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Sunday, May 13, 2007

Celebrate Mothers Day For Peace

Before Hallmark Cards and Fin de siecle 19th century capitalism commercialized Mothers Day it was originally a celebration of Peace and a call to End War.
History of Mother's Day: Julia Ward Howe
The idea of official celebration of Mothers day in US was first suggested by Julia Ward Howe in 1872. An activist, writer and poet Julia shot to fame with her famous Civil War song, "Battle Hymn of the Republic". Julia Ward Howe suggested that June 2 be annually celebrated as Mothers Day and should be dedicated to peace. She wrote a passionate appeal to women and urged them to rise against war in her famous Mothers Day Proclamation, written in Boston in 1870. She also initiated a Mothers' Peace Day observance on the second Sunday in June in Boston and held the meeting for a number of years. Julia tirelessly championed the cause of official celebration of Mothers Day and declaration of official holiday on the day. Her idea spread but was later replaced by the Mothers' Day holiday now celebrated in May.

History of Mother's Day: Anna Jarvis
Mothers Day Origin

Anna Jarvis is recognised as the Founder of Mothers Day in US. Though Anna Jarvis never married and never had kids, she is also known as the Mother of Mothers Day, an apt title for the lady who worked hard to bestow honor on all mothers.

Anna Jarvis got the inspiration of celebrating Mothers Day from her own mother Mrs Anna Marie Reeves Jarvis in her childhood. An activist and social worker, Mrs Jarvis used to express her desire that someday someone must honor all mothers, living and dead, and pay tribute to the contributions made by them.

A loving daughter, Anna never forgot her mothers word and when her mother died in 1905, she resolved to fulfill her mothers desire of having a mothers day. Growing negligent attitude of adult Americans towards their mothers and a desire to honor her mothers soared her ambitions.

To begin with Anna, send Carnations in the church service in Grafton, West Virginia to honor her mother. Carnations were her mothers favorite flower and Anna felt that they symbolised a mothers pure love. Later Anna along with her supporters wrote letters to people in positions of power lobbying for the official declaration of Mothers Day holiday. The hard work paid off. By 1911, Mother's Day was celebrated in almost every state in the Union and on May 8, 1914 President Woodrow Wilson signed a Joint Resolution designating the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.

“...each war carried within itself, the war which will answer it. Each war is answered by another war, until everything is destroyed...That is why I’m so wholeheartedly for a radical end to the madness...Pacifism simply is not a matter of calm looking on; it is work, hard work...those lovely small apples out there...everything could be so beautiful if it were not for the insanity of war...one day, a new idea will arise and there will be an end of all wars...People will have to work hard for that new state of things, but they will achieve it.”

Kathe Kollwitz (1867 - 1945) Germany

A Mother’s Grief: Kathe Kollwitz Descends into the Marginalized

Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945) was a progressive artist who used art as a cathartic means to live through the death of her son in WWI and grandson in WWII.

Trapped in the sexist generation of early 20th century Germany, K¨athe defied
the society in which she lived to create art that served as an empathetic
mouthpiece for society’s marginalized. She created thousands of lithographs and
hundreds of sculptures depicting war, death, and poverty. K¨athe found beauty
in the struggle of the working class and constantly used her physician husband’s
patients as subjects of her work. As she continued into the socialist realm, she
made enemies with German leaders, including Adolph Hitler. Her work fiercely
rejected Germany’s involvement in World War I and condemned Hitler’s Third
Reich near the onset of World War II. K"athe’s use of bleak colors and disturbing
subject matter penetrates the viewer’s comfort zone. The viewer is unable to
turn away from her work without feeling guilt, and is forever haunted by her
prudent recognition of truth.

Compassionate Witnessing and the Transformation of Societal
Violence: How Individuals Can Make a Difference

As I understand it, my mother named me “Kaethe” after the German graphic artist
Kaethe Kollwitz, whose work greatly moved her.(Kollwitz & Kollwitz, 1988) Kollwitz primarily depicted workers, and mothers and children. She combined her professional work with devotion to family, a life choice that was especially meaningful to my mother. Apparently, when my father came to the hospital and she told him that she had chosen “Kaethe” for my name, he asked her to re-consider this choice, telling her that he feared it would be unwise for a post-Holocaust Jewish child to have a German first name.

Persuaded, my mother and he decided to call me “Kathy.” So, I had informed my South
African audience, even a name can bear the imprint of macro-societal traumas. I looked down, searching my notes for the example I had intended to provide.

From the back of the room, a woman shouted at me: “But you are Kaethe.” I remember freezing. This woman’s father had been a leader in the South African Defense
Forces during the Apartheid years. She had chosen a different path, working with
dedication to improve the lives of all South Africans, and working to dismantle her own racism. Her comment stunned me, pointing out something that was obvious to her but hidden to me. I had tried to construct a life that was consistent with the values expressed in the life and work of this fine human being my mother so admired.

