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New York City
May 2003

Mothers Are Special People

From the beginning a mother knows that satisfying her child needs to be her number one priority, that nurturing, caring and parenting are essential for the child’s development. Two generations ago this nurturing would be a full occupation of one of the parents, usually the mother. Today most children don’t have the benefit of that kind of parenting.

With the change in our culture and in the nature of families the role of the parent has altered. Many parents like single mothers now are obliged to leave their children part of the time, to help earn a living for their family. This has required new afterschool support systems to help in caring for the child. On the other hand, mothers today, are generally better informed than they were years ago, and are able to make the decisions that decades ago they would defer to their teacher or pediatrician.

Parents are the most valuable influence in a child’s life: children learn more from their example than from any other source. It is usually the mother who checks homework, communicates with the teacher and the school. When parents speak of the importance of education and demonstrate their words by attending school conferences, meeting the child’s teachers and following up with their homework, their children realize that the parents mean what they say. That helps instill confidence, self-esteem and affection in the child and respect for their school.

Children more than ever, today, need guidance and supervision in their lives. Their environment, media, entertainment and exposure to negative even immoral situations are a bad influence and conducive to their bad behavior. The negative influences in movies, entertainment generally, on the internet and everywhere else in today’s environment, require parents and especially mothers as a positive, loving reinforcement. Mothers are the ultimate true friend, loyal companion, teacher, mentor and so much more. As the child develops, this becomes clearer and the older and wiser they get, the more they appreciate and cherish their mother. For many the loss of one’s mother is a pain that lasts a lifetime.

On Mother’s Day we remember our mothers, and have the chance to express gratitude for her unconditional love. That is a good and useful thing to do, because she is—and always will be—one of the great treasures in life.#

Matilda Raffa Cuomo is former first lady of New York State and is the Founder and Chair of Mentoring USA. (www.mentoringusa.org, musa@mentoringusa.org) .

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Education Update, Inc., P.O. Box 20005, New York, NY 10001.
Tel: (212) 481-5519. Fax: (212) 481-3919.Email: ednews1@aol.com.
All material is copyrighted and may not be printed without express consent of the publisher. © 2003.


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