Geoffrey W. Sutton PhD, Psychology and Culture

Will you get your fair share of the $25 billion Americans spend on mother's day this year? Talk about inflation, the expected 2019 increase is expected to be up 8% over last year. Who got even a 4% raise? And our government says inflation is under control! You might guess it's a big week for flower sales. 1-800-Flowers.com takes in over $71,000,000 in Mother's Day sales! My mother complained about the quality when I ordered flowers online--I don't recall what company I used. She was happier when I got her a plant from a local discount retailer. Did you plan ahead for a seat at her favorite restaurant? The NRA expects 87,000,000 people to eat at a restaurant for Mother's Day (NRA = National Restaurant Association, I thought I should clear that up). According to Zillow, nearly 22% of Americans age 23-27 still live with their mothers. I wonder how that's working out. What about women without children? Hallmark hasn't left them out. At least if the...

I’ve had some time to think about honoring mothers on Mother’s Day. My mother lived until she was 93. And my wife has been a mother and grandmother for some years (I'm being careful here). I’ve written about Mother’s Day before ( 2014 ,  2015 ) but this year I have been asked to talk about Ephesians 6 the week after the US Mother’s Day so I’ve been thinking about Mother’s Day from the perspective of this text about honor. One of the interesting things about this well-known phrase, “Honor your father and your mother” is that it appears eight times in the Bible (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16; Matthew 15:4 & 19:19; Mark 7:10 & 10:19; Luke 18:20; Ephesians 6:2). Apparently, it was important to repeat this command. People over a span of centuries needed reminders. Maybe we do too. Here are my thoughts on this ancient text codified into a cultural norm for several decades. Words Aren’t Good Enough Christian honor required children to use their resource...

How do you honor a mother? Can you avoid the madness? Getting it right on mother’s day can be a challenge for ordinary folks and religious leaders. Several countries set aside a day to honor mothers. That can be a good thing. Anna Jarvis, the advocate of the U.S. mother’s day, realized problems in her own day. (See Nicole Russell’s essay in the Atlantic .) Could it get much worse? That depends on your mother’s perspective. I was raised in a Christian home. Mother’s Day was a big deal to my mother. Of course in that era Christian mother’s always dressed up for church. She enjoyed cards, flowers, and meals out. As she aged, she enjoyed being recognized as the oldest mother at church—pretty much every year since she lived 93 years. But times have changed. Somewhere along the line even conservative churches realized mother’s day can be troublesome.  Some women who wanted to be a mother but were not mothers were reminded about their second class status every y...

How do you frame your mother? Framing mother- creating a special day-- began 100 years ago when in 1914 Anna Jarvis began her quest to have Congress designate the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day in the U.S . Mothers are real people. But that’s not what happens on mother’s day in the U.S. Mothers morph into an ideal concept. American mothers become queen for a day. Mothers become goddesses. Mothers have been framed. And not all mothers fit the American cultural frame. Mothers young and old alike get to enjoy this special day. Our cultural framing is guided by a powerful commercial engine that sells flowers and food in the temple court. Children must bring the sacrifices our goddesses expect if they want to win their mother's favor for another year. Oh, I nearly forgot the expensive fold-out flowery card in pink or lavender-- with or without a Christian cross. 8 QUESTIONS  TO ASK OR NOT TO ASK BEFORE YOU HONOR YOUR MOTHER 1. What’s a mother worth...