Tags
mother, Kathe Kollowitz, Mothers Day, Anit-War, Peace, Mothers

Sunday, May 12, 2019

MOTHERS DAY

Celebrate Mothers Day For Peace
Before Hallmark Cards and Fin de siecle 19th century capitalism commercialized Mothers Day it was originally a celebration of Peace and a call to End War.

History of Mother's Day: Julia Ward Howe
The idea of official celebration of Mothers day in US was first suggested by Julia Ward Howe in 1872. An activist, writer and poet Julia shot to fame with her famous Civil War song, "Battle Hymn of the Republic". Julia Ward Howe suggested that June 2 be annually celebrated as Mothers Day and should be dedicated to peace. She wrote a passionate appeal to women and urged them to rise against war in her famous Mothers Day Proclamation, written in Boston in 1870. She also initiated a Mothers' Peace Day observance on the second Sunday in June in Boston and held the meeting for a number of years. Julia tirelessly championed the cause of official celebration of Mothers Day and declaration of official holiday on the day. Her idea spread but was later replaced by the Mothers' Day holiday now celebrated in May.
SEE MY MOTHERS DAY POSTS HERE

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Anna Jarvis Was Sorry She Ever Invented Mother’s Day

The woman who devoted herself to the creation of a national holiday to honor overworked, underappreciated mothers later devoted herself to fighting the commercial juggernaut it became. Was Anna Jarvis stubborn and crazy, as many came to believe, or misunderstood?

by Joel Oliphint
BuzzFeed Contributor
Big Stories·May 8, 2015

During the last 10 years of her life, Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother’s Day, lived with her blind sister, Lillian, in a three-story redbrick house in North Philadelphia. In the late 1930s and early ’40s, a “Warning — Stay Away” sign greeted visitors, and Jarvis answered the door only if a visitor used a secret knock or a certain number of doorbell rings.

Heavy curtains hid a broken window and darkened a Victorian parlor filled with horsehair furniture and clutter from decades of Mother’s Day proclamations, letters, and news clippings. On the wall was a large portrait of her mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, surrounded by holly wreaths. In a Reader’s Digest story from 1960, a reporter recounts visiting her on one of the last Mother’s Days in her Philadelphia home: “She told me, with terrible bitterness, that she was sorry she ever started Mother’s Day.”

In her younger days, Jarvis was described as attractive and intelligent. When a doll was to be made in her likeness in 1933, the instructions given from her organization, Mother’s Day Inc., were for a visage that was “fair, with blue eyes and light brown hair.” She stood 5-foot-5 and preferred blue, size 40 costume gowns with an open neck, pearl necklaces, and blue hats atop her untamed hair. In photographs Jarvis conveys confidence, but even early on, there’s a weariness in her eyes.

(AP Photo/File)
Anna Jarvis in 1928

Later in life, the New York Times described Jarvis as “worn and fragile” and “a frail little spinster who resembles Whistler’s Mother.” Newsweek said she “seldom smiled.” In amateur historian Howard Wolfe’s 1962 book Behold Thy Mother, Jarvis’ mother was said to be “the most loving and lovable teacher, with the sweetest voice and pleasing smile we have ever known,” but that Jarvis herself “lacked much of the graciousness with which her mother was most abundantly blessed.”

In late 1943, Jarvis' friends and business associates became aware of her declining health and had her committed to a sanitarium in West Chester, Pennsylvania. (Lillian stayed behind in the house and was found dead a couple of months later.) Wolfe said Jarvis displayed a particular letter on her bedroom wall at the sanitarium. “I am 6 years old and I love my mother very much,” the note read. “I am sending this to you because you started Mother’s Day.” Sewn to the letter was a $1 bill.

Jarvis died in 1948 — blind, emaciated, broke, and surrounded by strangers. She never married and never became a mother herself. “Her last days were embittered almost beyond comprehension,” Wolfe wrote.

Jarvis’ crusade to create a holiday to honor mothers in the early 20th century was only the beginning. As the day grew in popularity, she committed the next 40 years of her life to protecting and defending it from anyone who tried to co-opt Mother’s Day for their own causes and financial gain. Yet her efforts led to her own financial and emotional ruin — and were often portrayed as excessive, gaining her a reputation as an eccentric. Still, Jarvis’ battles with the candy, floral, and greeting card industries anticipated the commercialism that’s now inseparable from modern-day Mother’s Day.

Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed News

On May 28, 1876, Ann Reeves Jarvis was teaching her Sunday school class, which included daughter Anna Jarvis, then 12, about notable mothers in the Bible. She closed the lesson with a prayer: “I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mother’s day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it,” Reeves Jarvis prayed.

Anna paid particular attention to the prayer that day. Perhaps it was the first time she realized what a thankless, sacrificial endeavor motherhood could be. As she recalled years later, “This heartrending, agonizing prayer burned its way into my mind and heart so deeply, and it never ceased to burn.”

Courtesy of West Virginia and Regional History Collection
Ann Reeves Jarvis

Anna’s mother spent much of her life championing women’s causes through work clubs that helped improve health and sanitary conditions in West Virginia, including providing assistance to mothers with tuberculosis. After the Civil War, Reeves Jarvis also created a Mothers’ Friendship Day to ease tensions and promote peace among the war-torn republic. She died in 1905, but not before burying eight or nine of her own children (genealogies vary).

