As a mom, I carry a thousand worries in my heart about my adult children’s well-being, their choices, and their future. I still show up every day with love, strength, and hope, because that is what mothers do.

 When I was raising my children, technology was not much of a concern, unless you count watching too much television. When they went to bed, they went to sleep; they weren’t hiding under the covers with tablets or phones into the wee hours of the night. I did not have to worry about screen time limits, social media pressures, or digital safety concerns like cyberbullying, inappropriate content, screen addiction, or the impact of constant social comparison. Back then, managing technology was as simple as telling them to change the channel if I didn’t like what was on TV. Mothers these days have many more worries about technology than I had.

 While many years ago my children were involved in extracurricular activities, they were limited to Boy Scouts, or soccer. It seems that nowadays children are involved in way too many sports, including soccer, basketball, baseball, gymnastics, martial arts such as karate, taekwondo, and judo, dance including ballet, hip hop, contemporary, and tap, swimming, tennis, cheerleading, track and field, ice skating, hockey, fencing and rock climbing. Singularly, there are many more options for music and performing arts including lessons on instruments, including piano, guitar, violin and so many others, choirs, drama clubs, school bands and orchestras, and competitive performing arts programs.

There are robotic clubs, coding classes, science Olympiads, art classes, animation and digital design, photography, service clubs, culinary classes, yoga classes, academic decathlon, chess, Dungeons and Dragons, peer mentoring, and environmental clubs.

In addition to the work schedules of 73% of mothers, they must also provide chauffeuring for their children who participate in these community sports and clubs. This turns mothers into unpaid Uber drivers with messy cars who fit in meals from fast food restaurants while driving around.

Eating a healthy, sit-down family dinner falls by the wayside, finances are strained by the constant tank fill-ups at gas stations, and exhaustion sets in, often leaving mothers to feel overwhelmed by their schedules.

 Each child also needs attention to their medical needs, with the mother often finding herself in the doctor’s office reading outdated People magazines. This includes visits to the pediatrician for well-child and sick visits, the dentist for routine dental check-ups as well as orthodontic work, the eye doctor if the child wears glasses, specialists such as allergists, dermatologists and ear doctors, and physical, speech and occupational therapy. Moms are faced with providing transportation, emotional support and financial payments.

 Moms need to be counselors, offering emotional support, listening to feelings, managing meltdowns, and providing comfort with kisses, cuddles, and hugs. They also serve as life coaches, teaching everyday skills, helping with homework, and attending parent-teacher conferences to ensure their children are on track.

 Managing the household is another task that most often falls on mothers. Unless they have a helpful significant other, like my dear Hubby, they are the ones doing the meal planning, grocery shopping, cooking on a tight schedule, and making sure healthy snacks magically appear. Moms must clean (a four-letter word in my vocabulary), keep the house tidy (I personally prefer the “hide it in a cupboard or under the bed” method), and tackle endless loads of laundry (which I fold while bonding with Judge Judy on TV).

 Being a mother these days is hard! Please take a moment to truly appreciate all that they do, not just the big sacrifices, but the daily juggling acts, the quiet worries, and the endless love they feel in their overworked hearts. Mother’s Day is this Sunday… do not let it go by without making her feel cherished and celebrated.