Mother and Daughter Bonding

Ten little fingers, ten little toes -
Rosy little lips, and a button nose.
So soft and cuddly with a baby sweet smell.
Eyes so full of trust that I just can't fail.
I know a gift of God you had to be -
How else could something so perfect come to me?
You wiggle and snuggle, gurgle and coo -
Do you know of all the love in my heart for you?
Motherhood is another name of devotion,the selfless love and affection towards the infant or child
that grows from the seeds of innocence.

Mothers and daughters share a special bond that will last through their lifetimes. Make the most of the time you have together. Although the ties between mothers and daughters are already very strong, here are some tips on how you can make them even stronger.




Oil her hair

Every Sunday, make it a ritual to apply oil on your daughter's hair and massage it. Not only will doing this nourish your daughter's hair, but it will also provide you with time to bond with her. Heat a little oil, depending on the length of your daughter's hair, and apply it to her scalp with the help of a cotton ball. Don't dip your fingers in it, and don't squeeze drops directly onto your daughter's hair, as the oil will be too hot initially. Dab her scalp gently, using the cotton. After you have dabbed the oil all over her scalp, give her a good 10-20 minute head massage. Leave the television off while doing this, and let some music play, or just talk to each other, discuss her day, or tell her stories of your childhood.


Go shopping together

Go shopping together, and take her opinion into consideration. This builds her confidence. If you just ignore her opinion every time, she may not develop faith in her ability to make the right choice, and so she will not be able to make decisions confidently. If you are completely out of sync with her choice, then you could take her help to select from a few shortlisted things - for example, if you are shopping for a salwar kameez, first shortlist your selection and then ask her for her opinion. If you still are not comfortable with her judgement, then it is best that you don't solicit her opinion, or, don't take her along. You could then ask for her opinion on what you should wear before leaving for a party.


Let her help you get ready

Let your daughter help you get ready when you need to go out, in whatever small way she can contribute. Your little daughter, in all likelihood, would love to see you dressing up and getting ready. So, remove two saris and let your daughter select the one that you should wear. Similarly, solicit her opinion on jewellery etc.


Be friendly with her friends

Get to know your daughter's friends. The more comfortable you are with her friends, the more comfortable her friends will feel coming over and spending time with her. Similarly, the more likely it is that she will make you more and more a part of her world. When parents are very intimidating, friends tend to stay away and would rather have you over than come over to your place. But if you are very warm towards her friends, then they will feel welcome to come over at all times of the day - and, as your daughter enters her teens, you will be glad that all your daughter's friends would rather hang out at your place, as this means that you see more of her. Also, involvement in her friend's circle means that there are more chances of you knowing what's going on. However, this doesn't mean that you don't give your daughter privacy. When her friends come over, speak to them for a short while, and then leave them alone, or they will feel that they cannot do their own thing at your place, and your good intentions will backfire!

Mothers Day Origins

"Every day is Children's Day" I heard many times as a kid, and that surely is true. One day in May of official recognition is inadequate acknowledgment of all the hard work and love and sweat and tears each of you puts into one of the toughest and most important jobs a human can do: being a mother to your kids.

My gift to you again this year is a few of my favorite quotes on moms. I hope you like them.


"There was something so valuable about what happened when one became a mother. For me it was the most liberating thing that happened...Liberating because the demands that children make are not the demands of a normal "other." The children's demands on me were things that no one else ever asked me to do. To be a good manager. To have a sense of humor... And they were not interested in all the things that other people were interested in, like what I was wearing or if I were sensual. Somehow all the baggage I had accumulated as a person about what was valuable just fell away. I could not only be me - whatever that was - but somebody actually needed me to be that."
- Toni Morrison

"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his."
-Oscar Wilde

"My mom is a never ending song in my heart of comfort, happiness, and being. I may sometimes forget the words but I always remember the tune."
-Graycie Harmon

"Mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts."
-Washington Irving

"A man's work is from sun to sun, but a mother's work is never done."
-Author Unknown

"You don't really understand human nature unless you know why a child on a merry-go-round will wave at his parents every time around - and why his parents will always wave back."
-William D. Tammeus

"Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body."
-Elizabeth Stone

"There is no way to be a perfect mother, and a million ways to be a good one."
-Jill Churchill

"God couldn't be everywhere, so he created mothers."
-Jewish proverb

Mothers Day Origins

Mother's Day did not become an official U.S. holiday until 1914, largely due to the perseverance of Anna Jarvis (1864-1948). Herself the mother of eleven children (four of whom lived to adulthood), Anna asked the minister at her church to give a sermon in her mother's memory following her death in 1905. He honored Mrs. Jarvis and all mothers with a special Mother's Day service.

Anna Jarvis then tirelessly wrote to congressmen, asking them to set aside a day to honor all mothers. In 1910, the governor of West Virginia proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day. So as not to appear unsympathetic to their mothers and wives, a year later every state celebrated it.


Read more about these extraordinary women:
Rhea
Julia Ward Howe
Anna Jarvis

Contd.....

Many other cultures have their own Mother's Day, but let's move to Boston in 1870, during the unpopular Franco-Prussian war. An amazing woman named Julia Ward Howe (1819-1910), after writing the Battle Hymn of the Republic, made an impassioned "appeal to womanhood" to rise against war in her Mothers Day Proclamation:


Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of tears!

Say firmly:
"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies.
Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country will be too tender of those of another country
to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says "Disarm, Disarm! The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."

To no one's surprise, her efforts to establish a formal Mother's Day for Peace were rebuffed.

Mother's Day Origins

Mother's Day began with the Greeks, who worshipped the goddess Rhea who was the mother of Zeus, king of gods and ruler of Olympus (and you think your kids are successful).
Beyond the begatting, Rhea saved Zeus from being eaten by her husband, Cronus (as their previous five children had been). Cronus was worried about his children murdering him - as he had done to his own dear old dad - to supplant his alpha dog status. Rhea cleverly presented him with a blanket containing a stone instead of little Zeusie, which Cronus eagerly devoured.

With such a history, I think we can agree that Rhea deserved some maternal bragging rights and a holiday in her honor.