According to Anna Jarvis’ brother Claude, “My sister Lillian and myself were standing beside the open grave on the side. As the bishop said, ‘Dust to dust, ashes to ashes,’ Anna broke out in a heartbreaking cry and said, ‘Mother, that prayer made in our little church in Grafton calling for someone, somewhere, sometime to found a memorial to mother’s day — the time and place is here, and the someone is your daughter. And by the grace of God, you shall have your Mother’s Day.’”

Anna Jarvis claimed she went straight from the gravesite to her home in Philadelphia, where she had moved in the 1890s, to start planning for Mother’s Day. Her campaign didn’t begin in earnest until 1907, but over the next few years, Jarvis wrote thousands of letters to any prominent figure who could wield influence: President Teddy Roosevelt, of course, and 1908 presidential hopeful William Jennings Bryan, but also Mark Twain and former Postmaster General John Wanamaker. The campaign quickly gained steam, even though some — particularly women — ridiculed her idea, and the Senate initially rejected the Mother’s Day resolution in 1908. Wanamaker was one of the first to jump on board in support of her. “It seems possible if we give our hearts to this loving service, it will become one of the most beautiful days of our lives,” he wrote. Twain’s commendation was printed in newspapers in Philadelphia and New York, and Bryan said he was “heartily in sympathy with the movement.”

On May 10, 1908, the first official Mother’s Day services were held in Grafton at Andrews Church and in Philadelphia, where Jarvis spoke for 70 minutes at the Wanamaker Store Auditorium. The venue seated 5,000, but 15,000 tried to gain admission. Wolfe wrote that Russell Conwell, founder of Temple University, heaped praise on Jarvis after her address. “You are a convincing orator, a brilliant thinker,” he said. “You will be able to obtain what you want. Your Mother’s Day idea will honor you through ages to come.”

Most states held Mother’s Day celebrations over the next few years, and Jarvis, who proved an adept publicist, annually requested official Mother’s Day proclamations from state governors, who implored their citizens to observe the day and wear a white carnation. “Next to the name of God,” Kansas Gov. Walter Stubbs proclaimed, “the sweetest word in the English tongue is ‘mother.’” With virtually the entire United States celebrating Mother’s Day state by state, Woodrow Wilson signed legislation designating the second Sunday in May a national holiday in 1914.

Jarvis declared the white carnation the official flower of Mother’s Day, and she urged sons and daughters to visit their mothers or, at the very least, to write home on Mother’s Day. “Live this day as your mother would have you live it,” Jarvis instructed in her letters. Her vision for the day was domestic — focusing on a mother’s role within the home — and highly sentimental. It was to be celebrated “in honor of the best mother who ever lived — your own.”

Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed News

Founding Mother’s Day and fulfilling her mother’s wish was Jarvis’ crowning achievement, and continued to be her all-consuming, singular purpose in life well after the day was officially established in 1914. It wasn’t enough for her to be the originator of Mother’s Day. Jarvis wanted to own it, and she didn’t want any outside forces corrupting her vision of what the day should be. She incorporated herself as the Mother’s Day International Association, copyrighted her own photograph, and trademarked the Mother’s Day Seal with a drawing of a carnation and the words “Mother’s Day” (always singular possessive to distinguish from “Mothers’ Day” impostors), “Second Sunday in May,” and, of course, “Anna Jarvis Founder.”

Courtesy Lancaster Historical Society

Each year Jarvis put together an official Mother’s Day program that included a personal message and suggested music and readings to be used at services and celebrations. All of this required so much time that she quit her job with a life insurance company, where she had been the first female literary and advertising editor, to work on Mother’s Day full-time. She spent the rest of her life promoting her founding vision for the day while also fighting the floral, confectionary, and greeting card industries (“schemers” and “profiteers,” as she called them) who were making money off her holiday.

In 1923, for example, Jarvis crashed the convention of the Associated Retail Confectioners in Philadelphia, accusing them of “gouging the public.” “I want to tell you that you are using a beautiful idea as a means of profiteering,” she told the confectioners, according to a New York Times story. “As the founder of Mother’s Day, I demand that it cease … Mother’s Day was not intended to be a source of commercial profit.”

Nonprofits were also fair game: In 1925, Jarvis was charged with disorderly conduct at a convention of the American War Mothers, which sold carnations to raise funds for servicemen and their families. “It was alleged that Miss Jarvis appeared without invitation at the convention of War Mothers and protested against the adoption of the carnation as the emblem for that organization,” the Times reported.

She even turned on Wanamaker, her biggest champion early on. In one news clipping, a former assistant to Jarvis recounted a story in which Jarvis ordered a salad in the Wanamaker's tea room only to dump it on the floor because it was designated a “Mother’s Day Salad.” In a letter, she accused Wanamaker of trying to crush her movement.

