Why we need to celebrate 'Others Day' this Sunday
Penny Wincer, an interiors and lifestyle photographer, shared an important Instagram post earlier this week highlighting what a difficult time Mother's Day is for some.
A post shared by Penny Wincer (@pennywincer) on Mar 27, 2019 at 2:06pm PDT
She wrote: "Mother’s Day week can be hard. Actually it can be a bit shit. Inundated with emails and posts from brands as well as people asking you what your plans are for the day. It’s funny, I don’t really think of it as a day for me as a parent, but a day for my mother who is no longer here. I know many whose mothers have died. I have friends who have had to stop all contact with their mothers. I know those who don’t know if they’ll ever hold a baby in their arms."
There are so many reasons why Mother's Day might be hard, someone having lost their mother or a couple trying hard to conceive. Maybe you have joint custody of your children and Mothering Sunday isn't your weekend?
While celebrating mums is something we'll always get behind we recognise that motherhood is something that comes in all shapes and sizes and this Sunday we want to make sure we take time for all the Others out there too. Whether we send flowers to someone who's just lost their mum or take a friend navigating solo parenting out for lunch, our lives will be filled with Others this Mothering Sunday, what can we do to turn the day into something joyful for them too?
Mummy blogger and midwife Clemmie Hooper also addressed solo parenting and how important the language we use around parenting is on her Instagram:
A post shared by C L E M M I E (@mother_of_daughters) on Mar 24, 2019 at 12:14pm PDT
She said: "Last week after apologising for throwing about the term solo parenting on here, I had an abundance of DMs from women (and 2 men) who openly shared what parenting looked like for them. Single parents (by choice) single parents (with no choice) widows, women who’s husbands serve away in the forces for months on end, women who’s husbands are in prison.... the list went on. And after having a conversation with these people it became apparent that is wasn’t the day to day parenting duties that were the hardest, after all they admitted you get use to it and get better at doing it alone. It was the loneliness. The not having that person to turn to and smile when your child does something brilliant or funny. Always eating dinner with the kids and not having the pleasure of cooking a grown up meal for two. Not having that person to sit next to on the sofa and deciding what to watch at Netflix. Not feeling that person next to you in bed. So despite last week being really hard and all the times before."
'Others Day' is being used on Instagram to raise awareness of the fact there are many people other than mothers, or other than the typical expectation of a mother who deserve some recognition this Sunday.
So to all for whom Mothering Sunday strikes a chord, the mothers, the soon-to-be or the hope-to-be, the solo parents and the motherless - happy Others Day.
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