‘What I really want this Mother’s Day’: Mother-of-three’s simple request

This is my first Mother’s Day where my three children have all had their own sources of income and want to give me gifts, which is so exciting for me!

When they were younger, they would get me something from their school Mother’s Day stalls, with money I had given them.

After they started high school, their dad would take them shopping for gifts.

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Now, they get to do it themselves. I’m not sure my boys have given it much thought, but my daughter has. She works in retail now and sees all the Mother’s Day displays.

She asked me what I wanted and I knew exactly what to say.

I want some slippers. Some cute, slip-on slippers to wear when I wake up and at night.

I want warm and cosy feet and toes while I make my coffee and eat my breakfast in the morning, and while I am getting ready for bed each night.

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I used to have slippers years ago, but they’ve since disappeared. I do have Ugg boots, but they are more of a foot commitment than I like to make early in the morning and late at night.

So, cute little slippers it is.

With chocolates and flowers, of course. Maybe the boys can get me those.

It turns out my wish is sort of in line with what most Aussie mums want.

New research from VistaPrint has revealed what mums really want for Mother’s Day are quality time (47 per cent), personalised gifts (23 per cent) and handmade items (18 per cent).

Nothing lavish or too expensive, just thoughtful and cute.

Flowers and chocolates remain popular, so throw those in as well!

I must say, I am also looking forward to seeing what the kids write in the cards they give me.

I really love Mother’s Day now that my children are older. I’ve always loved it, and being a mum is my favourite thing in the world, but having older children is just so special.

I had my first child when I was 28, then another at 32 and my third when I was 33.

Twenty-eight is probably considered young these days, although my mum was much younger than I was when she had her first.

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Having older kids is also really rewarding in that they start to want to get to know you too. You progress from being just their mum into being a person.

I remember a few months after my divorce, I was doing some work from home and my younger son asked to go and do something. I told him I had to do a bit of work and he asked me, “What do you do for work?”

We had a chat about it and have had many conversations about my work ever since.

In my defense, I was expecting most of the challenges my teenagers have presented me with, but not for another couple of years.

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I’ve taken to arriving at work and asking my younger colleagues for help, to give me some perspective about their thoughts behind certain actions when they were teenagers.

They have helped me much more than the therapists I have been paying and the books I’ve been reading and the documentaries I have watched, not to mention the many Google searches.

I also love celebrating my own mum at the same time as being recognised for being a mum myself.

It sort of splits the day in two, but I’m also at an age when my parents and those of my friends are ageing. Some of us have lost parents.

I lost my Dad three years ago. It was such a blow.

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I constantly think of things I wish I’d said and done differently with him. I wish I had hugged him more, spent more time with him, thanked him for everything and told him how much I loved him.

So there will be plenty of that with my mum this Mother’s Day, that’s for sure.

That, and slippers and chocolates and flowers and lunch together as a family.

And many more Mother’s Days to come.

So to all the mums, particularly mums of young adults and teenagers, I wish you an incredible Mother’s Day. You are the best.

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