At one time, Jarvis reportedly had 33 Mother’s Day–related lawsuits pending. No one was immune from her stranglehold on the holiday — not even the president’s wife. Eleanor Roosevelt was the honorary chair of the Golden Rule Foundation, which sponsored a fund for needy mothers and their children. Jarvis claimed the organization was trespassing on her cause and commercializing the day, and threatened to sue.

“I think she misunderstands us,” the first lady told the Times in March 1931. “She wanted Mothers’ Day observed. We want it observed, are working for its observance and are really aiding her.”

Early on, Jarvis endorsed boycotts of florists who raised the price of carnations every May. In 1908, she bought 500 carnations for half a penny each; by 1912, they were 15 cents apiece. Jarvis told her cousin in a letter that “the florists are the leaders in causing me so much trouble” — so much trouble that Jarvis eventually rescinded the carnation as the official emblem, replacing it with a Mother’s Day International Association button. “This will do away with profiteering tradesmen and carnation peddlers seeking their own profit through Mother’s Day,” she wrote.

But, of course, the button and lawsuits and protests and boycotts didn’t do away with any of that. Try as she might, Jarvis couldn’t stop Mother’s Day from becoming a cash cow. One stroll through the grocery store in the first two weeks of May proves as much. Last year the National Retail Federation estimated Americans would spend about $20 billion on Mother’s Day gifts; 80% will buy greeting cards, and 66% will buy flowers.

Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed News

One hundred and one years after Mother’s Day became a national holiday, how do we explain Jarvis’ life and legacy? Was she truly the delusional, “frail little spinster” news reports described? Defending a holiday against commercialization is one thing — but why fight, repeatedly, with beloved charities?

No one knows the story of Anna Jarvis better than Katharine Antolini, a professor of history and gender studies at West Virginia Wesleyan College. She lives about 45 minutes from Grafton, where the church Jarvis and her mother attended is now the International Mother’s Day Shrine: a historic but unassuming redbrick building with a white steeple that sits on Main Street and looks like countless other small-town churches of the era.

“They’re lovely people, but none of them are archivists or historians,” she says of the shrine’s volunteers. “All these great, nearly 100-year-old documents were sitting in a box on the floor in the kitchen. I spent the summer [of 2004] archiving the documents, and there was this one letter. It was seven pages long, typed. [Jarvis] wrote it to her cousin in 1933, and she’s ranting about all these people.”

That letter, along with other documents that had been hidden from historians in a box for decades, piqued Antolini’s interest. What began as an archival reorganization project eventually became Antolini’s dissertation and, later, a book. Antolini doesn’t shy away from Jarvis’ eccentricities, but she also sets out to explain her behavior.

“I think a lot of it was ego-driven — wanting to be ‘Anna Jarvis, founder of Mother’s Day,’” Antolini says. “She would constantly sign letters that way. It was such a big part of her identity and her adult life, so any kind of threat to take that away from her is what terrified her.”

Courtesy of International Mother's Day Shrine

But Jarvis was also an unmarried, childless, opinionated, economically independent woman living in the first half of the 20th century. “Sometimes calling her crazy was a way to dismiss a strong woman who had a vision and a movement and was determined to see it through her way,” Antolini says. “Those are the kind of qualities that you would have respected in a man in the early 20th century — not so much in a woman. To be willing to sue and to stand up to the elites of New York City and challenge Eleanor Roosevelt…in a lot of ways, she was fearless.”

Read through that lens, the media’s constant reference to Jarvis as a spinster becomes a way to frame her as damaged or undesirable and to undermine her accomplishments. Because of Jarvis' notoriety, generating copy about her — good, bad, embellished — was part of the publicity apparatus of the times.

“Everything you read in Time or Newsweek — how much of it really did happen, and how much of it was blown up to make a good story and to make this strong woman seem crazy?” Antolini says. Jarvis fought back against the media’s characterizations of her — in 1938, she sent out a press release saying the way she was depicted in a Time story was defamatory and libelous — yet her own, ongoing Mother’s Day publicity campaign ensured she’d stay in the news.

Even today, it’s difficult to separate mythology from fact. Take one of Jarvis’ best-known quotes, which is cited in nearly every online article about her: “A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world.” Neither Antolini nor I came across this quote in documents. It doesn’t sound unlike something Jarvis would say, but the source is unknown, if it exists at all.

By all accounts, Jarvis stayed true to her claim of never profiting financially from the holiday she founded. She was committed to protecting the purity of Mother’s Day, and she believed money sullied that purity. Antolini says Jarvis didn’t trust charities’ allocation of funds, but she especially hated the notion that charitable causes were transforming Mother’s Day into an occasion where mothers were to be pitied more than honored. “You honor them regardless of how rich or how poor or what color or creed,” Antolini says. “That, to me, makes sense. She has some valid complaints about how her day was being used.”

Still, not all of Jarvis’ eccentricities can be chalked up to gender biases of the day. Accusing any charity that borrowed Mother’s Day language of lining its own pockets seems ungracious at best and paranoid at worst. Antolini also wonders about the naïveté of Jarvis’ desire to establish a nationally recognized memorial for mothers while at the same time wanting to keep it pure and protected. “What did she honestly think was going to happen?” Antolini says.

