MOTHERS

Harry Harlow, a psychologist working at the University of Wisconsin during the 1960s,

conducted an ingenious, though inarguably cruel, experiment.

Harlow deprived young monkeys of food, making them desperately hungry,

and then stuck them into a cage where they had a choice of two "mother figures" to run towards.

 On the left was a wire mother - cold and uncomfortable,

yet equipped with a bottle that would feed the baby with life-sustaining nutrients.

On the right was a cloth mother - warm, soft, and comfortable, yet unable to provide the infant with any food

If the only reason why we "love" our mothers (and fathers)

is based on a conditioned response to our need for food,

then the infant monkeys should run to the wire mothers who can feed them every time.

That is not what happened.

Time after time, even when desperately hungry,

the monkeys would run over to the wire mother just long enough to fill up on milk,

 and then dash to the cloth mother as quickly as possible to spend the next 17-18 hours

snuggling into her warm, comforting body.

The infants would sometimes come close to starvation

before they would voluntarily leave their cloth mothers to refill their bellies.

The monkeys needed the sense of being loved, being cuddled

even more than the need for food until they could endure the hunger no longer.

Each year we celebrate Mother’s Day and rightly so ...

although many mothers behave abominably it is true.

Mother’s Day became a nationally recognized holiday in 1914

because of the efforts of Anna Jarvis, a West Virginian 

who campaigned to honor mothers after her own beloved mother passed away in 1905.

Ironically, by the 1920s Jarvis became disenchanted with the commercialization of Mother’s Day 

and began campaigning against the holiday.

WHAT DO MOTHERS REALLY WANT ON MOTHER'S DAY?

Jewelry? 

It just gets in the way of diaper wipes or lost.

Flowers? 

"Oh, great. Just another thing I have to feed and keep alive!"

Chocolates? 

"I have my own stash, thank you very much!"

Vacuum Cleaners or pans? 

"You realize of course this means war!"

Perfume? 

"I am currently wearing Eau de Clorox."


Children, do you want to make your mother really, truly happy on Mother’s Day?

If so, there’s just one gift that all mothers would REALLY love,

and I have some good news: it’s 100 percent free:

SLEEP!

Mothers want uninterrupted, deep, snoring, floating on a comforter,

surrounded by pillows, no-kids-in-the-bed, dream-filled sleep.

AND TO FEEL LOVED AND APPRECIATED --

THAT, TOO. 

I wish my mother were still alive so that I could tell her she is both loved and appreciated.

If you have a good mother, you tell her that while you still can.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!