Happy Mother's Day!

"The mother-child relationship is very paradoxical. It requires the most intense love on the mother's side, yet this very love must help the child grow away from the mother and become fully independent". - Erich Fromm

To all the Mothers who are biological, surrogate, adotive, step, foster and any other motherly type - Happy Mother;s Day!

Today is the celebration of Mother's - Mother's Day - for many years Mother;s Day was a very emotional day - during the past ten years I have been a MOM - and I wouldn;t want to miss this opportunity to be Sabrina's MOM! I have experienced the infant years, the toddler years, the childhood years and now I am being challenged with the TWEEN Years -

Sabrina stands about four feet ten and ten inches tall - I stand about five feet and two inches short! Can you image how it feels for each of us when I need to discipline her? At times we both just laugh. This is a new phase in our relationship - she is trying to assert her independance and everything that goes "wrong" is Mom's fault.

I was ten years old - Sabrina's age when I left my biological mother for the final time. I know I am blessed to be a MOM. We have a bond - I am proud to say that I know what it feels like to have THE BOND OF MOTHERHOOD! I can;t imagine what it was like for my mother to live without her four children. I look at Sabrina and I just can;t imagine how I would feel if she were to leave my care. I hope to continue to do my job and raise her to be a strong, independant, self-reliant woman.

I just wanted to wish all you MOM's who make a difference in the lives of children. And thank you to the Mother's that tried to make a difference in my life - even my biological MOM. - HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

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FACTS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother

A mother is a biological and/or social female parent of an offspring. In the case of a mammal such as a human, the biological mother gestates a fertilized ovum, which is called first an embryo, and then a fetus. This gestation occurs in the mother's uterus from conception until the fetus is sufficiently developed to be born. The mother then goes into labor and gives birth. Once the child is born, the mother produces milk in a process called lactation to feed the child; often the mother's breast milk is the child's sole nourishment for the first year or more of the child's life.

The title mother is often given to a woman other than the biological parent, if it is she who fulfills the social role. This is most commonly either an adoptive mother or a stepmother (the biologically unrelated wife of a child's father). Currently, with advances in reproductive technologies, the function of biological motherhood can be split between the genetic mother (who provides the ovum) and the gestational mother (who carries the pregnancy), and in theory neither might be the social mother (the one who brings up the child).

Mothers have historically fulfilled the primary role in the raising of children, but since the late 20th century, the role of the father in child care has been given greater prominence in most Western countries.[1][2]

The experience of motherhood varies greatly depending upon location. The organization Save the Children has ranked the countries of the world, and found that Scandinavian countries are the best places to be a mother, whereas countries in sub-Saharan Africa are the worst.[3] A mother in the bottom 10 countries is over 750 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth, compared to a mother in the top 10 countries, and a mother in the bottom 10 countries is 28 times more likely to see her child die before reaching his or her first birthday.