No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

This year, Americans are expected to spend around $33.5 billion on Mother’s Day, as per a survey by the National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics. This figure is the second-highest in the 21 years since the survey began, slightly behind last year’s $35.7 billion. Not surprisingly, the most popular gifts are flowers (74%), followed by outings such as dinner or brunch (59%).

How did Mother’s Day come to be a major holiday?

The Birth of Mother’s Day
In the mid-19th century, Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis, initiated Mother’s Day work clubs to educate local women on childcare practices. Following the Civil War, she organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day” gatherings, aiming to promote reconciliation among mothers and former Union and Confederate soldiers.

Inspired by her mother’s compassion, Anna Jarvis envisioned a day to honor mothers’ selflessness and sacrifices. On May 10, 1908, she organized the first Mother’s Day services in Grafton, West Virginia, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Anna distributed her mother’s favorite flower, white carnations, to attending mothers. Her motto for Mother’s Day was “For the Best Mother who Ever Lived—Your Mother.” This is why Mother’s Day is in the singular — it’s always been about your mom!

As Mother’s Day gained momentum across the nation, Anna advocated for its recognition as a national holiday. Her persistent lobbying efforts and letter-writing campaigns resulted in President Woodrow Wilson declaring Mother’s Day a national holiday in 1914.

Undoing Mother’s Day
By 1920, Anna Jarvis was upset by the commercialization of Mother’s Day. She criticized florists, candy makers, and greeting card companies, calling them “charlatans, bandits, pirates, racketeers, kidnappers, and termites” for exploiting the holiday. In 1922, she supported a boycott against florists who raised the prices of white carnations every May. The next year, she protested at a retail confectioner convention, decrying the industry’s profit-driven approach to the day

Jarvis, outraged by the commercial exploitation of Mother’s Day, embarked on a mission to rescind the holiday she had fought so hard to establish. She tried petition drives, lawsuits and letter writing. Despite her efforts, Jarvis’s campaign to rescind Mother’s Day was ultimately unsuccessful.

Her later years were marked by financial struggles due to the costly legal battles she fought to reclaim the holiday’s true meaning. Jarvis, who herself never had any children, passed away in 1948, disillusioned and penniless in mental asylum.

Anna Jarvis’s story is a powerful reminder of what Mother’s Day is truly about – celebrating the selfless love of all mothers, whether they’re biological, adoptive, foster, or simply fill the role of a mother figure in a child’s life!

Happy reading,

Enjoy the weekend!

Best,
Suzanne
Suzanne Daniels, Ph.D.
AEPC President
P.O. Box 1416
Birmingham, MI 48012
Office: (248) 792-2187
Email: [email protected]