Dave CC BY-NC/via Flickr: crazysanmanhistory

Only one of Jarvis’ siblings, Josiah, had children, and his granddaughter died childless in the 1980s. Howard Wolfe knew the granddaughter and received many of Anna Jarvis’ papers; he painstakingly transcribed nearly 300 pages' worth of correspondence on a typewriter. As Wolfe wrote in 1962, “Her interesting life, her 84 years of consecration and devotion to a cause … will endear the Jarvis name for all future generations.”

It didn’t quite happen that way. While Mother’s Day continues to be celebrated around the world on the second Sunday in May, Anna Jarvis, along with her particular vision of what she deemed a “holy day” rather than a holiday, are mostly forgotten.

“For the day to be popular, she no longer has to be connected to it,” Antolini says. “Now that the child has grown up, you no longer have to associate it with its mother.”

There was a reason Jarvis emphasized writing letters home rather than relying on greeting cards, which have a tendency to simplify a relationship dynamic that, for many, is complicated. Let’s say you’d like to tell your mother in a letter that she’s truly the best mother you could possibly imagine, just as Jarvis intended. Today, it would be difficult to do so without sounding like an overly sentimental Hallmark card. In other words, the commercial corruption of Mother’s Day has rendered cliché our ability to talk about how wonderful a mother is. A sentiment that at one time might have sounded heartfelt and sincere now sounds like a platitude, as your local Target and Walgreens and Walmart have aisles full of greeting cards for sale with that same sentiment, and millions of sons and daughters will purchase those cards — myself included. Just this week, standing in a checkout line with a handful of Mother’s Day cards (sorry, Ms. Jarvis), the cashier sighed. “I feel bad,” she said. “I’ve been scanning all these cards and I haven’t even bought one yet. They’re so expensive!”

Those sappy cards seem harmless, even helpful. But the trickle-down effect of their trite sayings and inflated prices is sneakier than one might imagine. Perhaps Jarvis knew this. It was a losing battle, but maybe she could see the future more clearly than her contemporaries. Maybe she could see that the Hallmarkification of Mother’s Day would actually make it harder, not easier, to communicate a true, deep, and loving appreciation of mothers.

Chris Ritter / BuzzFeed News

The author would like to thank West Virginia Wesleyan College’s Katharine Antolini for her assistance with this piece.

Wednesday, December 13, 2023

When parents drink during Super Bowl, kids get harsh discipline

Alcohol use affected both mothers and fathers, study finds

Peer-Reviewed Publication

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Parents who drank alcohol while watching the Super Bowl were more likely than those who abstained to use aggressive discipline on their children during the game, a new study shows.

Most of the parents in the study – more than 90% - were mothers, which is significant, said Bridget Freisthler, lead author of the study and professor of social work at The Ohio State University.

“The links between alcohol use, aggression and watching violent sports have been studied almost exclusively among men,” Freisthler said.

“This is the first study we’re aware of that shows women may also be affected to act more aggressively by the combination of alcohol and watching violent sports like pro football.”

The study also looked at use of alcohol among parents during another special occasion – Valentine’s Day. Results showed that parents who drank on Valentine’s Day were actually less likely to use aggressive discipline on their children that day than were parents who didn’t drink.

The study was published today (Dec. 13, 2023) in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

Most studies that examine alcohol use tend to focus on people’s typical drinking habits. But special occasions like holidays, weddings and big sporting events may be anything but typical, Freisthler said.

“When you ask about typical drinking behavior, people may say they usually only have one beer a day,” she said. “But on the Fourth of July they may say they have four beers. That could be a big difference.”

This study was part of a larger project that asked parents in central Ohio to report on their alcohol use and parenting techniques three times a day for 14 days. For this study, the researchers included parents who participated during the Super Bowl in February 2021 (255 participants) and one week later on Valentine’s Day (184 participants).

All the parents in the study had a child who was 2 to 12 years old at the time.

During the three times on Super Bowl Sunday and Valentine’s Day (and on the rest of the 14 days in the study) parents were asked whether they were drinking alcohol and whether they were using punitive or aggressive discipline with their child.

That could include discipline such as spanking or shaking the child, or shouting or yelling at them – not just to stop a behavior but to call them a name or shame them. This includes behaviors that are less severe than official child abuse or neglect, yet more frequent.

The study didn’t find any relationship between alcohol use and aggressive discipline on most days studied – but the results of the Super Bowl and Valentine’s Day stood out, according to Freisthler.

“That’s why we think drinking on special occasions deserves more attention,” she said.

There are many reasons why the use of alcohol during the Super Bowl may make parents – particularly mothers – more likely to use aggressive discipline, Freisthler said.

“When you add stress and alcohol, that is not a good combination. There’s the stress of the game, particularly if you’re invested in one of the teams. If mothers are hosting a Super Bowl party, that’s another level of stress,” she said.

