country or overseas? It costs like 20 dollars a month and you get pictures and letters from your child. I sponsored child from South America and she is all grown up now. Then each year you can celebrate both Mothers Day and Fathers Day in style. There is also the Foster Grand Parents Program and Big Brothers and Big Sisters. There are so many ways to be special to a child locally or in a poor country. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/30 "2010-05-01T03:02:13Z")
These are such nice ideas, it’s a shame I did have a kid and am missing out on all that pampering. I get a card, a coffee mug with a cat on it, and a Carvel cake if I’m lucky. Just kidding about it being a shame! I like the idea of doing something for others. Volunteering at a nursing home about saved my sanity after a horrible thing happened to me. Got my mind off my troubles, that did. ---
**Author:** ![Silvorange](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Silvorange](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silvorange)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/31 "2010-05-01T05:41:22Z")
I like to spend Mother’s Day in places that are less family-oriented: restaurants that don’t have kids’ menus, R-rated movies, and the like. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/32 "2010-05-07T02:02:37Z")
Mop the floors. That generally works for me. Actually, I suggest taking her to some special place or event that is not the normal venue for Mother’s Day. Any music concerts available? That sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/33 "2010-05-07T04:01:30Z")
Vegas. I’ve spent the last 2 Mother’s Days in Las Vegas (by coincidence, not design), and nobody even mentioned it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/34 "2010-05-07T04:17:46Z")
Mother’s Day is a fake, bullshit, made up holiday anyway. There’s no reason you can’t make it “Wife’s Day” and pamper her and gift her and give her flowers and all the rest. Instead of lamenting what you don’t have, celebrate what you do have. ---
**Author:** ![Barrett\_Bonden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5e9695/32.png) [@Barrett\_Bonden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barrett_Bonden)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/35 "2010-05-07T13:31:33Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > As two Gay guys, we obviously don’t care about Mother’s Day, nor do we worry about Father’s Day either. > > We do, however, contact his aunt who lost her one and only child in infancy and send her a Mother’s Day card (which she deeply appreciates) and of course send a card to my SO’s mother. (As we did for my mother before she passed away.) > > I think the better approach would be to “adopt” a lonely woman who might have lost her child (children), has no other family, and take her out to dinner, or send her a card. Celebrate those who are mothers and don’t obsess about not being one. I just wanted to say that this is really, really sweet. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/36 "2010-05-07T14:39:32Z")
[quote=“DMark, post:19, topic:537747”] I think the better approach would be to “adopt” a lonely woman who might have lost her child (children), has no other family, and take her out to dinner, or send her a card. Celebrate those who are mothers and don’t obsess about not being one. That’s what we do. My wife’s best friend died of cancer 10 years ago. We keep in regular contact with her 90-year old mother. My wife talked on the phone with her yestereday for a couple of hours, and we know she loves it. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747/37 "2010-05-07T14:44:27Z")
Mother’s Day celebrates MOTHERS not one’s ability to be a mother. Stop being so self absorbed and get out and DO something about it. How about going to a retirement center and visiting all the retried mother’s who have lost their children or have children that ignore them. How about volunteering at a place with kids without mothers. When situations like this happen you have to choices, you can DO something about it or curse your rotten luck. Let me tell you, there’s always someone worse off than you, so you need to focus on what you can do and DO IT and stop whinging about what a hack deal you got in life. I know I’ve been there, I was a whinger in my past, I feel a lot better now that I’ve learned to DO something about things if they bug you. And there’s always some positve action you can take, if you look. Cheer up, 50 years from now you’ll be dead and no one will ever know you were alive, so problems like this are really just minor annoyances [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-mother-on-mothers-day/537747.md?page=1)