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May 9, 2017

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Home » Opinion » Foreign Views

Treat your mothers well: Our past, present and future

Growing up in Egypt, I found that many people didn’t pay too much attention to Mother’s Day. It’s an important point to think about here as we head into Mother’s Day here in China on May 14.

In Egypt, we believed that mothers do not need a special event to celebrate their devotion to their families. Consequently, Mother’s Day, celebrated on March 21 in Egypt, came and went without fuss.

But schools in Egypt, including the schools that I attended while I was studying there, held contests for the most original mother’s gifts from students.

I left Egypt at the age of 16, and my destiny took me to Canada. I was amazed to see Canadians emphasizing Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May each year. At the beginning, I thought the event was nothing but a commercial occasion to splurge enough on purchases to stimulate the economy. Attempting to empathize with my fellow Canadians, I gradually found myself starting to grasp the importance of celebrating mothers’ eternal sacrifices for the well-being of their children. I also acquired a profound appreciation of my own mom.

I began to look forward to Mother’s Day to express my love for her and my appreciation of her efforts to create a loving family environment for my siblings and me after the sudden death of my father. She died in 2002, leaving a big hole in my heart. To fill that hole, I vowed to use my writing and teaching skills to make sure that my students and readers would seize the opportunity of celebrating Mother’s Day to display their love and appreciation of their moms.

After arriving and settling in China, I discovered that many of my fellow Chinese hold the same feelings as my Egyptian compatriots toward Mother’s Day. At first, I was perplexed by their passive attitudes of perceiving Mother’s Day as any other day of the year, especially after noticing the tremendous efforts that Chinese mothers make to take care of and spoil their kids.

As I began my teaching assignments, I made sure to allocate a class before Mother’s Day each year to emphasize to my students the importance of taking advantage of Mother’s Day to express their love for their moms. Some of my students argued that their mothers were already aware of their feelings, so there was no need to allocate a special day.

They emphasized that they dearly loved their moms regardless of the day of the year. Some students said they were uncomfortable with being mushy with their moms. I told them I understand traditional attitudes. I stressed that it takes a lot of courage to be open about one’s feelings.

To encourage them, I once held a party at a school in Xingtai, Hebei to celebrate Mother’s Day and invited my students’ mothers. I asked each student to stand up and express his/her feelings about their mom. Needless to say, the experience was emotionally fulfilling to my students and their mothers.

Regardless of your circumstances, on May 14, take some time from your busy schedule to celebrate Mother’s Day and treat your mom royally and spoil her.

Since Mother’s Day falls on Sunday when there are no classes in most schools, teachers ought to celebrate the event on Friday, May 12th with their students. Organizations with moms who work on May 14 should try to allow them to leave early to celebrate with their children.

Finally, from the bottom of my heart, I would like to wish all the wonderful Chinese mothers a very happy Mother’s Day. On behalf of my students, I also wish to express my gratitude towards them for their nurturing nature.

The author is a Canadian teacher in China.




 

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