“And for mothers, if their husbands are invested in the game, they may feel it is their job to keep the kids quiet and out of the way of the TV.”

The reason that Valentine’s Day resulted in less use of aggressive discipline, despite the alcohol use, may be because of the different nature of that holiday compared to the Super Bowl, according to Freisthler.

On Valentine’s Day, the parents may be more likely to be drinking at a restaurant, away from their children. They may feel less stress than normal because of the nature of the romantic holiday, and alcohol use could enhance the good feelings – all of which could lead to less harsh discipline.

But Freisthler noted that there are probably more special occasions throughout the year that resemble the Super Bowl than Valentine’s Day. Holidays like Christmas and the Fourth of July often involve events at home with large groups of people and children around, and also involve more alcohol use than usual.

“We need to understand how much parents are drinking on special occasions, how that differs from their normal drinking behaviors, and how is that related to their parenting,” she said. “That’s what we are trying to get at in this study.”

Knowing that drinking on special occasions affects levels of drinking – and parenting – means that parents can take steps beforehand to minimize negative impacts, she said.

For example, during events like the Super Bowl, parents could hire babysitters if they are able. They could have a special room set up for the kids with fun activities. Or maybe some people who are not interested in the game, like possibly grandparents, could entertain the children during the game.

“Parents need to create environments that are most conducive to positive parenting and reduce the risk of harsh parenting,” she said.

Freisthler conducted the study with Joselyn Sarabia, a doctoral student in social work at Ohio State, and Jennifer Price Wolf, associate professor of social work at San Jose State University.

JOURNAL

Alcoholism Clinical and Experimental Research

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Using ecological momentary assessments to understand how drinking during special occasions relates to parenting behaviors

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

13-Dec-2023

Sunday, November 11, 2007

The Horror of Glorifying Bomber Command

Vonnegut, Dresden and Canada

Not MacArthurs Republican Party

The Good Germans

Afghanistan

Mr. Dithers Accidental War

Harpers War Costs Another Canadian Life

The Working Class Dies For Harper

Harper War Monger

Hidden Costs of Harpers War

Never Again, War

Remembrance or Revisionism

Lest We Forget

White Poppies

White Poppy Debate

Draft Dodgers in Dukhbour Country

Support Our PeaceMakers

Rich Man's War

War and the Market State

Humanitarian War

Kenneth Patchen

SOME REMARKS ON WAR SPIRIT

War Resisters Welcome Here

Military Industrial Complex

Celebrate Mothers Day For Peace

Year of the Pig

Job Protection for Canadian Reservists

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Monday, September 04, 2023

Mexican mothers mark day of the disappeared with protest and demands for the government to do more

A protester holds a portrait of a missing person demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023. Mothers of some of 111,000 people who have disappeared in Mexico over decades of violence, most believed to have been abducted by drug cartels or kidnapped by gangs, marched on Wednesday down Reforma Avenue.

A woman pastes a portrait of a missing person on a roundabout barrier along Reforma Avenue during a march demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

BY MARK STEVENSON

August 30, 2023

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mothers of some of 111,000 people who have disappeared in Mexico over decades of violence on Wednesday marked the International Day of the Disappeared with protests and demands that the government do more to locate their loved ones.

Most of those missing are believed to have been abducted by drug cartels or kidnappers, and their bodies buried in shallow graves or burned.

Some marching down Mexico City’s main boulevard were also protesting an apparent government effort to minimize the problem.

About 200 protesters — almost all women — chanted: “Where are they? Where are our Children?”

Edith Pérez Rodríguez, one of the marchers, wore a T-shirt with photos of her two sons, Alexis and José Arturo Domínguez Pérez. They vanished without a trace a decade ago in the northern state of San Luis Potosi.

Lack of funding and manpower have left police and prosecutors unable to conduct even the most basic searches — leaving it to volunteer groups made up of mothers, who often walk through suspected body dumping grounds with shovels, plunging long steel rods into the earth to detect the odor of cadavers.

“If we don’t search for our children, nobody will do it,” said Pérez Rodríguez.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has claimed the number of missing has been inflated and that many may have returned home and not bothered to notify authorities. He has launched a massive door-to-door effort by military and unqualified civilian personnel asking residents whether their missing relatives have returned, and checking their names against vaccination rolls.

Activists say that money and effort could be better spent looking for the missing, or at least their remains.

“What are they going to do,” said Pérez Rodríguez, noting that each agent has to handle about 250 missing persons cases, leaving them no time to really investigate.

“That is why we are here,” she said, “to tell the president these numbers are not inflated. This is the reality,” she said, pointing to dozens of other protesting mothers.

Similar marches were held in several other cities in Mexico.

Irma Guerrero has been looking for her son, David, who disappeared in San Luis Potosi on Jan. 13, 2022. Since then, she said she has received “nothing, not from anyone” in the way of help.

Asked about the resignation of Mexico’s top search official, Karla Quintana, last week, Guerrero said she did not care. “None of the officials have helped us.”

“Only the bad guys know, and they don’t help us,” Guerrero said.

