Celebration of Mother's Day

Posted May 5, 2008, 3:57 pm in Family by Growing Bolder

None of us could be here without one; they come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

Some are funny, some are sweet; some are older, and some have just received their titles.

We're talking about moms, and

Growing Bolder is celebrating Mother's Day with a look at women who are making a difference in their children's and grandchildren's lives.

Mother's Day is marked in many different ways, all across the world.

It's not clear when people first started observing the holiday, but it at least dates back to ancient Rome and Greece, when people would hold festivals to honor mothers. In the United Kingdom, people started visiting their mothers' churches on the fourth Sunday of Lent, to be reunited with their moms. Many churches still recognize the secular holiday, paying special attention to Mary, the mother of Jesus.

Here in the United States, we celebrate Mother's Day on the second Sunday of May. Julia Ward Howe brought the celebration from the U.K. to the U.S. after the American civil war; in 1870, she wrote the Mother's Day Proclamation to unite women against war, and to call for peace. She couldn't get formal recognition of a Mother's Day for Peace, but was able to gain support.

Another woman led the way in honoring mothers -- Ann Jarvis was a young Appalachian homemaker who tried to organize women to push for better sanitary conditions through what she called Mothers' Work Days. Jarvis died in 1907, but her daughter Anna picked up the campaign, and in May of 1908, people celebrated the first Mother's Day in West Virginia.

Eventually, 45 states marked the day, and some started declaring it an official holiday in 1912. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day, and asked Americans to fly the American flag in honor of women whose sons had died in the war.

Today, Mother's Day is one of the most commercially successful U.S. occasions. According to the National Restaurant Association, Mother's Day is now the most popular day of the year to dine out at a restaurant in the United States.

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Fun Facts (source: About.com)

• In the United States, there are about 82.5 million mothers. (source: US Census Bureau)

• About 96% of American consumers take part in some way in Mother's Day (source: Hallmark)

• Mother's Day is widely reported as the peak day of the year for long distance telephone calls

• There are more than 23,000 florists in the United States with a total of more than 125,000 employees. (source: US Census Bureau)

• Retailers report that Mother's Day is the second highest gift-giving holiday in the United States. (Christmas is the highest)

• About twice as many young women were childfree in the year 2000 as in the 1950s (source: Ralph Fevre, The Guardian, Manchester, March 26, 2001)

• In the US, 82% of women ages 40-44 are mothers. This compares to 90% in 1976. (source: US Census Bureau)

• In Utah and Alaska, women on the average will have three children before the end of their childbearing years. Overall, the average in the United States is two. (source: US Census Bureau)

• In 2002, the 55% of American women with infant children were in the workforce, compared to 31% in 1976, and down from 59% in 1998. In 2002, there were 5.4 million stay-at-home mothers in the US. (source: US Census Bureau)

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Here is a Growing Bolder salute to mothers:

Free-Falling Family Time

Time flies and so does this mother-son skydiving team. Their definition of spending quality time together involves taking the plunge at 13,500 feet.

TV Star Mom

Here's one for anyone who's "put things off for the kids." Shelley Burch walked away from the limelight at the height of her career. Now, in this Growing Bolder exclusive, she's ready for her second act.

Career of High Notes

Growing Bolder takes you on a priceless trip back in time to a woman who was among the first to perform singing commercials on television! Meet the legendary Nancy Evans.

Fostering Family Love

After raising two children, Rose Ann DeVito discovered she had a big, empty home and a lot of love still left to give. Growing Bolder introduces you to the 65-year-old "new" mom of four.

A Family Affair

With more adults maintaining active and competitive lifestyles into their 50s and beyond, grown kids now spend weekends watching mom and dad compete. In the Leech family, the kids say it's a great glimpse of what their later years could be like, too.

Jackie's Funny Valentine

As Jackie's unofficial pregnancy photographer, Marc documented every big moment here on GrowingBolder.com. So of course, after her birth, he grabbed his video camera and gave baby Elizabeth her first official GB closeup.

Aleta St. James

Aleta St. James caused an international stir when she delivered healthy twins at the age of 57. She says it was just the latest example of fulfilling her dreams, something she has helped people across the world do through her books, CDs and seminars.

Dr. Lillian Carson

Dr. Lillian Carson is a nationally renowned authority on child development, parenting and grandparenting. She is the author of "The Essential Grandparent," and a psychotherapist in private practice in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, Calif.

Jeannette Goldstein

It took her decades to get there, but one woman never gave up on her dreams of law school. At the age of 80, Jeannette Goldstein applied to law school. Her boldness inspired her son to write a book about people like her, who continue to pursue their dreams later in life.

Nancy Alspaugh & Marilyn Kentz

Marilyn Kentz and Nancy Alspaugh want women to age fearlessly. They have co-authored "Not Your Mothers Midlife: A Ten-Step Guide to Fearless Aging," a groundbreaking book that helps women face middle age with confidence. Nancy is an Emmy Award-winning TV producer who produced network and syndicated shows, including "Leeza." Marilyn is a member of the popular comedy duo, "The Mommies."

Rosemary Taugher

Rosemary Taugher and her daughter are in the early stages of a 40,000-mile bicycle trip that will cover 40 countries and will take nearly three years to complete. She talked to Growing Bolder about why the duo set out on this trip and what it does to their mother-daughter relationship. Plus, find out what type of people they encounter on the road.

Violet Sesco

Eighty-year-old Violet Sesco is a great-great-grandmother and a member of the Professional Women's Bassmaster Tour. She's the oldest member of the tour -- male or female -- and she could be one of the oldest professional athletes in the world. She talked to Growing Bolder about how the other competitors treat her and what her secret is to catching big bass.

Carla Hoppie

Carla Hoppie isn't your average college freshman. The 50-year-old mother and waitress not only decided to go back to school, she tried out for and made the varsity track team at Eastern Oregon University. Now, her son is her classmate and teammate.

Dr. T. Berry Brazelton

Dr. T. Berry Brazelton is the world's most prominent pediatrician. For six decades, he's honed his expertise of child development and now at age 89, he's as vital and relevant as ever. Dr. Brazelton has just revised his landmark book, a parenting classic called "Touchpoints: Birth To Three." He tells Growing Bolder why grandparents are so important to children and the most important thing a parent can do to raise a healthy, happy child.

Rain Pryor

Unlike many children of legends, Rain Pryor is on her way to becoming a force to be reckoned with in her own right. The actress, singer, writer, producer and comedian has raised a lot of eyebrows with her new book, "Jokes My Father Never Taught Me." It has been described as an intimate, hilarious and above all else, brutally honest look at the life of her late father, Richard Pryor. Plus, she's a new mom herself, after the birth of a baby girl in early 2008.

Elizabeth Gregory

What do Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama all have in common? Yes, they're all wives of major political figures, but they were all older when they started their families. Elizabeth Gregory's new book explains why the trend of late motherhood is growing in America. After the age of 35, Gregory noticed a trend among women -- the start of motherhood. Her new book, "Ready: Why Women are Embracing the New Later Motherhood," researches the growing trend. A "new late" mom herself, Gregory was able to incorporate real-life experiences into her book.

Marjorie Thompson

As a child, Marjorie Thompson learned to play guitar. Instead of continuing with her passion for music, Thompson's life took a different route. She finished her Ph.D., became a dean at Brown University and had seven kids. But an ad in a magazine struck a chord with Thompson and she decided to fulfill her childhood dreams of playing the guitar. Finally, after 35 years, Thompson picked up a guitar and played seriously, and started writing songs in 2001.

Celebration of Mother's Day

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