A Tribute To Mothers – Our First Educators

Mother’s day is a special day that we get to celebrate the amazing humans that mothers are. They are our first educators from the time we are placed in their arms when we are born. From them we learn about love, safety, security, boundaries, comfort, trust and all these before we can say our first word.

They communicated by touch as they lovingly held us close, they satisfied our hunger while playing with our fingers or massaging us. They rocked us to sleep and stayed up when we were poorly.

And as we grew up, they set boundaries and disciplined us to help us know right from wrong, they paid attention so quickly noticed when things were not the way they ought to be. They often noticed things fathers missed and sometimes helped us to break difficult news to our fathers.

We expect mothers to be more understanding so we gravitate towards them in time of trouble knowing they can talk our father’s round to their ways of thinking. Mothers are our first love because of the depth of love that built up as we grew in their bellies and the rush of love they felt when we were placed in their arms at birth.

From mothers we learn how to have conversations, make a home, cook, do laundry and manage family budgets and develop our own fashion styles.

From my own mother I learnt to have an appreciation of Business and Art as I watched her run her own businesses even though she was meant to be a stay at home mum and full time housewife. I learnt you don’t have to give up on your dreams just because you are not working outside of the home. Growing up, my mum always ran multiple businesses even though back then, I didn’t see it as her having multiple streams of income.  

I saw her take risks with new business ideas, and sometimes shy away from other business opportunities. I observed her quiet strength, generous heart, stubbornness and creativity. Despite not having a university degree, she was business savvy and stepped in financially to bridge the gap in family finances.

My grandmother spoke five Nigerian languages and travelled to different parts of Nigeria as part of her trade. She was an exceptional woman and I admired her a lot. She was industrious and highly intelligent. She was very understanding, friendly and generous towards all.

From her, I learnt selflessness and the importance of faith. Every morning and night, I listened to her pray for everyone that moved – babies, children, youth, adults, office workers, farmers, business people, teachers, doctors, police men and other professionals. She went through every profession she knew and prayed for people in those professions. I understood she was giving up her time to pray for people she didn’t know. That was a powerful lesson for me.

Aristotle said, “Those who educate children well are more to be honoured than they who produce them; for these only gave them life, those the art of living well.”

As another mother’s day is celebrated, I want to use this post to celebrate all the incredible mothers that are out there dealing with the challenges of motherhood whilst educating their children. A shout out to parents of special needs children, single mothers, grandmothers, great grandmothers, adoptive mothers and step mums. This is a day to celebrate working mums, stay at home mums and mums who decided to go back to school.

Mothers are eternal educators as we watch and learn from them from the beginning of our lives right until the very end of theirs. Where would we be without mothers? Most of us would be rudderless and wander through life aimlessly. They teach siblings to have each other’s backs and many of them lay the legacies they want for their family. They teach us resilience. determination and good character.

On a lighter note, Aristotle said, “Mothers are fonder than fathers of their children because they are more certain they are their own.” Most mothers are ready to lay down their lives for their children; perhaps Aristotle’s assertion could be right.

To all the incredible mothers out there, Happy Mothers Day. Thank you for all you do, thank you for loving us and giving your best. Thanks for reading today’s post; please share it with others.