Quintana, who did not explain the motives for her resignation, reportedly objected to sending unqualified personnel around to interview victims’ families. Such questioning of already-traumatized families could be damaging, activists say.

Few doubt there may be people listed as missing who have returned home. But many also believe that a similarly large number of missing people in Mexico’s most violent regions may never have been reported by their relatives, either because of fear of reprisals or distrust of authorities.

That distrust is widespread.

Jessica Martinez Cervantes is still looking for her brother Esteban, who also went missing in San Luis Potosi in July 2020.

“Nothing, absolutely nothing,” she said when asked what help she has received from the government.

A woman pastes posters of missing persons on a roundabout barrier along Reforma Avenue during a march demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

A woman hangs a portrait of a missing person on a makeshift line along Reforma Avenue during a march demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

A woman unfolds a poster of a missing person to display on a barrier wall along Reforma Avenue during a march demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

An embroidered heart with a message that reads in Spanish: “Your daughters are looking for you” hangs from a tent during a gathering of mostly mothers demanding the government do more to locate their loved ones, marking International Day of the Disappeared, in Mexico City, Wednesday, Aug. 30, 2023.

AP Photos/Eduardo Verdugo

Sunday, May 09, 2021

FOR MOTHERS DAY; MAXIM GORKY'S REVOLUTIONARY NOVEL; 'MOTHER'

MOTHER - ENGLISH - MAXIM GORKY

Gorky meanwhile had Written The Lower Depths and The

Philistines two plays that had great world-wide success ,

The authorities began to see how’ difficult it was to deal with a man of

European reputation, but reaction after Bloody Sunday (1905) became

so acute that he would have been arrested again had the revolutionaries not elected to send him to America to collect money for the revolution.

He left in 1906 While m America he wrote Mother.

Gorky Maxim : Alcott Louisa M,

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Celebrate Mothers Day For Peace: Before Hallmark Cards and Fin de siecle 19th century capitalism commercialized Mothers Day it was originally a celebration of Peace and a ca...

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for MOTHERS DAY

Friday, March 05, 2021

International Women's Day 2021: when is it, what is the theme, inspirational quotes - and why is it celebrated?

International Women’s Day is celebrated all over the world, including in the UK

By Jenna Macfarlane
Friday, 5th March 2021

International Women's Day has been observed since the early 1900s through protests and strikes (Getty Images)

Countries all over the world band together on International Women’s Day to celebrate the achievements of women and campaign for gender equality

The international awareness day has been observed since the early 1900s - yet this year the celebrations will be like no other.

Due to the coronavirus crisis, many events all over the globe will be taking place virtually.

So, what is International Women’s Day, when is it in 2021 - and what is this year’s theme?

Here is everything you need to know.

What is International Women’s Day?

First celebrated in 1911, International Women’s Day (IWD) is a global day celebrating the achievements of women - whether that be social, economic, cultural or political.

It’s also a time for commemorating women who have made history and nodding to those who continue to champion gender equality for future generations.

But perhaps most significantly, the political roots of the day mean strikes and protests are organised to highlight continued inequality across the world.

Despite there being more gender equality than ever before in 2021, the IWD website concludes that there is still “urgent work to do”.

And data from UN Women has revealed that the coronavirus pandemic could wipe out 25 years of increasing gender equality.

Women are doing more domestic chores and family care due to lockdown restrictions, which in turn can impact upon career and education opportunities.

According to the World Economic Forum, “gender parity will not be attained for almost a century”.

It says: “None of us will see gender parity in our lifetimes, and nor likely will many of our children".

How did the day begin?

The day started with a march that took place in New York City in 1908.

Over 15,000 women took to the streets to campaign for shorter hours, better pay and voting rights.

The first National Women’s Day was then celebrated across the US on 28 February 1909.

But the idea to make it an international celebration came from Clara Zetkin, who floated the idea at the International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen in 1910.

There were 100 women in attendance, from 17 countries, who unanimously agreed on her suggestion.

The United Nations started celebrating the day in 1975, and its first ever theme was "Celebrating the past, Planning for the Future" in 1996.

What are the colours of International Women’s Day?

The official colours of International Women’s Day are purple, green and white.

These originated from the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) in the UK back in 1908, according to the International Women's Day website.

"Purple signifies justice and dignity. Green symbolizes hope. White represents purity, albeit a controversial concept,” it states.

When is International Women’s Day 2021?

International Women’s Day always falls on 8 March, which this year is a Monday.

Zetkin’s idea for an international awareness day had no fixed date, and there was no formal one until a war-time strike in Russia in 1917.

During the strike, women demanded “bread and peace”, until four days into the protest the Tsar was forced to abdicate and the provisional government granted women the right to vote.

The date when the strike began was 23 February on the Julian calendar which was used in Russia at the time.

In the Gregorian calendar, that was 8 March, which is the date International Women’s Day is celebrated today.

How is it celebrated?

The awareness day is a national holiday in many countries, including in Russia where flower sales double during the days around 8 March.

