Mommies Doin' Work Day

This Sunday is Mother’s Day, and it’s a time to celebrate all of the amazing Mommies Doin’ Work for their tireless efforts throughout the year. Let’s get to it.

First, I want to recognize my mom.

Ladies, imagine that you’re the mother to a wild three-year old boy and you’re pregnant with your second son. Two days before the birth of your son, you and your husband visit the doctor and find out that you’re going to give birth to two babies instead of one. Yep, my parents found out that they were having twins less than 48 hours before my twin brother and I were born. That in itself would drive the most sane person insane, but she handled it like a pro.

We didn’t make life easy for her while we were growing up and we terrorized that poor woman at every opportunity we had. However, as I grew older, my mom became (and still is) one of my best friends.

_ She provided a shoulder to cry on when I was bullied.
_ She helped me handle bouts of depression when I felt completely worthless.
_ She dished out tough love and told me what I needed to hear, not what I wanted to hear.
_ She wasn’t a Helicopter Mom who constantly micro-managed my every action. She allowed me to make mistakes (often painful ones) and learn from them.
_ She had a zero-tolerance policy for intolerance.
_ She showed up to every baseball and basketball game I played in (Don’t think for a second that your kids will be too involved in their sporting events or dance recitals to notice if you’re there or not. Whenever I played sports growing up, the FIRST thing I did was look into the crowd to see if my parents were watching, and I bet that’s the case with most kids today too.)
_ When our local preschool and kindergarten labeled me as “learning disabled” and wanted to put me in special education classes, my mom would have none of it. She spent countless hours tutoring me on reading, writing, and math so I could catch up to the other children. When I grew older, I excelled in high school and ended up graduating from one of the best colleges in the nation. I know for a fact that none of it would’ve have been possible without her belief in me.
_ She taught me to respect women and to be a gentleman at all times.
_ She looked stage 4 cancer in the eye five years ago, and said “You will not beat me. I got this.” And she was right. Today, she is 100% cancer-free, and she taught me the power of faith, toughness, and optimism.
_ She always put her children’s needs before her own, and I am a very proud mama’s boy because of it.

Her hard work in raising those three rambunctious boys resulted in three men who are successful, happily married, involved fathers.

I love you, Mom. I truly believe if you wrote a book titled, “How Mothers Can Create and Maintain Long-Lasting, Loving Relationships With Their Children” it would be an instant bestseller. In my mind, you are the George Washington on the Mount Rushmore of Moms.

To my wife:

To be quite honest with all of you, I had no clue what type of mother my wife would be prior to having our daughter. All I know now is that I couldn’t ask for a better role model for our baby girl. She’s tough, hardworking, compassionate, funny, and my daughter just adores her to pieces.

Currently, I’m recovering from knee surgery, and am unable to walk for six weeks (Tomorrow will be the start of week 4, so I’ll only have two more weeks to go.) As much as I try to help out around the house, it’s just not the same. I can’t run around with my daughter at the park, I can’t put her in (or take her out of) the car seat, I can’t cook and clean as often as I used to. What that means is my wife has to step up completely for the sake of our family. While I’m on the injured list, these are some (but not all) of the items she handles on a daily basis:

_ She works a demanding full-time job as a successful business owner.
_ She is responsible for grocery shopping and the preparation of most meals.
_ She changes almost every diaper and gives every bath (something that I used to do primarily).
_ She takes care of a grown man (me) because I can’t really take care of myself in a lot of ways right now.
_ She’s doing this all while being 7-months pregnant.

Does it suck for both of us that I’m not able to help out like I normally do? Of course! Did my wife roll up her sleeves and Mom The Hell Up in a time when her family needed her the most? Absolutely, and I’m so proud of her.

Make no mistake about it, she is the CEO and MVP of our family – and I’m not ashamed to say that I would be completely lost without her in my life. I love you, Honey. I’m so amazed by the work you do and your tireless efforts for our family.

To the Mommies Doin’ Work Reading This

I like to think I’m a good dad – but I think most fathers will agree that no dad can compare to a good mom on a kid’s hierarchy. When a child gets hurt, he/she cries out for mommy first. When a child is scared, he/she runs to mommy first. Whenever a kid wants anything in life, he/she goes to mommy first. Hell, just watch any awards show or championship sporting event on television and you’ll notice that most of the grown-ass men and women will always thank their moms first.

Your job is often thankless, your days are long, there are many days when you probably sat in tears wondering, “Am I cut out for this?” and there were moments when you thought you were going to lose your mind the next time your baby cried or your toddler refused to listen to you. But guess what? You still made it through each day, and you still love the shit out of your kids. Most importantly, you still view motherhood as the most rewarding job ever.

On Mommies Doin’ Work Day, I’m celebrating…

_ The Stay-At-Home Mommies Doin’ Work who have the most misunderstood job on the planet, but still continue to bust their asses everyday to keep their households running smoothly.
_ The Mommies Doin’ Work outside of the home who deal with painful “Mom Guilt” as they spend countless hours away from the kids they love (in some cases, working with people they can’t stand) because their families need their income.
_ The Single Mommies Doin’ Work who would rather deal with the difficulties that come along with raising children alone than take the easy way out by exposing their little ones to a shitty man.
_ The Mommies Doin’ Work for special needs children by always letting them know how amazing, cool, and unique they are.
_ The Mommies Doin’ Work who refuse to allow their kids to be bullies or to be bullied.
_ To the Mommies Doin’ Work who think of their children as their “babies” regardless if they are 4 months old or 44 years old.
_ The Mommies Doin’ Work in healthy relationships with their husbands/boyfriends and act as role models to their children for what a loving relationship should look like.
_ The Mommies Doin’ Work in crappy relationships with their husbands/boyfriends who demand that their men shape up or ship out for the sake of their children.
_ The Single Dads who step up to also play the Mommy Doin’ Work role for their children.
_ The Mommies Doin’ Work who teach their children to be loving, kind, and tolerant to everyone.

So this Sunday, I hope you get to kick your feet up, get pampered, and enjoy a day dedicated to YOU! Please know that I’m one of many men who love and appreciate all that you do for your families everyday. Keep Doin’ Work.

Doyin Richards shares his unique and hilarious daddy adventures on his blog,Twitter, and Facebook page, Daddy Doin’ Work"https://www.facebook.com/daddydoinwork.