And in China, many women are given a half day off work as advised by the State Council - although some employers don’t always pass the half day on to female employees.

Meanwhile, in Italy, the day is celebrated by the giving of mimosa blossom. The tradition is thought to have started in Rome following the second world war.

In the US, the entire month of March is Women’s History Month and a presidential proclamation issued each year honours the achievements of American women.

However, this year will look different across the globe due to the pandemic.

More events are expected to take place virtually, including in the UK.

There will also be a virtual event on 8 March run by UN Women, with the theme: “Women in leadership: Achieving an equal future in a COVID-19 world”.

“The pandemic won’t dampen our spirits in the pursuit to connect communities around the world to collaboratively forge positive change for women,” the IWD website reads.

What is the International Women’s Day 2021 theme?

There’s a different theme for International Women’s Day each year to help to raise awareness.

In 2021, that is #ChooseToChallenge, according to the International Women’s Day website.

“We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world,” organisers said.

To show their support for the theme, people can post an image of themselves on social media with their hand raised high to show they choose to challenge and call out inequality.

The images will be shared around the world in the lead up to the day, using the hashtags #ChooseToChallenge and #IWD2021.

What are International Women’s Day quotes?

Here are some inspirational quotes from famous women:

“I raise up my voice—not so I can shout but so that those without a voice can be heard… We cannot succeed when half of us are held back.” – Malala Yousafzai

“The success of every woman should be the inspiration to another. We should raise each other up. Make sure you’re very courageous: be strong, be extremely kind, and above all be humble.” – Serena Williams

“I think every woman in our culture is a feminist. They may refuse to articulate it, but if you were to take any woman back 40 years and say, ‘Is this a world you want to live in?’, they would say ‘No.’” – Dame Helen Mirren

“The best way for us to cultivate fearlessness in our daughters and other young women is by example. If they see their mothers and other women in their lives going forward despite fear, they’ll know it’s possible.” – Gloria Steinem

“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made … It shouldn’t be that women are the exception.” – Ruth Bader Ginsburg

“Each time a woman stands up for herself, without knowing it possibly, without claiming it, she stands up for all women.” – Maya Angelou

“There’s power in allowing yourself to be known and heard, in owning your unique story, in using your authentic voice.” – Michelle Obama

“Women feel like we need permission … We need to lead and change that.” – Emma Watson

Sunday, November 20, 2022

Mums’ activity levels may depend on number and ages of children

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Less than half of mums meet the recommended levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity – and mothers of younger children manage to do the least, Cambridge and Southampton researchers have found.

Physical activity – particularly when it is moderate to vigorous – has many health benefits, decreasing the risk of a wide range of diseases from cancer to type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, as well as helping maintain a healthy weight and better mental health.

Evidence suggests physical activity can help parents cope with the daily challenges of being a parent and strengthen relationships with children if they are active together. However, parents tend to be less active than non-parents.

To examine how family composition affected the amount of physical activity mothers engaged in, researchers at the University of Cambridge and University of Southampton analysed data from 848 women who participated in the UK Southampton Women’s Survey. The women, aged 20-34 years, were recruited between 1998 and 2002 and followed up over subsequent years. They were given accelerometers to assess their levels of activity. The results are published today in PLOS ONE.

Women with school-aged children did on average around 26 mins* of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day, whereas mothers with only younger children (aged four years or under) managed around 18 mins* per day.

Having more than one child meant mothers managed only around 21 mins* of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per day, but interestingly, mums with multiple children all under five years old did more light intensity activity than those with children of school-age.

Less than 50% of mothers met the recommended levels of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (150 minutes per week), regardless of the ages of their children.

Dr Kathryn Hesketh from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge said: “When you have small children, your parental responsibilities can be all-consuming, and it’s often hard to find the time to be active outside of time spent caring for your children. Exercise is often therefore one of the first things to fall by the wayside, and so most of the physical activity mums manage to do seems to be of a lower intensity.

“However, when children go to school, mums manage to do more physical activity. There are a number of possible reasons why this might be the case, including more opportunities to take part in higher intensity activities with their children; you may return to active commuting; or feel more comfortable using time to be active alone.”

Rachel Simpson, a PhD student in the MRC Epidemiology Unit, added: “There are clear benefits, both short term and long term, from doing more physical activity, particularly if it increases your heart rate. But the demands of being a mother can make it hard to find the time. We need to consider ways not only to encourage mums, but to make it as easy as possible for busy mums, especially those with younger children, to increase the amount of higher intensity physical activity they do.”

Professor Keith Godfrey from the MRC Lifecourse Epidemiology Centre and the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre said: “It is perhaps not unexpected that mothers who have young children or several children engage in less intense physical activity, but this is the first study that has quantified the significance of this reduction. More needs to be done by local government planners and leisure facility providers to support mothers in engaging in physical activity.”

*Note: these are mean averages

Reference
Simpson, RF et al. The association between number and ages of children and the physical activity of mothers: cross-sectional analyses from the Southampton Women’s Survey. PLOS ONE; 16 Nov 2022; DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.027696